Social support and mental health

Abstract

Immigrants experience adversity and hardship in a new environment. These experiences negatively affect their psychological well-being. Online support forums are preferred channels to seek and receive social support for mental health issues. Accordingly, this study analyzed online support forums for Chinese and Korean immigrant women, focusing on different types of mental health problems, support-seeking strategies used, social support received and the relationships between them. Asian immigrant women with mental health problems primarily sought social support by sharing their personal experiences and received informational support “most”. Informational support was most frequently offered for depression, anxiety disorder, and personality disorder, but emotional support was most frequently provided for impulse control. While informational support was most commonly offered with requests for information, emotional support was most repeatedly reported for statements of extreme behavior.