Psychological Outcomes in Asian and Asian American Survivors of the April 16th Shooting at Virginia Tech: Roles of Acculturation and Parental Overprotection

Abstract

The negative impacts of mass shootings on mental health have been documented within the general trauma literature. Substantial research has also shown the Asian population to be a minority group especially vulnerable to negative psychological outcomes following trauma and stress. Acculturation has been studied extensively as a predictor of psychological outcomes in several minority groups. Furthermore, parental overprotection has also been found to have a negative impact on mental health. The relationship between acculturation and parental overprotection and psychological outcomes following mass shootings in the Asian population, however, has not been studied adequately. The purpose of this study was to examine exposure, acculturation, and parental overprotection as predictors of negative mental health outcomes, and as moderators of the relationship between exposure to trauma and negative outcomes. Results indicate that overprotection predicted higher levels of both posttraumatic stress and anxiety-mood symptoms. Exposure predicted posttraumatic stress but not anxiety-mood symptoms. Acculturation was not found to significantly predict either outcome. Overprotection was found to moderate the relationship between exposure and anxiety-mood symptoms. Implications of these findings are discussed.