Active Agents in Mental Health Socialization: Asian American Youth's Interpretations of Parental Messages of Mental Health.

The YR-PMHS scale was developed and validated using a split-sample approach with 486 East and Southeast Asian American youth.

• Sample consisted of 486 East and Southeast Asian American youth.
• A split-sample approach was used, with one half used for exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and the other half for confirmatory factor analyses (CFA).
• EFA was conducted first to identify salient factors, followed by CFA to determine the final factor structure.
• The scale was designed to assess how youth interpret parental mental health messages.

The YR-PMHS scale yielded a correlated five-factor structure representing distinct yet interrelated pathways through which youth interpret parental mental health messages.

• The five factors identified were: acknowledging cultural and generational gap, reluctance to burden parents, honoring parental desires, inferring parental dismissal, and preserving autonomy over distress.
• Factors were described as 'distinct yet interrelated pathways through which youth interpret parental messages of mental health.'
• The five-factor structure was confirmed through confirmatory factor analyses.
• The scale was determined to be a 'reliable and valid multidimensional measure of youth processes in parent mental health socialization.'

All five YR-PMHS factors were positively associated with depression and somatic symptoms.

• Bivariate correlations were conducted between scale factors and mental health outcomes.
• All five factors — acknowledging cultural and generational gap, reluctance to burden parents, honoring parental desires, inferring parental dismissal, and preserving autonomy over distress — showed positive associations with depression.
• All five factors were also positively associated with somatic symptoms.
• These associations suggest that each interpretive pathway relates to worse mental health outcomes.

All five YR-PMHS factors were positively associated with mental health stigma.

• Bivariate correlations were conducted between all five scale factors and mental health stigma.
• Every factor showed a positive association with mental health stigma, indicating that youth interpretations of parental messages are linked to greater stigma regardless of the specific interpretive pathway.
• This pattern was consistent across all five subscales of the YR-PMHS.

Three of the five YR-PMHS factors were negatively associated with attitudes toward professional help-seeking.

• Bivariate correlations were conducted between scale factors and attitudes toward professional help-seeking.
• Three of the five factors showed negative associations with attitudes toward professional help-seeking, while two factors did not show this negative association.
• The specific three factors negatively associated with professional help-seeking attitudes were not named in the abstract.
• This finding suggests that certain youth interpretive processes may serve as barriers to seeking professional mental health services.

The YR-PMHS scale is proposed as a tool for developing culturally responsive family interventions and approaches to mental health literacy and engagement among Asian American youth.

• The authors state that 'researchers and clinicians can use the scale to identify youth processes in mental health socialization central to developing and culturally responsive family interventions.'
• The scale addresses the bidirectional process of mental health socialization, recognizing youth as 'active agents' rather than 'passive receivers.'
• The scale's development was motivated by the understanding that parents are 'the primary socializing agents from whom youth learn about mental health and help-seeking.'
• Clinical applications include approaches to mental health literacy and engagement.