Impact of perceived racial discrimination and collective self-esteem on psychological distress among Vietnamese-American college students: Sense of coherence as mediator

This study examined whether sense of coherence mediated relationships of perceived racial discrimination and of collective self-esteem to psychological distress (depression and anxiety) among 122 Vietnamese American college students. Higher levels of perceived racial discrimination (PRD) were associated with a reduced sense of coherence (SOC) and with higher levels of depression and anxiety. Path analysis found that SOC partially mediated the relationship of PRD to depression as well as to anxiety. Higher collective self-esteem (CSE) was associated with a stronger SOC, which in turn was associated with lower depression and anxiety. SOC mediated the relationship between CSE and depression, and part of the relationship between CSE and anxiety.