Kiwi-born Asians suffering poorer mental health outcomes – survey

A new report finds that the mental health of Asian New Zealanders has improved slightly, but their level of stress remained high.

By Liu Chen of RNZ

More than half of Asian adults remained at risk of depression (54.5%), down a touch from the 57.2% recorded last year, according to the latest New Zealand Asian Wellbeing and Mental Health Report.

Almost a quarter of respondents continued to experience discrimination (24.8%), compared with 27.6% last year, with race or ethnicity continuing to be the leading cause, the report showed.

Kelly Feng, chief executive at Asian Family Services, which commissioned the report, said some results were "deeply concerning".

"It's still significant, so one in every two people will be experiencing some degree of depression," she said, adding that the figure just showed people's self-reported low mood, rather than diagnosis.

Young adults aged 18 to 29, unemployed respondents, women and New Zealand-born Asians also experienced significantly poorer mental health outcomes, the report showed.

Indian respondents reported the highest risk of depression and the highest prevalence of discrimination among major Asian ethnic groups.

Filipino respondents continued to report the highest levels of both life satisfaction and worthwhileness.

Chinese respondents reported the lowest life satisfaction, while South Korean respondents reported the lowest perceptions of life's worthwhileness.

Feng said the results highlighted the persistent differences and inequities across the country's diverse Asian population.

The report found that New Zealand-born Asians experienced poorer outcomes than overseas-born Asians, the first time it measured such differences.

Asian individuals born in New Zealand reported lower life satisfaction and worthwhileness.

They also reported higher depression risk (64% compared with 51.6%), and higher levels of discrimination (30.5% compared with 23%).

Feng said the measurement was inspired by a summit last year where second-generation Asian New Zealanders shared their lived experiences.

This cohort often grew up navigating multiple identities, Feng said.

The intergenerational tension within their family, pressures around education and achievement could also put stress on them, she said.

"They may experience pressure from meeting family and cultural expectations while trying to belong, like fitting within the wider New Zealand society," she said.

"Some feel they're expected to fit into both worlds, yet they may not feel like they are fully accepted in either, so the struggle is real."

This group could also face racism, bullying and culture stereotyping, Feng said.

"Just because they speak English and they were born here, people may assume they have no experiencing of culture barriers," she said.

"In reality, I think those challenges may be different from those faced by migrants.

"Being born in New Zealand does not automatically create a sense of belonging."

The findings suggested that mental health inequities extended beyond migration and language barriers to broader issues of identity, belonging and social inclusion, and further research might be needed to understand the topic better, Feng said.

Kelly said the government's Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026-36 revealed last week made her "happy".

The strategy referenced Asian New Zealanders for the first time.

"It is significant that Asian community and their specific needs are explicitly recognised," Feng said.

"For many years, Asian mental health has remained largely invisible in the national policy, and, despite that, we have a rapidly growing population."

Feng said she felt privileged to have contributed to the strategy as part of the external reference group.

She said it was encouraging to see the strategy focused on prevention and early intervention, access to support and services, workforce and effectiveness.

"Being mentioned in the strategy is only the beginning," she said.

"Recognition must not only [stay] on paper. I think recognition needs to be translated into investment, implementation, measurable outcomes and accountability.

"We need to see clear action, timeframes, fundings and transparent reports on whether Asian community are generally accessing and benefiting from those services and making a huge difference and impact."

Asian communities shouldn't be treated as a single cohort when it came to mental health services, Feng said.

"We're so complex and diverse," she said. "[We're] different ethnicities, languages, migration experiences, religions and generations."

Improved access with more culturally and linguistically appropriate services, a stronger workforce that reflected the people they served, and better representation at the decision-making table were needed to improve mental health outcomes for Asians, Feng said.

More than 1000 people from diverse Asian backgrounds were surveyed in July for the latest Asian Family Services' report, following last year's research.

Smaller scale versions of the research were done in 2020 and 2021.

Research for this year's survey was funded by the Ethnic Communities Development Fund administered by the Ministry for Ethnic Communities and conducted by Trace Research.