The immigration stress experiences, acculturation levels, and PTSD symptoms differences between Vietnamese political refugees and Vietnamese immigrants

Vietnamese Americans are the fourth largest Asian American group in the United States. There are two groups of individuals who have immigrated to the United States from Vietnam: refugees and immigrants. These two groups share the same ethnicity, language, customs, etc., but they differ in their experiences in coming to the U.S. Refugees often witnessed traumatic events of the Vietnam war, the horrendous conditions of the boats and refugee camps, and came to the U.S. with insufficient knowledge of the English language to start a new life. Immigrants usually chose to immigrate for better economic opportunities and tended to have existing family members already in the U.S. that could provide them with the social support. This dissertation focuses on these two particular groups by comparing their immigration experiences and relating them to PTSD symptoms. Three hypotheses were developed: (a) Refugees will report more stress than will immigrants, (b) Refugees will report more PTSD symptoms than will immigrants, and, (c) Immigrants will be more acculturated than refugees. These hypotheses were tested using three measures: (a) Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire, (b) Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, and (c) Behavioral Acculturation Scale. This study was a quasi-experimental design and an independent sample t test was used to test the hypotheses. The results of this dissertation supported all three hypotheses: Vietnamese refugees reported more stress than did immigrants, Vietnamese refugees reported more PTSD symptoms than did immigrants, and Vietnamese immigrants were more acculturated than were refugees. Several limitations of this study were discussed, such as lack of diversity in sample size due to age, religious affiliation, and geographical locations. This research provides additional information that may help explain Vietnamese refugees and immigrants' experiences and beliefs that could affect their mental health seeking behaviors.