Amidst increasing focus on rising rates of substance abuse and suicide among white Americans and extending prior research on intergroup attitudes and health, this study examines a novel factor associated with psychological distress: disagreement with multiculturalism. Using the Portraits of American Life Study (N = 2,292), logistic regressions indicate that for Whites and Hispanics, increased likelihood of psychological distress (depression, hopelessness and worthlessness) is associated with stronger disagreement with multiculturalism, measured as “If we want to create a society where people get along, we must recognize that each ethnic group has the right to maintain its own unique traditions.” For Blacks, however, attitudes toward multiculturalism are not associated with psychological distress. Future research might determine if these results can be replicated, and if so, identify the causal mechanism(s) at work.

National data indicate that U.S. whites have a higher prevalence of smoking compared to non-whites. Group position theory and public opinion data suggest racial differences in immigration concern. This study examines whether immigration concern mediates the racial difference in smoking. Drawing on the 2012 General Social Survey, the 2012 American National Election Study, and the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, immigration concern was associated with smoking, controlling for covariates across all three nationally representativesurveys. Mediation analysis indicated that immigration concern partially mediated the higher odds of smoking among whites across all surveys. Immigration concern also presents a possible explanation for the healthy immigrant advantage and Hispanic paradox as they pertain to smoking differences.

Ethnically heterogeneous friendships may be characterized by interactional discord and other challenges, but the potential risks for minority status groups, namely, Filipino Americans, have been overlooked. The present study examined whether ethnically heterogeneous friendships are associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms and whether friendship discord mediates these relationships after adjusting for covariates. Analyses focused on data from the Filipino American Community Epidemiological Study, involving 2,305 Filipino American adult respondents in San Francisco and Honolulu. Participants completed measures of depressive and anxiety symptoms, ethnically heterogeneous friendships, friendship discord, ethnic identity, everyday discrimination, and sociodemographics. Compared with their Filipino counterparts who reported two or less close non-Filipino friends, Filipino Americans who reported three or more very good non-Filipino friends endorsed depressive and anxiety symptoms to a greater extent. Friendship discord also partially mediated these associations between ethnically heterogeneous friendships and symptoms of depression and anxiety. These results suggest that friendship discord may potentially mitigate the benefits of ethnically heterogeneous friendships and contribute to depressive and anxiety symptoms among Filipino Americans.