Relationship between intrinsic-extrinsic religious orientation and depressive symptoms in Korean Americans

This study investigates the relationship between intrinsic-extrinsic relgious orientation and depressive symptoms of 95 Korean Americans who are members of four Korean churches in a southeastern state. The subjects are Korean immigrants between the ages of 30 and 53 who have resided in the United States for 29 years or less. They completed the Korean version of the Allport-Ross Religious Orientation Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. The results of the correlational analysis showed that depressive symptoms were negatively related to intrinsic religious orientation and positively related to extrinsic religious orientation. A hierachiacal strategy in the multiple regression showed that education, marital status and employments status were also significant indicators of depressive symptoms. Based on the findings, suggestions for multicultural counselling and future research are offered.