This study examined the effects of loneliness, social support, and acculturation on psychological well-being, as indexed by general emotional well-being and life satisfaction, of older Chinese adults living in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 168 older Chinese adults, recruited via WeChat and the internet, completed an online study through a facilitated Zoom or phone meeting, or through a website link, individually or in a group. The testing package included demographic information, The UCLA Loneliness Scale, The Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, Vancouver Index of Acculturation, The Satisfaction with Life Scale, and The World Health Organization’s Five Well-Being Index. The results showed that the psychological well-being (both general emotional well-being and cognitively perceived life satisfaction) was positively predicted by perceived social support but negatively predicted by loneliness. Acculturation was not predictive of both outcomes, and it did not moderate the predictive relationships of social support or loneliness. The results shed light on the importance of community services that target enhancing social support and reducing loneliness in promoting psychological well-being of older Chinese immigrants in Canada amidst and post the pandemic.

Social factors such as stress and social support impact mental health and might be associated with cultural factors such as feelings of shame and loss of face. Methods: This quantitative study examined sixty-five Chinese immigrant mothers of children with developmental disabilities (DDs) from the Great Toronto Area in Canada. Data was gathered through the following scales: Parental Stress Index-short Form, Oslo Social Support scale, Experience of Shame Scale, Loss of Face Questionnaire, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Short Depression Scale, and General Self-efficacy Scale. Findings: Correlational analyses confirmed that shame was positively correlated significantly with loss of face (r=.43**), social anxiety (r=.62**), social phobia (r=.38**), and depression (r=.66**). Social support was negatively correlated significantly with depression (r=-.28**), self-efficacy was negatively correlated with social phobia (r=-.21**). Loss of face was positively correlated significantly with anxiety (r=.36**) and depression (r=.43**). Regression analyses indicated that shame (Z= 4.44***) and loss of face (Z= 2.36*) were the strongest mediators of effects of anxiety on mothers’ depression. Discussion: Implications are discussed with regard to providing efficient services for the families with their specific cultural backgrounds and optimizing their mental health and well-being. Conclusions: These empirical findings confirmed that Chinese immigrant mothers of children with DDs experienced more depression, when they had more feelings of shame, loss of face, and anxieties. This study highlighted the impact of social and cultural factors on the mental health of Chinese immigrant mothers of children with DDs.

Past research found perfectionistic self-presentation (needs to appear perfect in the eyes of others and not display/disclosure imperfections in public) correlated with many psychopathologies and seldom linked it with various emotions such as shame, social anxiety, and social phobia cross-culturally. This study examined the relationships among these variables in undergraduate students from collectivist society mainland China and individualistic society Canada. The goal of the present study was to test the relationship among these variables in both non-clinical samples and explore whether the different cultures, and gender roles have a greater impact on three facets particularly nondisplay and nondisclosure imperfections and psychological functioning in mainland Chinese than it does in European Canadians. 126 Chinese undergraduate students were recruited in North University in mainland China (MCs) and 132 Canadians with European descent (ECs) were born in Canada were recruited in York University of Toronto of Canada. Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaires including Perfectionistic Self-presentation Scale, The Experience of Shame Scale, Self-construal Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale, and demographic information. ECs completed the questionnaires in English online through URPP system of York University. MCs answered the questionnaires which were translated into Mandarin on the paper. Results showed that effects of culture on perfectionistic self-presentation and the emotion variables via two-way multivariate Analyses of Variance. MCs reported higher than ECs on perfectionism self-promotion. MCs were lower than ECs on social anxiety. MCs were higher than ECs on social phobia. Women reported less than men on nondisclosure imperfections. The correlation analyses showed similar patterns in our Chinese and Canadian samples. The nondisplay and nondisclosure imperfections were positively correlated to each other, and also correlated to all the emotion variables, but perfectionistic self-promotion was only correlated to shame, and social phobia rather than anxiety. Our findings indicate that culture and social context also play a significant role on the differences of perfectionistic self-presentation and other emotion variables between two different groups and influence on their well-beings.