Interactions between cultural honor and coping style in the onset of depression and anxiety in British South Asians

British South Asians can be thought of as belonging to honor cultures. Concealment/ pretense is a common means of coping with stressors and identity threats associated with cultural honor. Drawing on stress theory and identity process theory, this cross-sectional survey study examines the effects of the concealment/ pretense coping style upon associations between the social stressor of perceived parental pressure to maintain cultural honor and identity threat due to cultural honor and depression and anxiety. A moderated Generalized Linear Model was constructed using data from 304 British South Asians. There was a direct effect of identity threat, but not parental pressure, on depression and anxiety. Concealment/ pretense coping moderated the associations between parental pressure and identity threat and depression and anxiety. Participants who reported higher parental pressure or identity threat and higher concealment/ pretense coping exhibited higher depression and anxiety than those who reported lower parental pressure or identity threat and lower concealment/ pretense coping. Interventions to enhance mental health among British South Asians who face honor pressures should facilitate access to more adaptive, sustainable, and effective coping strategies that might militate against depressive and anxious symptomatology.