Original articlePsychological Distress Among Low-Income U.S.- and Foreign-Born Women of Mexican Descent: Impact of Acculturation
Section snippets
Acculturation, Psychological Distress, and Poverty
Most of the research on the impact of acculturation on the psychological distress of Mexican women shows a positive relationship between acculturation and psychological distress: the higher the level of acculturation among this group of women, the higher their psychological distress (Kurz et al., 2005, Acevedo, 2000, Gordon, 2007). Studies have also confirmed that compared to less acculturated women, the more acculturated women are more likely to suffer from depression (Shatel, Smith, Colwell &
Source of Data
This study uses the data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Adult Survey 2007, a project conducted by the University of California at Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research, the California Department of Health Services, and the Public Health Institute. The CHIS collects extensive information for all age groups on health status, health conditions, health-related behaviors, and health insurance coverage in California. A total of 43,020 participants living in California were
Results
Results from the comprehensive analysis of cross-cultural equivalence suggest that some items on the K6 scale demonstrate a capacity to equivalently measure the psychological distress among low-income Mexican-born women and U.S.-born women of Mexican descent. The data were left skewed for both groups, although kurtosis values of some items are slightly different between the two groups, the difference was very small (results are available upon request).
Results listed in Table 2 illustrate
Discussion
The results of this study show that the six-item K6 scale partially measures the psychological distress equally across the two groups of low-income, Mexican-born women and U.S.-born women of Mexican descent. Items concerning somatic symptoms, such as “restless,” “nervous,” or “effort,” might likely be perceived equivalently across the two groups, and certain items concerning negative feelings, such as “hopeless,” “depressed,” and “worthless,” might likely show various perceptions across the two
Implications for Policy and/or Practice
Low-income Mexican women, who often have a low level of education, are vulnerable economically, socially, and culturally. These women came to the United States with a desire to climb the socioeconomic ladder and achieve the proverbial “American dream.” As they stay longer, become more aware of social and economic opportunities, and set higher expectations for themselves (Finch, Kolody, & Vega, 2000), they also encounter a range of structural “-isms” that may hinder their efforts. In fact,
Venera Bekteshi completed Postdoctoral Fellowship in cancer prevention at Washington University in St. Louis Medical School. She has a PhD and a MSW in social work from Boston College, an MPA. from Columbia University and an MA from St. John's University.
References (47)
The role of acculturation in explaining ethnic differences in prenatal health-risk behaviors, psychological well-being, and parenting beliefs of U.S. born and European American at-risk women
Child Abuse and Neglect
(2000)- et al.
Diversity and evolution of the microbial populations during manufacture and ripening of casín, a traditional Spanish, starter-free cheese made from cow's milk
Int J Food Microbiol
(2009) - et al.
Acculturation, discrimination, and adaptation among second generation immigrant youth in Montreal and Paris
International Journal of Intercultural Relations
(2010) Counseling individuals from specialized, marginalized and underserved groups
Immigration, acculturation and adaptation
Applied Psychology
(1997)- et al.
Testing structural equation models
(1993) - et al.
Race/ethnic differences in nonspecific psychological well-being: Evidence from the national Health Interview Survey
Social Science Quarterly
(2005) - et al.
“It’s like being in a labyrinth”: Hispanic immigrants’ perceptions of depression and attitudes toward treatments
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
(2007) - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Non-specific psychological distress. Retrieved from...
- et al.
The myth of macho dominance in decision-making within Mexican and Chicano families
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences
(1979)
Complexity of Father Involvement in Low-Income Mexican American Families
Family Relations
An acculturation scale for U.S. born normal and clinical populations
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science
A life-course and time perspective on the construct validity of psychological distress in women and men
Measurement invariance of the K6 across gender. BMC medical research methodology
Psychological well-being and immigration’s AAAs: Where are we and where do we go from here?
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders
Psychological distress and mortality among adults in the U.S. household population
CBHSQ Data Review
Perceived discrimination and depression among Mexican-origin adults in California
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Language barriers to health care in the United States
New England Journal of Medicine
Acculturative stress: How U.S. borns attempt to overcome this barrier and an exploration of its contributing factors
Dissertation Abstract International
Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins
The organization of work: Implications for injury and illness among immigrant Latinos in poultry processing
Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health, Spring
The meanings of macho: Being a man in Mexico City
Cited by (4)
Acculturation and depression are associated with short and long sleep duration among Mexican Americans in NHANES 2005–2018
2022, Preventive Medicine ReportsCitation Excerpt :Our findings may be explained by a third variable that could hinder achieving optimal sleep, such as job stress, psychosocial stress, discrimination, and neighborhood factors (Alcántara et al., 2017). In fact, given that poor sleep may be influenced by one’s psychosocial and environmental context (Hale and Rivero-Fuentes, 2011), and extensive evidence indicates a link between depression and acculturative stress among Hispanics/Latinos (Hovey, 2000; Bekteshi et al., 2015; Gomez et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2014), acculturative stress may be the mechanism through which depression is associated with sub-optimal sleep duration (Hale and Rivero-Fuentes, 2011; García et al., 2020). Indeed, there is evidence of a direct relationship between acculturative stress and self-reported poor sleep quality (Alcántara et al., 2017; Gonzalez-Guarda et al., 2021).
Social Needs and Acculturation as Predictors of Emotional Problems and Perceived Stress Among Latinx Mothers with Low Income
2023, Journal of Immigrant and Minority HealthFemale Mexican Immigrants in the United States: Cultural Knowledge and Healing
2018, Women and Therapy
Venera Bekteshi completed Postdoctoral Fellowship in cancer prevention at Washington University in St. Louis Medical School. She has a PhD and a MSW in social work from Boston College, an MPA. from Columbia University and an MA from St. John's University.
Qingwen Xu received her PhD in social work from the University of Denver in 2002 and LL.M. from New York University in 2000. Her research adopts a comparative perspective and focuses on analyzing the social service law and studying its relationships with other legal systems.
Thanh V. Tran, PhD, received his doctorate from the School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas. His primary research focus has been on various issues of health and mental-health services among minority populations and measurement development and validation in social work.