Elsevier

Women's Health Issues

Volume 25, Issue 2, March–April 2015, Pages 185-192
Women's Health Issues

Original article
Psychological Distress Among Low-Income U.S.- and Foreign-Born Women of Mexican Descent: Impact of Acculturation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2014.11.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

After testing the capacity of Kessler's psychological distress (K6) scale to measure equally across low-income Mexican-born women (n = 881) and U.S.-born women of Mexican descent (n = 317), this study assesses the impact of acculturation on this group's psychological distress.

Methods

We employ descriptive and confirmatory factor analyses to test the cross-cultural equivalence of K6. Multivariate and logistic regression is used to test the association between acculturation and psychological distress among low-income, Mexican-American women.

Results

The cross-cultural equivalence analysis shows that some of the scale's items have the capacity to measure psychological distress equally among participants. Regression results indicate that the more acculturated these women become, the greater their psychological distress is.

Conclusion

The study recommends that researchers emphasize the cross-cultural equivalence of their measures and suggests a heightened awareness among practitioners of the multidimensional impact of acculturation on clients of Mexican descent.

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)

  • S. Coltrane et al.

    Complexity of Father Involvement in Low-Income Mexican American Families

    Family Relations

    (2002)
  • I. Cuéllar et al.

    An acculturation scale for U.S. born normal and clinical populations

    Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science

    (1980)
  • A. Drapeau et al.

    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

    (2010)
  • M.M. Easter et al.

    Psychological well-being and immigration’s AAAs: Where are we and where do we go from here?

    Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders

    (2000)
  • V.L. Forman-Hoffman et al.

    Psychological distress and mortality among adults in the U.S. household population

    CBHSQ Data Review

    (2014)
  • B.K. Finch et al.

    Perceived discrimination and depression among Mexican-origin adults in California

    Journal of Health and Social Behavior

    (2000)
  • G. Flores

    Language barriers to health care in the United States

    New England Journal of Medicine

    (2006)
  • Fuchs, L. H. (1990). The American Kaleidoscope. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University...
  • D.R. Gordon

    Acculturative stress: How U.S. borns attempt to overcome this barrier and an exploration of its contributing factors

    Dissertation Abstract International

    (2007)
  • M.M. Gordon

    Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins

    (1964)
  • J.G. Gryzwacz et al.

    The organization of work: Implications for injury and illness among immigrant Latinos in poultry processing

    Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health, Spring

    (2007)
  • M. Gutmann

    The meanings of macho: Being a man in Mexico City

    (1996)
  • Hinkelman, J. M. (2001). Preparing students for the international marketplace: International work programs. Retrieved...
  • Cited by (4)

    • Acculturation and depression are associated with short and long sleep duration among Mexican Americans in NHANES 2005–2018

      2022, Preventive Medicine Reports
      Citation 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).

    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.

    View full text