Trajectories of depression for Latino immigrant adolescents: The influence of individual, family, and sociocultural factors

Abstract

Latino immigrant adolescents represent a high-risk group for developing depression. Such risk for depression becomes more salient in emerging destination contexts (e.g., Oregon) where immigrant youth face considerably more stressors compared to traditional contexts (e.g., Texas, New York, and California). However, no study to date has considered how depression unfolds over time among Latino immigrant youth in emerging contexts. Using data from a three-wave prospective longitudinal design across 3 years, we employed latent growth curve (LGC) modeling to assess depression trajectories among 217 Latino immigrant families in the emerging context of western Oregon. Moreover, we assessed the influence of salient predictors on these trajectories across individual (gender and time in U.S. residency), family (family cultural stress, effective parenting practices, parent depression), and sociocultural (ethnic discrimination) levels. Results from LGC revealed that youth, on average, followed a decreasing trajectory of depression. Furthermore, identifying as female and higher levels of parent depression significantly predicted higher baseline levels of youth depression. No significant predictors emerged for the slope. However, follow-up analyses from multiple-group LGCs found that, whereas males were stable in their trajectories, females exhibited significantly more variability in their initial levels of depression and slopes over time. Moreover, when considered separately, predictors were significant only for females such that parent depression predicted higher baseline depression scores, and family cultural stress predicted a more slowly decreasing slope. Results suggest that Latina immigrant females are more variable in their depression patterns than males and may be more sensitive to family-related stressors that contribute to depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1:

Conceptual Model for Latent Growth Curve of Depression Scores (CES-D) with Predictors. Although not shown in the model, the intercept and slope are allowed to covary.

Figure 2.

Trajectory Plot for Depression Scores Across Major Waves