Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms Among Latino Adults

Abstract

The present study examined whether ethnic identity cluster patterns, using Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS) subscale scores, moderated the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Participants were 390 Latino adults from a moderately sized Midwestern city. Four ethnic identity cluster patterns were identified through cluster analysis: Achieved Positive, Diffuse Positive, Foreclosed Positive, and Diffuse Negative. Results from a moderated multiple regression analysis indicated a significant interaction effect of ethnic identity clusters (i.e., Achieved Positive vs. Diffuse Negative) and perceived stress on depressive symptoms. Specifically, at lower levels of stress, no significant difference was found; whereas, at higher levels of stress, individuals with Achieved Positive cluster patterns had significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than individuals with Diffuse Negative cluster patterns. The findings are discussed within the context of ethnic identity theory and the implications for research and clinical conceptualizations.

Keywords

ethnic identity Latino adults Ethnic Identity Scale depressive symptoms perceived stress

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aguinis

(2004). Regression analysis for categorical moderators. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Alegría

Mulvaney-Day

Torres

Polo

Cao

Canino

(2007). Prevalence of psychiatric disorders across Latino subgroups in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 68-75.

Alegría

Sribney

Woo

Torres

Guarnaccia

(2007). Looking beyond nativity: The relation of age of immigration, length of residence, and birth cohorts to the risk of onset of psychiatric disorders for Latinos. Research in Human Development, 4, 19-47.

Blashfield

R. K.

Aldenderfer

M. S.

(1988). The methods and problems of cluster analysis. In Nesselroade

J. R.

Cattell

R. B.

(Eds.), Handbook of multivariate experimental psychology (2nd ed., pp. 447-473). New York, NY: Plenum.

Breslau

Aguilar-Gaxiola

Kendler

K. S.

Williams

Kessler

R. C.

(2006). Specifying race-ethnic differences in risk for psychiatric disorder in a US national sample. Psychological Medicine, 36, 57-68.

Carter

R. T.

(2007). Racism and psychological and emotional injury: Recognizing and assessing race-based traumatic stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35, 13-105. doi:10.1177/0011000006292033

Champoux

J. E.

Peters

W. S.

(1987). Form, effect size, and power in moderated regression analysis. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 60, 243-255.

Chaplin

W. F.

(1991). The next generation in moderation research in personality psychology. Journal of Personality, 59, 143-178. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1991.tb00772.x

Cohen

West

S. G.

Aiken

L. S.

(2003). Applied multiple regression for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

10.

Cohen

Kamarck

Mermelstein

(1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.

11.

David

E. J. R.

Okazaki

Saw

(2009). Bicultural self-efficacy among college students: Initial scale development and mental health correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56, 211-226.

12.

Erikson

E. H.

(1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York, NY: Norton.

13.

Falcon

L. M.

Tucker

K. L.

(2000). Prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms among Hispanic elders in Massachusetts. Journal of Gerontology, 55, S108-S116.

14.

Greene

M. L.

Way

Pahl

(2006). Trajectories of perceived adult and peer discrimination among Black, Latino, and Asian American adolescents: Patterns of psychological correlates. Developmental Psychology, 42, 218-238.

15.

Hair

J. F.

Black

W. C.

(2000). Cluster analysis. In Grimm

L. G.

Yarnold

P. R.

(Eds.), Reading and understanding more multivariate statistics (pp. 147-205). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

16.

Harkness

(2008). Life events and hassles. In Dobson

K. S.

Dozois

D. J. A.

(Eds.), Risk factors in depression (pp. 317-341). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

17.

Helms

J. E.

(2007). Some better practices for measuring racial and ethnic identity constructs. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54, 235-246. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.54.3.235

18.

Kiang

Yip

Gonzales-Backen

Witkow

Fuligni

A. J.

(2006). Ethnic identity and the daily psychological well-being of adolescents from Mexican and Chinese backgrounds. Child Development, 77, 1338-1350.

19.

Knight

R. G.

Williams

McGee

Olaman

(1997). Psychometric properties of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in a sample of women in middle life. Behavior Research & Therapy, 35, 373-380.

20.

Leykin

Torres

L. D.

Aguilera

Muñoz

R. F.

(2010). Factor structure of the CES-D in a sample of Spanish- and English-speaking smokers on the internet. Psychiatry Research, 185, 269-274.

21.

Lorant

Croux

Weich

Deliege

Mackenbach

Ansseau

(2007). Depression and socio-economic risk factors: 7-year longitudinal population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 190, 293-298. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.105.020040

22.

Marcia

J. E.

(1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558.

23.

Marcia

J. E.

(1980). Identity in adolescence. In Adelson

(Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 159-187). New York, NY: John Wiley.

24.

Marcia

J. E.

(1994). The empirical study of ego identity. In Bosma

H. A.

Graafsma

T. G.

Grotevant

H. D.

de Levita

D. J.

(Eds.), Identity development: An interdisciplinary approach (4th ed., pp. 281-321). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

25.

Marcia

J. E.

(2002). Identity and psychosocial development in adulthood. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 2, 7-28.

26.

McCoy

Major

(2003). Group identification moderates emotional responses to perceived prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1005-1017.

27.

McDermott

P. A.

(1998). MEG: Megacluster analytic strategy for multistage hierarchical grouping with relocations and replications. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 677-686.

28.

Menderlson

Rehkopf

D. H.

Kubzansky

L. D.

(2008). Depression among Latinos in the United States: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 355-366.

29.

Milligan

G. W.

Cooper

M. C.

(1988). A study of standardization of variables in cluster analysis. Journal of Classification, 5, 181-204.

30.

Mojena

(1977). Hierarchical grouping methods and stopping rules: An evaluation. Computer Journal, 20, 359-363.

31.

Mossakowski

(2003). Coping with perceived discrimination: Does ethnic identity protect mental health? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 318-331.

32.

Mulrow

C. D.

Williams

J. W.

Gerety

M. B.

Ramirez

Montiel

O. M.

Kerber

(1995). Case-finding instruments for depression in primary care settings. Annals of Internal Medicine, 122, 913-921.

33.

Parham

T. A.

(1989). Cycles of psychological nigrescence. The Counseling Psychologist, 17, 187-226.

34.

Pew Research Center. (2011). Wealth gaps rise to record highs between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. Washington, DC: Author.

35.

Phinney

J. S.

(1989). Stages of ethnic identity development in minority group adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 9, 34-49.

36.

Phinney

J. S.

(1992). The multigroup ethnic identity measure: A new scale for use with diverse groups. Journal of Adolescent Research, 7, 156-176.

37.

Phinney

J. S.

(2006). Ethnic identity exploration in emerging adulthood. In Arnett

J. J.

Tanner

J. L.

(Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 117-134). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

38.

Phinney

J. S.

Ong

A. D.

(2007). Conceptualization and measurement of ethnic identity: Current status and future directions. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54, 271-281.

39.

Pieterse

A. L.

Carter

R. T.

(2007). An examination of the relationship between general life stress, racism-related stress, and psychological health among Black men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54, 101-109.

40.

Quintana

S. M.

Scull

N. C.

(2009). Latino ethnic identity. In Villarruel

F. A.

Carlo

Grau

J. M.

Azmitia

Cabrera

N. J.

Chahin

T. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of U.S. Latino psychology: Developmental and community-based perspectives (pp. 81-98). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

41.

Radloff

L. S.

(1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385-401.

42.

Remor

(2006). Psychometric properties of a Spanish Version of the Perceived Stress Scale. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 9, 86-93.

43.

Reuland

D. S.

Cherrington

Watkins

G. S.

Bradford

D. W.

Blanco

R. A.

Gaynes

B. N.

(2009). Diagnostic accuracy of Spanish language depression-screening instruments. Annals of Family Medicine, 7, 455-462.

44.

Scottham

K. M.

Cooke

D. Y.

Sellers

R. M.

Ford

(2010). Integrating process with content in understanding African American racial identity development. Self and Identity, 9, 19-40.

45.

Seaton

E. K.

Scottham

K. M.

Sellers

R. M.

(2006). The status model of racial identity development in African American adolescents: Evidence of structure, trajectories, and well-being. Child Development, 77, 1416-1426.

46.

Shelton

J. N.

Yip

Eccles

J. S.

Chatman

C. M.

Fuligni

A. J.

Wong

(2005). Ethnic identity as a buffer of psychological adjustment to stress. In Downey

Eccles

J. S.

Chatman

C. M.

(Eds.), Navigating the future: Social identity, coping, and life tasks (pp. 96-115). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

47.

Smith

T. B.

Silva

(2011). Ethnic identity and personal well-being of people of color: A meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 58, 42-60.

48.

Supple

Ghazarian

Frabutt

Plunkett

Sands

(2006). Contextual influences on Latino adolescent ethnic identity and academic outcomes. Child Development, 77, 1427-1433. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00945.x

49.

Syed

Azmitia

Phinney

J. S.

(2007). Stability and change in ethnic identity among Latino emerging adults in two contexts. Identity, 7, 155-178.

50.

Tajfel

(1981). Human groups and social categories. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

51.

Torres

(2010). Predicting levels of Latino depression: Acculturation, acculturative stress, and coping. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16, 256-263.

52.

Torres

Ong

A.D.

(2010). A daily diary investigation of Latino ethnic identity, discrimination, and depression. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16, 561-568.

53.

Torres

Rollock

(2007). Acculturation and depression among Hispanics: The moderating effect of intercultural competence. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 10-17.

54.

Umaña-Taylor

A. J.

(2011). Ethnic identity. In Schwartz

S. J.

Luyckx

Vignoles

V. L.

(Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 791-810). New York, NY: Springer.

55.

Umaña-Taylor

A. J.

Shin

(2007). An examination of ethnic identity and self-esteem with diverse populations: Exploring variations by ethnicity and geography. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 178-186.

56.

Umaña-Taylor

A. J.

Updegraff

K. A.

(2007). Latino adolescents’ mental health: Exploring the interactions among discrimination, ethnic identity, cultural orientation, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Journal of Adolescence, 30, 549-567.

57.

Umaña-Taylor

A. J.

Vargas-Chanes

Garcia

C. D.

Gonzales-Backen

(2008). A longitudinal examination of Latino adolescents’ ethnic identity, coping with discrimination, and self-esteem. Journal of Early Adolescence, 28, 16-50.

58.

Umaña-Taylor

A. J.

Yazedjian

Bámaca-Gómez

(2004). Developing the Ethnic Identity Scale using Eriksonian and social identity perspectives. Identity, 4, 9-38.

59.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity: A supplement to mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services.

60.

Vega

W. A.

Kolody

Aguilar-Gaxiola

(2001). Help seeking for mental health problems among Mexican Americans. Journal of Immigrant Health, 3, 133-140.

61.

Wei

Liao

K. Y.

Chao

R. C.

Mallinckrodt

Tsai

Botello-Zamarron

(2010). Minority stress, perceived bicultural competence, and depressive symptoms among ethnic minority college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 411-422.

62.

Yip

Seaton

E. K.

Sellers

R. M.

(2006). African American racial identity across the lifespan: Identity status, identity content, and depressive symptoms. Child Development, 77, 1504-1517.