Immigrant Generation and Depressive Symptom Trajectories from Early Adolescence to Midlife: Evidence from Add Health

Abstract

Using 20,771 participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we examined depressive symptom trajectories by immigrant generation from adolescence to midlife. Depressive symptoms were assessed across five waves using a validated four-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. Linear mixed effects models with a quintic polynomial age trajectory indicated that first- and second-generation immigrants reported higher adolescent symptoms than third-plus-generation peers (first generation: b = .433, p < .001; second generation: b = .476, p < .001) but experienced steeper declines in their 20s (first generation: b = −.030, p < .001; second generation: b = −.027, p < .001). By their 30s, both immigrant generations had fewer symptoms than third-plus-generation peers. Sociodemographic adjustment partially explained the immigrant adolescent disadvantage, whereas the immigrant adult advantage persisted. Depressive symptom disparities thus reverse across the life course, underscoring the need for developmentally and context-sensitive models of immigrant mental health.