This study explored the relative usefulness of measures of race, ethnicity, and acculturation in understanding the mental health of an ethnically diverse group of low-income women. The 194 women who were enrolled in the Women, Infant and Child program showed no racial/ethnic variation in the prevalence of mental health symptoms and a general mental health syndrome, as measured by the PrimeMD-PHQ screening tool. However, immigrants or migrants were less likely than were natives to report symptoms of depression and distress. Speaking primarily a language other than English was associated with symptoms of distress. The findings suggest that for treatment and program planning for low-income women, racial/ethnic designations may be less useful than may the more direct measures of the cultural differences they presume to reflect.
Aday, L. A. (1994). Health status of vulnerable populations. Annual Review of Public Health, 15, 487–509.
2.
Alvidrez, J. (1999). Ethnic variation in mental health attitudes and service use among low-income African American, Latina, and European American young women. Community Mental Health Journal, 35, 515-530.
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
4.
Bennett, T. (1997). “Racial” and ethnic classification: Two steps forward and one step back?Public Health Reports, 112(6), 477-481.
5.
Berenson, A., Breitkopf, C., & Wu, Z. (2003). Reproductive correlates of depressive symptoms among low-income minority women. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1002, 1310-1317.
6.
Blazer, D., Kessler, R., McGonagle, K., & Swartz, M. (1994, July). The prevalence and distribution of major depression in a national community sample: The National Comorbidity Survey. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 979-986.
7.
Chiswick, B., & Sullivan, T. (1995). The new immigrants. In R. Farley (Ed.), State of the union: America in the 1990s: Vol. 2. Social trends (pp. 211-270). New York: Russell Sage.
8.
Currie, D., & Wiesenberg, S. (2003). Promoting women’s health-seeking behavior: Research and the empowerment of women. Health Care for Women International, 24, 880-899.
9.
Fix, M., & Passel, J. S. (1994). Immigration and immigrants: Setting the record straight. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
10.
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference (11.0 update, 4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
11.
Heneghan, A., Silver, E., Bauman, L., Westbrook, L., & Stein, R. (1998). Depressive symptoms in inner-city mothers of young children: Who is at risk?Pediatrics, 102, 1394-1400.
12.
Horwath, E., Johnson, J., & Hornig, C. (1993). Epidemiology of panic disorders in African-Americans. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 465-469.
13.
Karno, M., Golding, J., Burham, M., Hough, R., Escobar, J., Wells, K., et al. (1989). Anxiety disorders among Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic Whites in Los Angeles. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177, 202-209.
14.
Kaufman, J., & Cooper, R. (2001). Commentary: Consideration for use of racial/ethnic classification in etiologic research. American Journal of Epidemiology, 154, 291-298.
15.
Kessler, R., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Koretz, D., Merikangas, K., et al. (2003). The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Journal of the American Medical Association, 289, 3095-3105.
16.
Kessler, R., McGonagle, K., Zhao, S., Nelson, C., Hughes, M., Eshelman, S., et al. (1994). Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States: Results from a National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51(1), 8-20.
17.
Kessler, R., Mickelson, K., & Williams, D. (1999). The prevalence, distribution, and mental health correlates of perceived discrimination in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40, 208-230.
18.
Krieger, N. (2000). Counting accountably: Implications of the new approaches to classifying race/ethnicity in the 2000 census. American Journal of Public Health, 90(11), 1687-1689.
19.
Lee, S. (1993). Racial classification in the U.S. census: 1890-1990. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 16(1), 75-94.
20.
Mays, V., Ponce, N., Washington, D., & Cochran, S. (2003). Classification of race and ethnicity: Implications for pubic health. Annual Review of Public Health, 24, 83-110.
21.
McGoldrick, M. (1982, October 30). Ethnicity and family therapy. New York: Guilford.
22.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). (1997). Revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Federal Register (62FR58781-58790). Retrieved from http://Whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/print/1997standards.html
23.
Reid, P. (1999). Poor women in psychological research: Shut up and shut out. In L. Peplau, S. DeBro, R. Veniegas, & P. Taylor (Eds.), Gender, culture, and ethnicity: Current research about women and men (pp. 336-352). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
24.
Richardson, J., Porter, D., & Jones, J. (2004). Child nutrition and WIC programs: Background and funding. New York: Nova Science.
25.
Robins, L., Helzer, J., Weissman, M., Orvaschel, H., Gruenberg, E., Burke, J., et al. (1984). Lifetime prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in three sites. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 949-958.
26.
Rosen, D., Spencer, M., Tolman, R., Williams, D., & Jackson, J. (2003). Psychiatric disorders and substance dependence among unmarried low-income mothers. Health and Social Work, 28, 157-165.
27.
Siefert, K., Bowman, P., Heflin, C., Danziger, S., & Williams, D. (2000). Social and environmental predictors of maternal depression in current and recent welfare recipients. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70, 510-522.
28.
Sparks, E. (2002). Depression and schizophrenia in women: The intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, and class. In M. Ballou & L. Brown (Eds.), Rethinking mental health and disorder: Feminist perspectives (pp. 279-305). New York: Guilford.
29.
Spitzer, R., Kroenke, K., & Williams, J. (1999). Validation and utility of a self-report version of PRIME-MD: The PHQ primary care study. Journal of the American Medical Association, 282(18), 1737-1744.
30.
Stuurman, S. (2000, Fall). François Bernier and the invention of racial classification. History Workshop Journal, 50, 1-21.
31.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2001). Profiles of general demographic characteristics: 2000 Census of Population and Housing, United States. Retrieved from http://www2.census.gov/census2000/datasets/demographic_profile/0_National_Summary
32.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity: A supplement to Mental Health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: Author.
33.
Vega, W., Kolody, B., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alderette, E., Catalano, R., & Caraveo-Anduaga, J. (1998). Lifetime prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders among urban and rural Mexican Americans in California. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 771-778.
34.
Wallen, G., Feldman, R., & Anliker, J. (2002). Measuring acculturation among Central American women with the use of a brief language scale. Journal of Immigrant Health, 4, 95-102.
35.
Williams, D., Lavizzo-Mourey, R., & Warren, R. (1994). The concept of race and health status in America. Public Health Reports, 109(1), 26-41.
36.
Zhang, A., & Snowden, L. (1999). Ethnic characteristics of mental disorders in five U.S. communities. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 5, 134-146.
