Correlation of depression and acculturation in Mexican-American females.

Abstract

It has been postulated that the result of the Mexican woman's inability to live up to the stiff requirements of her culture should show itself in depressive trends. These theories are often applied to the Mexican-American female as well. Some studies show higher depression rates in Mexican-American female clinic populations. However, not all clinical investigations have reached the same conclusion. In the research on nonpsychiatric populations of Chicano women, there is also no consensus regarding depression. The purpose of this study was to determine if acculturation is related to depression in Mexican American females. A second goal was to determine if Mexican American women are depressed when compared to Anglo-American females when the variables of age, education, and occupation of the head of the household are controlled. Subjects were drawn from two universities, Parent-Teacher Associations, church groups, and a Hispanic social service agency. Depression was measured by the CES-D, and acculturation was measured by an acculturation scale designed for Mexican-Americans. Results showed no significant relationship between depression and acculturation and that the Chicano females had significantly higher depression scores than the Anglo-American females. This research was in agreement with the latest studies that have also found Mexican-Americans to show higher depression scores. These higher depression scores may be a result of discrimination, prejudice, exclusion from the decision-making process, awareness of the powerless position of Chicanos, or an inability to achieve a desired standard of living. Higher depression scores may also be the result of cultural differences between Anglos and Chicanos. However, for this sample, higher depression scores were not related to acculturation.