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

Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, Vol 132(1), Jan 2023, 1-12; doi:10.1037/abn0000798Latino 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 ini...
Source: Journal of Abnormal Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research