Acculturative Stress, Social Support, 12-Month Major Depressive Episodes And Self-Rated Mental Distress In Latino And Asian Older Immigrants

Abstract

The increasing number of aging Latino and Asian immigrants demands a clearer understanding of depression and distress among these groups. Using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study, 495 Latino and Asian immigrants over 60 years old were assessed for levels of acculturative stress and social support, occurrence of a major depressive episode within the last 12 months (MDE) and selfrated mental distress. Aging Asian immigrants were less likely to report 12-month MDE while marginally more likely to report distress compared to Latino immigrants. Although there were significant correlations between acculturative stress and social support, social support did not buffer the effect of acculturative stress on either the probability of reporting a 12-month MDE or higher distress. Furthermore, although predicted by previous research and theory, the associations of acculturative stress and social support with depression did not differ between Asians and Hispanics. Implications for future research are discussed.