Proud to be Mexican

One in five children in the U.S. are estimated to live with a parent (most often a mother) with depression. Maternal depression is associated with maladaptive parenting and interferes with healthy child development.

In Mexican-origin families, depression may be especially likely for acculturated mothers. According to the acculturation hypothesis, acculturation increases risk for psychopathology when it exposes Latinos to acculturative stress, discrimination and the erosion of traditional cultural characteristics that diminish social support.

This hypothesis has emerged from studies of the immigrant paradox, or a pattern of findings documenting better health for immigrants relative to their wealthier, U.S.-born co-ethnic peers.

The paradox has been observed most robustly among Mexican-origin Latinos, and for depression more so than most other mental health disorders. For example, depression rates show up to a three-fold increase and have an earlier onset of disorder for U.S.-born Latinos.

In a recent study of the immigrant paradoxopens in new window published in Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, clinical child psychologist Esther Calzada collaborated with statistician Adam Sales to examine the association between acculturation and depression in Mexican-origin mothers, considering cultural buffers (i.e., the cultural value of "familismo," ethnic identity) and cultural stressors (i.e., perceived discrimination, acculturative stress such as the pressure to act "Mexican" or "American") as potential mechanisms.

By focusing on stressors and buffers simultaneously, the authors highlight strengths inherent in Mexican culture while still acknowledging the complexities of the lived experiences of minority families.

Findings suggest that the immigrant paradox may manifest among Mexican-origin mothers partly because of a failure to develop, or perhaps the erosion over time of, a strong ethnic identity.

Calzada surveyed 175 mothers of 3- to 6-year old children who self-identified as Mexican-origin at two timepoints approximately 9 months apart. Mothers were categorized as acculturated or unacculturated based on cluster analyses using demographic and language proficiency variables.

The authors used acculturative status rather than immigrant status as the independent variable because past studies have shown that the dichotomization of immigrant status based on nativity obscures important variations among foreign-born Latinos based on age at arrival.

Calzada and Sales found that acculturated mothers were more likely to experience pressure to "act Mexican" and were less likely to endorse Mexican values (i.e., "familismo") and a Mexican identity (i.e., an ethnic identity). For unacculturated mothers, a stronger ethnic identity appears to have protected them from later depression.

In today's political anti-immigrant climate, maintaining a strong and proud Mexican identity may be particularly challenging but especially important.

The pressure to acculturate also predicted depression, suggesting that mothers must acculturate to U.S. cultural norms while maintaining a strong connection to their Mexican identity. Mothers who reported higher perceived discrimination reported experiencing fewer depressive symptoms as well.

This finding was unexpected given past studies that show the deleterious effects of discrimination on health. Experiences of discrimination may activate coping skills, especially in mothers with a strong sense of their culture and identity.

The authors conclude that maintaining a connection with and competencies within one's culture of origin, even while adapting to mainstream culture, may be most beneficial for the mental health of Mexican-origin mothers, and by extension, for their children.

Citation

• Calzada, E. J., & Sales, A. (2019). Depression among Mexican-origin mothers: Exploring the immigrant paradox. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 25(2), 288–298. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000214

Note: This article is in the Clinical Psychology topic area. View more articles in the Clinical Psychology topic area.

Esther Calzadaopens in new window is a clinical child psychologist and an associate professor of social work at The University of Texas at Austin with expertise in parenting and early childhood development among ethnic minority, particularly Latino, families. Her program of research aims to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in academic achievement, behavior problems, and socio-emotional problems through evidence-based, culturally-grounded interventions for families and schools.

Adam Sales is a statistician in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on quantitative methods for education sciences, and in particular natural/quasi-experiments, multilevel modeling, mediation analysis, and educational data mining.