Trajectories of Depression for Latino Immigrant Adolescents: The Influence of Individual, Family, and Sociocultural Factors

Latino immigrant adolescents represent a high-risk group for developing depression. Such risk for depres-sion becomes more salient in emerging destination contexts (e.g., Oregon) where immigrant youth face con-siderably 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 emerg-ing 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, effec-tive parenting practices, parent depression), and sociocultural (ethnic discrimination) levels. Results from LGC revealed that youth, on average, followed a decreasing trajectory of depression. Furthermore, identify-ing 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 initial levels of depression and slopes over time. Moreover, when considered sep-arately, predictors were significant only for females such that parent depression predicted higher baseline depression scores, and family cultural stress predicted a more slowly decreasing slope. Results suggest that Latina immigrant females are more variable in their depression patterns than males and may be more sensitive to family-related stressors that contribute to depression.

Automated summary

Latino immigrant adolescents are at high risk for developing depression, especially in emerging destination contexts like Oregon. This study examined depression trajectories among Latino immigrant families in western Oregon over a period of 3 years, and found that Latina immigrant females exhibited more variability in their depression patterns and were more sensitive to family-related stressors.