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Anxiety symptoms in rural Mexican adolescents

A social-ecological analysis

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

We investigated the contributions of individual, family, and community-level factors for explaining anxiety symptoms among rural adolescents in Mexico.

Method

As part of a large-scale survey, 3,553 adolescents and their mothers from 333 poor, rural communities in seven Mexican states provided cross-sectional data on family level, socio-economic and psychosocial factors, and individual-level data on anxiety symptoms. Community standard of living indicators were also gathered.

Results

Linear regressions adjusted for sampling design indicated that adolescents’ anxiety symptoms were uniquely predicted by mothers’ depressive symptoms, maternal perceived stress, larger family size, and lower maternal and adolescent educational attainment. Family income and community standard of living were not directly associated with adolescent symptoms. Adolescent females reported more symptoms than males, but gender did not moderate the relationship between the predictors and adolescents’ symptoms.

Conclusions

We found that maternal mental health was a key factor in adolescent children’s psychological wellbeing; this finding extends prior research in economically developed countries that emphasizes the importance of maternal functioning for child mental health. Family size, gender, and the educational attainment of mothers and adolescents also uniquely contributed to adolescents’ anxiety symptoms in these rural Mexican communities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research Initiative #P20RR20817 (PI Paul Gertler), NICHD R01 #HD44146-03 (PI Paul Gertler), NIH KO1 TW006077 (PI Lia H. Fernald) and the MacArthur Research Network on SES and Health. The authors thank the oportunidades program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health, 140 Warren Hall #7360, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7360, USA

    Emily J. Ozer PhD, Lia C. H. Fernald PhD & Sarah C. Roberts MPH

Authors
  1. Emily J. Ozer PhD
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  2. Lia C. H. Fernald PhD
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  3. Sarah C. Roberts MPH
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emily J. Ozer PhD.

Appendix

Appendix

Paragraph 1: What is already known on this subject?

There is little known about the determinants of symptoms of anxiety among youth in developing countries. The one published study on rural Mexican youth, with a mixed sample of adults and adolescents, did not: (a) specifically investigate the predictors for adolescents nor (b) study the impact of the maternal functioning variables included in the present study. The existing literature on the determinants of anxiety symptoms among urban Mexican adolescents is also very small: one school-based study in Mexico City found that parental conflict were associated with more symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Paragraph 2: What does this study add?

Based on a large and representative multi-state sample of rural adolescents, we now have initial insights into the factors on the individual and family level that contribute to the mental health of Mexican adolescents. Maternal functioning emerged as a key factor; to our knowledge, this is the first study in a developing country that has investigated the role of maternal functioning on adolescent mental health. Family size, gender, and the educational attainment of mothers and adolescents also uniquely contributed to adolescents’ anxiety symptoms. Family income and community conditions within this very poor sample were not uniquely associated with symptoms. Two major policy implications of this research are that: (a) Interventions targeting basic development goals of improving education and promoting family planning may also demonstrate mental health benefits for youth; and (b) Interventions to promote the mental health of Mexican adolescents may be best targeted at the level of the family, given the strong relationships among maternal functioning and adolescent symptom levels.

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Ozer, E.J., Fernald, L.C.H. & Roberts, S.C. Anxiety symptoms in rural Mexican adolescents. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 43, 1014–1023 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0473-3

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