Profiles of depressive symptoms among African Americans and Caribbean Blacks

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Abstract

Latent profile analysis was used to summarize profiles of depressive symptoms among a nationally representative sample of US-born and Caribbean-born Blacks. Analyses are based on the responses of 4915 African Americans and Caribbean Blacks from the National Survey of American Life. A high symptoms and a low symptoms class were identified. Age, gender, negative interaction within the individual's social network (e.g., conflict, demands, criticism) and racial discrimination were associated with depressive symptoms in the low symptoms class, whereas socioeconomic status, gender, emotional support and negative interaction were associated with depressive symptoms in the high symptoms class. The findings demonstrate the heterogeneity within the Black population in the USA and the distinct sociodemographic, family network and stress correlates of depressive symptoms for each latent class.

Introduction

The Black population in the US is becoming more diverse each year, fueled in large part, by the immigration of Blacks of Caribbean descent. In 1990, Blacks in the US totaled about 30 million; in 2000, the total increased to 36.2 million (US Census Bureau, 2005b). The 2000 census estimated that there were almost 1,320,000 Americans of English-speaking West Indian ancestries, and an additional 548,200 of Haitian ancestry, making up 7% of all Blacks in the US (US Census Bureau, 2005a). Although there are commonalities in life experiences associated with being Black in the US, there is also considerable heterogeneity. Cultural, contextual and demographic differences between African Americans and Blacks of Caribbean descent may constitute important risk and protective factors for mental health. Unfortunately, few studies of mental health among Blacks consider the demographic diversity within this group. As a departure, this investigation of the mental health status of the Black population employs an analysis technique to identify the risk and protective profiles of depressive symptoms among a nationally representative and ethnically diverse sample of Black Americans.

Section snippets

Background

Two bodies of literature are useful for framing the current investigation of the profiles of depressive symptoms among Black Americans. The first focuses on explanations for the “healthy immigrant effect” in which Caribbean immigrants are posited to have better health than US-born Blacks. This health advantage is attributed to a positive selection effect of migration whereby healthier individuals are more likely to immigrate and thus, as a group are healthier than native-born individuals (Singh

Race, ethnicity and depressive symptoms

Studies of depressive symptoms among African Americans have produced inconsistent findings. Although most investigations report more depressive symptoms among Blacks as compared to Whites (Jackson, 1997; Myers et al., 2002), a few report no racial differences (Gallo, Cooper-Patrick, & Lesikar, 1998; Husaini, Castor, Linn, & Moore, 1990). Despite the suggestion that socioeconomic status may explain these differences (Frerichs, Aneshensel, & Clark, 1981; Riolo, Nguyen, Greden, & King, 2005),

Social relationships, stress and mental health

A large body of research indicates that better mental health and well-being is associated with access to social resources in the form of spouses, family members, and friends who provide psychological and tangible support (Cohen & Wills, 1985; House, Umberson, & Landis, 1988). However, not all social relationships are positive or necessarily beneficial. Negative interactions (e.g., conflict, excessive demands, criticism) are a direct source of stress that have serious consequences for mental

Focus of the present study

The present investigation of depressive symptom profiles within the Black population has several advantages. First, researchers have typically used variable-based statistical models such as linear or logistic regression analyses to examine the relationship between race/ethnicity and depressive symptoms. While these statistical models have been appropriate for the research questions addressed, they often make the assumption that racial groups are homogenous entities and that race itself is

Data

The National Survey of American Life: Coping with Stress in the 21st Century (NSAL) was collected by the Program for Research on Black Americans at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. The NSAL focuses on the physical, emotional, mental, structural, and economic conditions of African Americans, with a major emphasis on mental health and mental illness. The fieldwork for the study was completed by the Institute of Social Research's Survey Research Center, in cooperation

Results

Overall, African Americans report a higher mean number of depressive symptoms (6.78) compared to Caribbean Blacks (6.07) [data not shown]. Data in Table 1 indicates that African Americans report less income on average ($32,248) compared to Caribbean Blacks ($42,239), fewer years of education (12.33 years vs. 13.03 years), older age (42.74 years compared to 40.94 years), and are more likely to be unmarried (73% vs. 65%), female (65% vs. 60%), and to live in the South (66% vs. 28%). All of these

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to empirically identify depressive symptom profiles among a representative sample of African American and Caribbean Black adults. The results demonstrated the utility of a latent profile approach to risk characterization while also providing substantively meaningful information. Our data indicated heterogeneity among those Black Americans reporting lower vs. higher levels of depressive symptoms, depending on the particular profile, or constellation of risk and

Ackowledgments

The preparation of this manuscript was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (K01-MH69923-01) to Dr. Lincoln and grants from the National Institute on Aging to Drs. Chatters and Taylor (R01-AG018782) and Dr. Taylor (P30-AG15281). The authors would like to thank Dr. David T. Takeuchi for his helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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