title: The correspondence of health complaints and depressive symptoms among Anglos and Mexican-Americans.
abstract: This study examines the relationship between depressive symptoms and somatic complaints and/or disorders in two ethnic groups. Data reported herein are from an epidemiological field survey of a disproportionate stratified sample of Anglos (N = 637) and two Mexican-American subsamples, United States-born (N = 342) and Mexican-born (N = 201), all living in Santa Clara County, California. The covariation between depressive symptoms and a severity of somatic complaints/disorders scale derived from collapsing International Classification of Diseases categories was compared among the three ethnic subsamples with control on age, sex, education, and marital status. A significant, direct linear correlation was found between depressive symptomatology and severity of somatic complaints/disorders for each ethnic group and was found in multivariate analyses not to change significantly with the introduction of controls. Partial correlations pointed to a stronger association for Mexican-Americans than for Anglos.
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000367:Age Factors; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D004813:Epidemiology; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006304:Health Status; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States