title: Beyond cultural factors to understand immigrant mental health: Neighborhood ethnic density and the moderating role of pre-migration and post-migration factors.
abstract: Pre-migration and post-migration factors may influence the health of immigrants. Using a cross-national framework that considers the effects of the sending and receiving social contexts, we examined the extent to which pre-migration and post-migration factors, including individual and neighborhood level factors, influence depressive symptoms at a 2-year follow-up time point. Data come from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, a population-based prospective cohort of Puerto Ricans between the ages of 45 and 75 y. The association of neighborhood ethnic density with depressive symptomatology at follow-up was significantly modified by sex and level of language acculturation. Men, but not women, experienced protective effects of ethnic density. The interaction of neighborhood ethnic density with language acculturation had a non-linear effect on depressive symptomatology, with lowest depressive symptomatology in the second highest quartile of language acculturation, relative to the lowest and top two quartiles among residents of high ethnic density neighborhoods. Results from this study highlight the complexity, and interplay, of a number of factors that influence the health of immigrants, and emphasize the significance of moving beyond cultural variables to better understand why the health of some immigrant groups deteriorates at faster rates overtime.
authors.affiliation: College of Health Sciences, Clinical Laboratory and Nutritional Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, 3 Solomont Way, Suite 4, Weed Hall, Lowell, MA 01854, USA. Electronic address: sandra_arevalogarcia@uml.edu.
authors.forename: Sandra P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Arévalo
authors.affiliation: College of Health Sciences, Clinical Laboratory and Nutritional Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, 3 Solomont Way, Suite 4, Weed Hall, Lowell, MA 01854, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.affiliation: College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, 150 Wilder St., Lowell, MA 01854, USA.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Falcón
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000368:Aged; D001900:Boston; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011156:Population Density; D011203:Poverty; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000208:ethnology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Acculturation; Depressive symptomatology; Ethnic density; Immigrant mental health; Latinos/Hispanics; Pre-migration and post-migration factors