title: Intergenerational education mobility and depressive symptoms in a population of Mexican origin.
abstract: Low educational attainment has been associated with depression among Latinos. However, few studies have collected intergenerational data to assess mental health effects of educational mobility across generations.
  
  
  
  Using data from the Niños Lifestyle and Diabetes Study, we assessed the influence of intergenerational education on depressive symptoms among 603 Mexican-origin individuals. Intergenerational educational mobility was classified: stable-low (low parent and/or low offspring education), upwardly mobile (low parent and/or high offspring education), stable-high (high parent and/or high offspring education), or downwardly mobile (high parent and/or low offspring education). High depressive symptoms were defined as scoring ≥10 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-10 (CESD-10). We examined prevalence ratios (PRs) for depressive symptoms with levels of educational mobility. We used general estimating equations with log-binomial models to account for within-family clustering, adjusting for age, gender, and offspring and parent nativity.
  
  
  
  Compared with stable-low participants, the lowest prevalence of CESD-10 score ≥10 occurred in upwardly mobile (PR = 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.39-0.78) and stable-high (PR = 0.62; 95% CI = 0.44-0.87) participants. Downwardly mobile participants were also less likely to have a CESD-10 score ≥10 compared with stable-low participants (PR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.38-1.11), although the estimate was not statistically significant.
  
  
  
  Sustained stress from low intergenerational education may adversely affect depression. Latinos with stable-low or downwardly mobile intergenerational educational attainment may need closer monitoring for depressive symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Julia B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Mary N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Haan
authors.affiliation: UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Tu My
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: To
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill. Electronic address: aaiello@email.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Allison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Aiello
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D012937:Social Mobility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Depressive symptoms; Education; Family; Latinos; Mental health; Mexican Americans; Social mobility; Socioeconomic factors