Interpersonal and social correlates of depressive symptoms among Latinas in farmworker families living in North Carolina

Abstract

Little research is available about the mental health of Latina women in farmworker families living in the southern United States, where Latino immigrants are relatively recent arrivals. This study examined interpersonal correlates (family conflict, family's outward orientation, and perceived discrimination) and social correlates (residential mobility and economic insecurity) of depressive symptoms and of meeting a threshold of depressive symptoms that could be clinically significant (a cut-point of 10 or higher in a short Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale) among Latinas in farmworker families living in North Carolina. Data were collected from April 19, 2011 to April 20, 2012 as part of Niños Sanos, a prospective study of Latino women and children (N = 248). Regression models showed that exposure to family conflict, perceived discrimination, and economic insecurity were associated with more depressive symptoms. Likewise, perceived discrimination and economic insecurity were associated with a threshold of depressive symptoms that could be clinically significant, above and beyond family conflict. The findings suggested that policies that lessen the discrimination of farmworkers and their families and reduce economic insecurity, as well as interventions that support positive family functioning, might be beneficial for the mental health of Latinas in farmworker families living in new immigrant destinations.