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Neighborhood Protective Effects on Depression in Latinos

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Neighborhood social ecologies may have protective effects on depression in Latinos, after adjusting for demographic risk factors, such as nativity and length of stay in the US. This study examines the effects of neighborhood collective efficacy and linguistic isolation on depression in a heterogeneous urban Latino population from 1,468 adult respondents in Los Angeles County. We used multilevel models to analyze how major depression is associated with socioeconomic background, length of stay in the U.S., neighborhood collective efficacy and linguistic isolation among Latinos. A significant cross-level interaction effect was found between collective efficacy and foreign-born Latinos who resided in the US ≥ 15 years. We report cross-level interaction effects between linguistic isolation and nativity for U.S.-born and nativity and duration of residence for foreign-born Latinos who had lived in the U.S. at least 15 years. The moderating effects reported in this study suggest that the benefits of neighborhood collective efficacy and linguistic isolation vary by Latino subgroup and are conceptually discrete forms of social capital and offer insights for community based interventions.

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Notes

  1. The appropriateness of the three items to measure neighborhood interaction intensity was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation, and results indicate that all of the items loaded on one factor and had factor loadings above the criterion of 0.5. The alpha reliability coefficient of the neighborhood intensity scale was 0.66.

  2. In general, however, it is clear that residents who have moved to a neighborhood recently are less likely to interact with neighbors due to unfamiliarity. This would clearly be the case for recent immigrants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work and Medicine, University of Southern California, Montgomery Ross Fisher Building-MRF 102 R, 669 West 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-0411, USA

    William A. Vega

  2. David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Alfonso Ang & Michael A. Rodriguez

  3. San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Brian K. Finch

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  1. William A. Vega
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  2. Alfonso Ang
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  3. Michael A. Rodriguez
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  4. Brian K. Finch
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Correspondence to William A. Vega.

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Vega, W.A., Ang, A., Rodriguez, M.A. et al. Neighborhood Protective Effects on Depression in Latinos. Am J Community Psychol 47, 114–126 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9370-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9370-5

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