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Economic Hardship and Depression Among Women in Latino Farmworker Families

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Abstract

Farmworker family members risk poor mental health due to stressors including poverty, relocation, and documentation status. This paper explores the relationship between farm-work related stressors and depressive symptoms in women of Latino farmworker families. 248 mothers of young children completed fixed-response interviews in Spanish. Measures included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, Migrant Farmworker Stress Inventory, and USDA Household Food Security Survey Module. Bivariate analyses indicated greater depressive symptoms with more economic hardship, more farm work-related stressors, greater age, and being unmarried. In multivariable logistic regression, economic hardship remained the only factor associated with depressive symptoms. Greater economic hardship, but not general farm work-related stress, is a main factor associated with depression in women of Latino farmworker families. Maternal depression can have consequences for both mothers and families. Mental health services for women in farmworker families should be targeted to those with the greatest economic challenges.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (RO1 HD059855).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Medical Center Boulevard, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Camila A. Pulgar, Grisel Trejo & Sara A. Quandt

  2. Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Biostatistical Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Cynthia Suerken & Edward H. Ip

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Thomas A. Arcury

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  1. Camila A. Pulgar
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  2. Grisel Trejo
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  4. Edward H. Ip
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  5. Thomas A. Arcury
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  6. Sara A. Quandt
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Correspondence to Sara A. Quandt.

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Pulgar, C.A., Trejo, G., Suerken, C. et al. Economic Hardship and Depression Among Women in Latino Farmworker Families. J Immigrant Minority Health 18, 497–504 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0229-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0229-6

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