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Ethnic and Gender Variations in the Associations Between Family Cohesion, Family Conflict, and Depression in Older Asian and Latino Adults

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Abstract

To examine the associations between family conflict, family cohesion and late-life depression in Latino and Asian populations and test if these associations vary by race/ethnicity and gender. We used a subsample of older adults from the National Latino Asian American Study (N = 395). All analyses were weighted and adjusted for individual and clinical characteristics. Greater family cohesion was associated with decrease in risk for depression in Latino and Asian older adult populations (OR: 0.68, 95 % CI: 0.54, 0.84). These associations varied by gender, with men being more sensitive to family cohesion and family conflict than women. Asian older adults were more sensitive to family conflict, whereas Latino older adults were more sensitive to family cohesion. The quality of family relationships is strongly associated with late-life depression. Further research is needed to better understand the complex interplay between social support, ethnicity, and gender in latelife depression outcomes.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Park was supported by the Geriatric Mental Health Services Research Fellowship (NIMH 2 T32 MH 37553-6). The authors thank David Takeuchi PhD (Boston College) for his thoughtful feedback on the previous version of this paper. The authors also thank Vincente Martinez PhD and Deborah Huang MD (University of Washington Seattle) for their careful reading and editorial suggestions on the previous version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Community Systems, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, 415 Victoria Building, 3500 Victoria Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA

    Mijung Park

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jürgen Unützer

  3. Department of Health Services, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA, USA

    David Grembowski

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  1. Mijung Park
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  2. Jürgen Unützer
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  3. David Grembowski
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Correspondence to Mijung Park.

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Park, M., Unützer, J. & Grembowski, D. Ethnic and Gender Variations in the Associations Between Family Cohesion, Family Conflict, and Depression in Older Asian and Latino Adults. J Immigrant Minority Health 16, 1103–1110 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9926-1

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