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Depression and Antidepressant Use Among Asian and Hispanic Adults: Association with Immigrant Generation and Language Use

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Abstract

This research investigates the psychological well-being and usage of medical treatments by Asian and Hispanic immigrant descendants. Using data from all four waves of Add Health study, this paper focuses on two outcomes: (1) depression and (2) levels of antidepressant use by race/ethnicity, immigrant generation, and linguistic acculturation levels during adulthood. Findings reveal that depression is prevalent among Mexican Americans, other Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Furthermore, Mexican Americans and Asian Americans have reported a lower level of antidepressant use than whites, with Asian Americans attaining the lowest level when immigrant generation, language acculturation levels, and other socioeconomic factors are held constant. We also find that those who are linguistically less acculturated have much lower levels of antidepressant use than their monolingual English-speaking counterparts.

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Acknowledgements

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by Grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from Grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. We are grateful to the Carolina Population Center and its NIH Center Grant (P2C HD050924) for general support. Further, the authors would like to thank Dr. Eric A. Whitsel at the Departments of Epidemiology & Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill, for his help with the definition of anti-depressant use. Lastly, we are thankful to two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box #8120, 206 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, USA

    Ping Chen & Timothy O. Monbureau

  2. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jon M. Hussey

  3. Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jon M. Hussey

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  1. Ping Chen
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Correspondence to Ping Chen.

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Chen, P., Hussey, J.M. & Monbureau, T.O. Depression and Antidepressant Use Among Asian and Hispanic Adults: Association with Immigrant Generation and Language Use. J Immigrant Minority Health 20, 619–631 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0597-1

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