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Mercedes Rubio, PhD, Minority Affairs Program, American Sociological Association, 1307 New York Avenue NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005, 202-383-9005 ext 321, chelisrubio@yahoo.com, Nieves Rubio, JD, Mental Health System of Care, County of Kern, PO Box 1000, Bakersfield, CA 93302, and Colwick M. Wilson, PhD, Department of Counseling and Family Sciences, Loma Linda University, Griggs Hall, Graduate School, Loma Linda, CA 92350.
Latinos are projected to be the largest ethnic minority in the United Sates by 2005. Latinos are a diverse population coming from many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet our understanding of the mental health status of this diverse population is overall limited. This study has addressed several unanswered question on the relationship between sociological contextual factors and psychological distress for the three major Latino groups. Using the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES, 1982-1984), we find that men and the married have better mental health, but the pattern among the unmarried varies across Latino ethnicity. There is an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and psychological distress consistently across the three groups. Generational status is associated with psychological distress for Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans, but the relationship is in the opposite direction of each other. Being an immigrant protects Mexican Americans from higher rates of distress, but the opposite is true for Puerto Ricans. Inevitably, these data show that there is uniqueness across Latino group in terms of how the contextual variables affect mental health status. This highlights the importance of understanding the heterogeneity within the Latino community and it underscores that there are several issues remain unresolved and deserve further attention.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Minority Health, Latino Mental Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.