Purpose
The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with major depression among
a sample of diverse mothers in Los Angeles while paying special attention to racial
and ethnic as well as immigration status differences.
Methods
Using logistic regression models, we examined the association between major depression
and race and ethnicity, immigration status, and other key covariates. Major depression
was measured using the Comprehensive International Diagnostic Interview Short Form.
This study was based on 1,856 racially and ethnically diverse mothers who participated
in Wave 1 of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, which was fielded in
65 census tracts.
Main Findings
After controlling for key covariates, we found that non-Hispanic white mothers had
1.67 times the odds of having major depression than Hispanic mothers (95% confidence
interval [CI], 0.99–2.80). In addition, single mothers had elevated rates of major
depression compared with married mothers (odds ratio [OR], 1.54; 95% CI, 1.00–2.37).
Mothers with a college degree or higher had significantly lower odds of being depressed
compared with mothers without a college degree (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.29–0.86); mothers
with only adolescents in the home had significantly higher odds of major depression
than mothers with at least one preadolescent child in the home (OR, 1.73; 95% CI,
1.11–2.70).
Conclusion
Given the links between depressed mothers and child outcomes, our results have important
implication for mothers with adolescent children, particularly those who are white,
single, or less educated.
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Biography
Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo is an Associate Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation and received her PhD in Psychology from Columbia University.
Biography
Beth Ann Griffin is an associate statistician at the RAND Corporation and received her PhD in biostatistics from Harvard University.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 20, 2007
Accepted:
July 3,
2007
Received:
January 9,
2007
Footnotes
The authors are grateful to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD41486) for its support of this research.
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
