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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mutchler J, Prakash A, Burr J. The demography of disability and the effects of immigrant history: older Asians in the United States. Demography. 2007;44(2):251–63.
Valdez RB, Arce C. A profile of Hispanic elders. Horizons Project Nationwide Demographic Report. McGraw-Hill: Cutting Edge Communications, Inc; 2000.
Jimenez DE, et al. Prevalence of psychiatric illnesses in older ethnic minority adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010;58(2):256–64.
Bae SW, Kung WW. Family intervention for Asian Americans with a schizophrenic patient in the family. Am J Orthopsychiatr. 2000;70(4):532–41.
Yee BWK, Huang LN, Lew A. Families: Life-span socialization in a cultural context. In: Zane NWS, Lee LC, editors. Handbook of Asian American Psychology. Thousand Oaks: Sage publications; 1998. p. 83–135.
Koenigsberg HW, et al. Expressed emotion and glucose control in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Am J Psychiatr. 1993;150(7):1114–5.
Kim EY, Miklowitz DJ. Expressed emotion as a predictor of outcome among bipolar patients undergoing family therapy. J Affect Disord. 2004;82(3):343–52.
Martire LM, Schulz R. Involving family in psychosocial interventions for chronic illness. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2007;16(2):90–4.
Lee MS, Crittenden KS, Yu E. Social support and depression among elderly Korean immigrants in the United States. Int J Aging Hum Dev. 1996;42(4):313–27.
Rivera FI et al. Family cohesion and its relationship to psychological distress among Latino groups. Hisp J Behav Sci (2008).
Lincoln K, Chae D. Emotional support, negative interaction and major depressive disorder among African Americans and Caribbean Blacks: findings from the National Survey of American Life. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2012;47(3):361–72.
Areán PA, Reynolds CF III. The impact of psychosocial factors on late-life depression. Biol Psychiatry. 2005;58(4):277–82.
George LK. Social and economic factors related to psychiatric disorders in late life. In: Blazer DG, Steffens DC, Busse EW, editors. The American psychiatric publishing textbook of geriatric psychiatry. 4th ed. Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc; 2004.
Alegria M, et al. Cultural relevance and equivalence in the NLAAS instrument: integrating etic and emic in the development of cross-cultural measures for a psychiatric epidemiology and services study of Latinos. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2004;13(4):270–88.
Heeringa SG, et al. Sample designs and sampling methods for the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Studies (CPES). Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2004;13(4):221–40.
Pennell B-E, et al. The development and implementation of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, the National Survey of American Life, and the National Latino and Asian American Survey. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2004;13(4):241–69.
Kessler RC, Üstün TB. The World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative Version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2004;13(2):93–121.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed. Washington: DSM-IV-TR; 2000.
Kessler RC, et al. National comorbidity survey replication adolescent supplement (NCS-A): III. Concordance of <i> DSM-IV </i>/CIDI Diagnoses With Clinical Reassessments. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatr. 2009;48(4):386–99.
Kessler RC, et al. Clinical calibration of DSM-IV diagnoses in the World Mental Health (WMH) version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI). Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2004;13(2):122–39.
Cervantes RC, Padilla AM, De Snyder NS. Reliability and validity of the Hispanic stress inventory. His J Behav Sci. 1990;12(1):76–82.
Olson DH. Circumplex Model VII: validation studies and FACES III. Fam Process. 1986;25(3):337–51.
StataCorp. Stata Statistical Software: Release 11. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP; 2009.
Tabachnick B, Fidell L. Using multivariatestatistics. 4th ed. NewYork: Harper& Row; 2001.
Kim HS, et al. Pursuit of comfort and pursuit of harmony: culture, relationships, and social support seeking. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2006;32(12):1595–607.
Walton E, Takeuchi DT. Family structure, family processes, and well-being among Asian Americans: considering gender and nativity. J Fam Issues. 2010;31(3):301–32.
Guarnaccia PJ, et al. Assessing diversity among Latinos: results from the NLAAS. Hisp J Behav Sci. 2007;29(4):510–34.
Kim J, Choi NG. Twelve-month prevalence of DSM-IV mental disorders among older Asian Americans: comparison with younger groups. Aging Mental Health. 2010;14(1):90–9.
Chae D, et al. Discrimination, family relationships, and major depression among Asian Americans. J Immigr Minor Health. 2012;14(3):361–70.
Sangalang CC, Gee GC. Depression and anxiety among Asian Americans: the effects of social support and strain. Soc Work. 2012;57(1):49–60.
Mulvaney-Day NE, Alegria M, Sribney W. Social cohesion, social support, and health among Latinos in the United States. Soc Sci Med. 2007;64(2):477–95.
Barnett PA, Gotlib IH. Psychosocial functioning and depression: distinguishing among antecedents, concomitants, and consequences. Psychol Bull. 1988;104(1):97–126.
Lowenstein A. Solidarity–conflict and ambivalence: testing two conceptual frameworks and their impact on quality of life for older family members. J Gerontol Ser B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2007;62(2):S100–7.
Spitze G, Gallant MP. “The Bitter With the Sweet” Older Adults’ strategies for handling ambivalence in relations with their adult children. Res Aging. 2004;26(4):387–412.
Pillemer K, et al. Capturing the complexity of intergenerational relations: exploring ambivalence within later-life families. J Social Issues. 2007;63(4):775–91.
Ying YW, Han M. Familism and mental health: variation between Asian American children of refugees and immigrants. Int J Appl Psychoanal Stud. 2007;4(4):333–48.
Hinton L, et al. Gender disparities in the treatment of late-life depression: qualitative and quantitative findings from the IMPACT trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatr. 2006;14(10):884–92.
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.
Conflict of interest
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
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
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9926-1