CHICAGO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Latino youth who strongly identify with their ethnic group are less likely to develop symptoms of depression, a study posted on the website of the University of Michigan (UM) on Tuesday showed.
With a goal of better understanding the aspects of adolescent development about ethnic-racial identity and how it relates to the development of depressive symptoms among Latino youth, the researchers drew data from a longitudinal study that examined culturally relevant mechanisms to bolster positive youth outcomes among Latino families residing in southeast Michigan, a state in U.S. Midwest.
The 148 participants, who were aged 13-14 at the start of the study, answered surveys annually for three years.
They examined the role of three aspects of ethnic-racial identity among Latino adolescents: centrality (the importance of ethnicity or race to one's identity); private regard (how one perceives their own ethnicity or race) and public regard (how one believes others perceive their ethnicity or race). They asked the youth to indicate how often they experienced depressive symptoms, using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.
The findings suggest that various dimensions of ethnic-racial identity are associated with fewer depressive symptoms in distinct ways at different stages of adolescence.
For instance, the degree to which the teens' ethnicity was central to their sense of self was related to lower depressive symptoms as they progressed through adolescence. Younger adolescents with higher positive perceptions of their ethnicity had lower rates of depressive symptoms one year later.
"At younger ages, what mattered most was the adolescents' own perceptions about being Latino," said Fernanda Lima Cross, a UM doctoral candidate in developmental psychology. "But, as they aged, others' perceptions about Latinos played a more important role and were associated with lower depressive symptoms."
The findings may help mental health providers that work with this population.
The study has been published in the journal Development and Psychopathology.
