Abstract
The present study examined the influence(s) of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and substance abuse on depressive symptomatology in a sample of African-American, Dominican, Irish-American, and Puerto Rican women of child-bearing age. While the initial analyses indicated ethnic differences in depressive symptomatology, these differences, with the exception of the difference observed in positive affect, disappeared when socioeconomic status and substance use were controlled. Thus the observed differences between the four groups of women in overall CES-D scores, somatic complaints and negative affect resulted, in large measure, from the divergent socioeconomic circumstances of the four groups.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Breznitz, Z., & Friedman, S. L. (1988). Toddlers' concentration: Does maternal depression make a difference? Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 29, 267–279.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Cohn, J. F., & Tronick, E. (1989). Specificity of infants' response to mothers' affective behavior. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 242–248.
Culbertson, F. M. (1997). Depression and gender. American Psychologist, 52, 25–31.
Davis, S. K. (1990). Chemical dependency in women: A description of its effects and outcome on adequate parenting. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 7, 225–232.
Editors Consortium on Development and Psychopathology (1996). Statement by the Editors Consortium on Development and Psychopathology for reporting SES and race/ethnicity information. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6, 377–378.
Field, T., Healy, B., Goldstein, S., Perry, S., Bendell, D., Schanberg, S., Zimmerman, E. A., & Kuhn, C. (1988). Infants of depressed mothers show “depressed” behavior even with nondepressed adults. Child Development, 59, 1569–1579.
Gaensbauer, T. J., Harmon, R. J., Cytryn, L., & McKnew, D. H. (1984). American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 223–229.
Haller, D. L., Knisely, J. S., Dawson, K. S., & Schnoll, S. H. (1993). Perinatal substance abusers: Psychological and social characteristics. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 181, 509–513.
Haberman, P. W. (1970). Ethnic differences in psychiatric symptoms reported in community surveys. Public Health Reports, 85, 495–502.
Johnson, H. L., Glassman, M. B., Fiks, K. B. & Rosen, T. S. (1987). Path analysis of variables affecting 36-month outcome in a population of multi-risk children. Infant Behavior and Development, 10, 451–465.
Johnson, P. B. (1993). The value of ethnographic alcohol studies: A psychologist's perspective. Social Science and Medicine, 37, 27–30.
Johnson, P. B., & Gurin, G. (1994). Negative affect, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol-related problems. Addiction, 89, 581–586.
Jones, M. C. (1971). Personality antecedents and correlates of drinking patterns in women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 36, 61–69.
Jones-Webb, R. J., & Snowden, L. R. (1993). Symptoms of depression among blacks and whites. American Journal of Public Health, 83, 240–244.
Kelley, S. J. (1992). Parenting stress and child maltreatment in drug-exposed children. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19, 317–328.
Kessler, R. C., McGonagle, K. A., Zhao, S., Nelson, C. B., Hughes, M., Eshleman, S., Wittchen, H., & Kendler, K. S. (1994). Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 8–18.
Kessler, R. C., & Neighbors, H. (1986). A new perspective on the relationships among race, social class, and psychological distress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 27, 107–115.
Knupfer, G. (1982). Problems associated with drunkenness in women: Some research issues. In Special populations issues (pp. 3–42). Alcohol and Health Monograph No. 4. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Moser, L., & Kalton, D. (1972). Survey Methods in Social Investigation. New York: Basic Books, 1972.
Radloff, L. S., & Wales, J. B. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measures, 1, 385–401.
Schuckit, M. A. (1979). Alcoholism and affective disorder: Diagnostic confusion. In D. W. Goodwin, & C. K. Erickson (Eds.), Alcoholism and affective disorders (pp. 9–19). New York: Spectrum.
Srole, L., Langner, T. S., Michael, S. T., Kirkpatrick, P. O., Opler, M. K., & Rennie, T. A. C. (1978). Mental health in the metropolis: The midtown Manhattan study. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Sroufe, A. L., & Egeland, B. (1991). Illustrations of person-environment interaction from a longitudinal study. In T. D. Wachs & R. Plomin (Eds.), Conceptualization and measurement of organism/environment interaction (pp. 68–84). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Woods, N. S., Eyler, F. D., Behnke, M., & Conlon, M. (1993). Cocaine use during pregnancy: Maternal depressive symptoms and infant neurobehavior over the first month. Infant Behavior and Development, 16, 83–98.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, H.L., Johnson, P.B., Nusbaum, B.J. et al. Depressive Symptomatology in African-American, Dominican, Irish-American, and Puerto Rican Women. Journal of Gender, Culture, and Health 4, 49–60 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023278126061
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023278126061