Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Latina adolescents are more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms
and less likely to receive mental health services for depression than their White
peers, and this mental health disparity is poorly understood. The purpose of this
dissertation study is to describe how Latina adolescents experience and seek
mental health services for their depressive symptoms. The dissertation includes
three components. The first is an integrative literature review to determine which
cultural stressors are associated with depressive symptoms among Latino/a
youth. The results indicate that discrimination, family culture conflict,
acculturative and bicultural stress, intragroup rejection, immigration stress, and
context of reception are associated with depressive symptoms in this population.
The second and third components were based on interviews with 25 Latinas
(ages 13-20) who experienced depressive symptoms during adolescence. In the
second component, a content analysis was conducted to determine cultural
stressors experienced by contemporary Latinas living in a tumultuous
sociopolitical climate in the United States. The stressors included (a) pressure to
succeed, (b) parental oversight, (c) being treated differently, and (d) fears of
deportation. In the third component, grounded theory methods were used to
develop a theoretical framework to describe the process by which Latina
adolescents self-managed and sought treatment for depressive symptoms. In this framework, participants shared a psychosocial problem labeled Being
Overburdened and Becoming Depressed. They responded to this problem
through the psychosocial process labeled Getting a Grip on My Depression,
which consisted of five phases: 1) hiding my depression, 2) keeping my
depression under control, 3) having my depression revealed, 4) skirting treatment
for my depression, and 5) deciding to move on from depression. The Latino
family, peer groups, and mainstream authorities influenced the participants’
experiences. The process of experiencing, self-managing, and seeking treatment
for depressive symptoms for Latina adolescents is both similar to and unique
from the processes by which other groups of adolescents experience depressive
symptoms. These results will contribute to the development of culturally-sensitive
strategies to prevent, identify, and treat depressive symptoms in Latina
adolescents.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:IUPUI/oai:scholarworks.iupui.edu:1805/17223 |
| Date | 18 June 2018 |
| Creators | Stafford, Allison McCord |
| Contributors | Draucker, Claire Burke, Aalsma, Matthew C., Bigatti, Silvia M., Oruche, Ukamaka |
| Source Sets | Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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