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Spanish Language Use Across Generations and Depressive Symptoms Among US Latinos

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Abstract

Acculturation markers, such as language use, have been associated with Latino depression. Language use may change between generations; however, few studies have collected intergenerational data to assess how language differences between generations impact depression. Using the Niños Lifestyle and Diabetes Study (2013–2014), we assessed how changes in Spanish language use across two generations of Mexican-origin participants in Sacramento, California, influenced offspring depressive symptoms (N = 603). High depressive symptoms were defined as CESD-10 scores ≥ 10. We used log-binomial and linear-binomial models to calculate prevalence ratios and differences, respectively, for depressive symptoms by language use, adjusting for identified confounders and within-family clustering. Decreased Spanish use and stable-equal English/Spanish use across generations protected against depressive symptoms, compared to stable-high Spanish use. Stable-low Spanish use was not associated with fewer depressive symptoms compared to stable-high Spanish use. Exposure to multiple languages cross-generationally may improve resource access and social networks that protect against depression.

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Abbreviations

CESD-10:

Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-10

CI:

Confidence interval

MDD:

Major depressive disorder

NLDS:

Niños Lifestyle & Diabetes Study

PD:

Prevalence difference

PR:

Prevalence ratio

SALSA:

Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging

SD:

Standard deviation

US:

Unites States

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (Grant Numbers R01 DK087864 and R01 DK60753), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Grant Number P60 MD002249), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant Number T32 HD007168), and the National Institute on Aging (Grant Number R01 AG012975).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 135 Dauer Drive, 2101 McGavran-Greenberg Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7435, USA

    Julia B. Ward, Anissa I. Vines, Lindsay Fernández-Rhodes, Erline Miller & Allison E. Aiello

  2. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 206 West Franklin St., Rm. 208, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, USA

    Julia B. Ward, Lindsay Fernández-Rhodes & Allison E. Aiello

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94158-2549, USA

    Mary N. Haan

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2101C McGavran-Greenberg Hall, CB #7435, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Allison E. Aiello

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  1. Julia B. Ward
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  2. Anissa I. Vines
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  3. Mary N. Haan
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  4. Lindsay Fernández-Rhodes
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  5. Erline Miller
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  6. Allison E. Aiello
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Correspondence to Allison E. Aiello.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study, and study procedures were approved by institutional review boards at participating institutions.

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Ward, J.B., Vines, A.I., Haan, M.N. et al. Spanish Language Use Across Generations and Depressive Symptoms Among US Latinos. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 50, 61–71 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-018-0820-x

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