Stress, Social Support, and Depression in Arab Muslim Immigrant Women in the Detroit Area of the USA

Abstract

Introduction: Immigrant women encounter many stressors and are at risk for depression. Social support can mitigate depression but differential provider effects according to source of support have not been studied. This study investigated the relationship between demographic characteristics, stressors (immigration demands and daily hassles), social support, and depression in married Arab Muslim immigrant women to the USA.

Main Body: A sample of 538 women provided demographic data and completed measures of social support, stress, and depression. ANCOVA and multiple regression were used to determine the relationship between the study variables. Social support from husband, immigration demands, daily hassles, country of origin, English language ability, years living in the USA, age, husband’s employment/job seeking status, and number of extended family members living in the home were significantly associated with and explained 40 % of the variance in depression. Higher support from husband was associated with lower depression, whereas greater immigration demands and daily hassles, older age, not speaking English, years living in the USA, being from Lebanon or Iraq, living with extended family members, and having a husband who is unemployed and not looking for work were associated with greater depression.

Discussion: The finding that husband support was the only social support variable associated with lower depression is possibly due to leaving extended family behind in the homeland and/or acculturating to the nuclear family structure in North America. Greater depression among women whose husbands were unemployed and not looking for work may be from traditional gender role expectations. Greater depression in women from Iraq and Lebanon is likely from premigration trauma.

Implications: Clinicians should assess married Arab Muslim immigrant women’s spousal support and the effect of living with extended family. Programs are needed to help immigrant women learn English. Research is needed to explore how living with extended family is related to depression.

Response

• Darshana Ullah 

1. Florida Hospital, Orlando, FL, USA

   Darshana Ullah

I was a single young woman when I emigrated from India to the USA, and I had to deal with many issues as a young adult to adjust to a new society, place, and culture; however, because I emigrated with my parents, some of the issues discussed in this study were not applicable to me. Later, as a married Muslim woman living near Detroit (the geographical area of the study), I ran across some of the Muslim immigrant woman that the study focused on. These women were friends, coworkers, and/or just friendly shoppers I came in contact with. I do agree with the assumptions highlighted in the chapter that stressors and social support affect the rate and severity of the depression. However, I also want to point out that the observed findings are rather limited to the Detroit area. The climate in the Detroit area may not be as conducive (because extremely cold weather for almost 4–5 months of the year, etc.) for Arab Muslim women immigrants as in other parts of the USA (e.g., California, Florida, Texas) where warmer weather and the sociocultural environment would be more adaptable.

Overall, this study is well designed with a good sample size. I believe this type of study is valuable in the area of women’s mental health. In the current health care system, it is very important for clinicians to treat individuals clinically as well as taking into account the mind, body, and spirit aspects. Mental health is an area of health care that is often overlooked in the case of individuals, possibly because symptoms are not physically measureable and visible like other common illnesses. Findings from these types of studies could help clinicians identify potential risk for depression in a given population and the steps needed to help and avoid symptoms. This study found that greater support from husbands was associated with lower depression. Clinicians can use this finding to help wives by instructing husbands to focus more of their attention on providing support. Community programs could also be developed to teach husbands how to assist with spousal support, thus further lower depression for spouse, or if the spouse is already suffering from depression to help with the severity of the symptoms.

We as a society can use the finding of the chapter to help fight depression. The two areas that I feel have the greatest impact are increasing support and awareness from husbands, and eliminating the language/communication barrier. I agree that programs should be set up to help the immigrant women to read, write, and speak the English language. The greater the ability these women have in the English language, the less their depression scores would be. In my opinion, we can apply these findings to different immigrant groups (although this phenomenon and/or situation is rather common among nonimmigrants as well). In fact, not only it is common with female gender but also male population/immigrants also suffer similar situations (including depression) when they are not in harmony (supportive good relation) with their female partners. I hope society’s efforts can lead to a lower depression rate in women, which will lead to a happier community and a happier nation.