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Race/ethnicity, acculturation, and psychological distress: Fatalism and religiosity as cultural resources
Author(s) -
Neff James Alan,
Hoppe Sue Keir
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(199301)21:1<3::aid-jcop2290210102>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - acculturation , religiosity , fatalism , psychology , ethnic group , immigration , clinical psychology , psychosocial , demography , social psychology , sociology , psychiatry , anthropology , geography , philosophy , theology , archaeology
Data from a community sample of 1,784 Anglo, African‐American, and Mexican‐American adults were examined to assess: (1) the nature and magnitude of observed racial/ethnic and acculturation level differences in depression, (2) the relative contribution of sociodemographic and psychosocial factors (fatalism and religiosity) to observed differences, and (3) the joint effects of fatalism and religiosity as sociocultural resources with regard to depression in differing racial/ethnic and acculturation level subgroups. Analyses indicate the most dramatic differences in depression among males—African Americans were roughly similar to Anglos and levels of depression were significantly higher among the least acculturated Mexican Americans relative to Anglos, even after statistical controls. Acculturation level differences among Mexican‐American females were explained by statistical controls. Lower levels of depression among more highly acculturated than among less acculturated Mexican Americans provide little support for a simplistic stress formulation of acculturation. Rather, the interplay of acculturation, fatalism, and religiosity supports a more complex cultural marginality model, emphasizing the consistency of attitudinal elements and language use as facilitators or inhibitors of assimilation into Anglo culture. Both those who successfully acculturate and those who are most insulated in traditional culture appear least depressed from this perspective.