The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #46825

Richard G. Wight, PhD, Carol S. Aneshensel, PhD, Joslan E. Sepulveda, MPH, Amanda Botticello, MPH, and Marie Mayen-Cho, MPH. Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772

This study describes social risk factors for depressive symptoms among subgroups of adolescents who report various ethnic identities. Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a panel survey of a nationally representative sample of 20,704 ethnically diverse high school students. Depressive symptoms are measured with a 7-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Cronbach's alpha=0.83). Analyses are stratified by six ethnic identities (African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Native American, Non-Hispanic White, and "Other Ethnicity"), and six risk factors are evaluated (sex, age, family structure, household income, parent occupation, and parent education). Unstratified analyses indicate that depressive symptoms are highest among ethnic minority adolescents, increase with age, are higher among girls compared to boys, are lowest among those who live in intact nuclear families, and are negatively associated with socio-economic status. This study uncovers how these global risk factors are uniquely predictive of symptomatology both within and between ethnic groups, unlike most studies of depressive symptoms that only control for ethnicity.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify and describe how adolescent depressive symptoms are patterned by ethnic identity.
• Participants will be able to identify and describe social risk factors unique to adolescents of various ethnic identities.
• Participants will increase their understanding of how the measurement of depressive symptoms between and within ethnic groups may affect construct validity.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.