Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108715

Arlene Michaels Miller, PhD, RN¹, Olga Sorokin, MPH², and Edward Wang, PhD². (1) Public Health, Mental Health & Admin. Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 South Damen, Room 1016, Chicago, IL 60077, 312-996-9356, arlenem@uic.edu, (2) College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 S. Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60612

Although there is considerable evidence that family context is important to psychological wellbeing after immigration, few studies consider the impact that spouses have on each other for midlife and older immigrant couples. The purpose of this study is to identify age and gender differences in correlates of depression, including resilience, family functioning, employment status, and spouses' mental health. Participants are 154 immigrant women from the former Soviet Union aged 42-77 and their husbands. Data are from an ongoing longitudinal study of acculturation and health. For women, mean age was 59.68 (s.d. 8.59) and mean time in US was 5.93 years (s.d. 2.23); for men, mean age was 62.56 (s.d. 9.04) and mean time in US was 5.97 years (s.d. 2.45). When divided into three age groups (<50; 51-60; >60), depression scores were significantly higher for 51-60 year olds than for younger participants, with no difference between the youngest and oldest groups. Paired comparison t-tests indicated that spouses did not differ significantly on depression, resilience, or family functioning scores except for the oldest age group, in which wives were more depressed and husbands reported higher resilience scores. When wives' depression scores were regressed on resilience, family functioning, employment status, and husbands' depression, models for the 3 age groups differed, with employment a significant predictor for women aged 51-60 and spouses' depression a significant predictor for women over 50. Similar differences were found across age groups for men. Additional findings and implications for family-centered interventions across the lifecycle will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to

• Discuss research findings in which married or partnered couples are found to be at risk for similar mental health problems.
• Identify factors that affect the impact of personal and family factors on mental health for midlife and older adults.
• Describe similarities and differences in resilience, family functioning, and depression between husbands and wives who are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Keywords: Immigrants, Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation