Mental health problems and parental immigrant status among adolescents: Effect of race/ethnicity

PURPOSE: The mental health status of adolescents with immigrant parents is of growing policy and research concern. We examined overall and race/ethnicity specific relationships between mental health and immigrant status in a nationally representative sample of adolescents. METHODS: We used 2007 National Survey on Children's Health data for 12-17 year olds; there were 32,805 adolescents of which 6,360 (19.4%) had at least one immigrant parent. Total race/ethnicity distribution was 64% Whites, 17.1% Blacks, and 19.9% Hispanics. Mental health measures: parent-reported physician diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems; parental reports of adolescent-child's inferior/ worthless feelings and episodes of being withdrawn from others. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted and adjusted odds ratios are reported.

RESULTS: Overall, adolescents with at least one immigrant parent were less likely to have behavioral problem (OR 0.43, P<0.000) but more likely to feel worthless/inferior (OR 1.54, P<0.000) and withdrawn (OR 1.67, P<0.000) than other adolescents. In race/ethnicity specific analyses, few differences exist between those in immigrant and non-immigrant families; the exception was behavior problems where immigrants were less likely to have problems (Whites: 0.29, P<0.000; Blacks: OR 0.22, P<0.000; Hispanics: OR 0.34, P<0.01). Also, in Hispanics, adolescents with immigrant parents are less likely to have prior diagnosis of depression (OR 0.47, P<0.05) and anxiety (OR 0.39, P<0.01) but are more likely to feel worthless/inferior (OR 1.70, P<0.05) and withdrawn (OR 1.98, P<0.01).

IMPLICATIONS: Adolescent mental health services and programs should focus on specific mental health outcomes while taking into account family immigrant status and race/ethnicity.