TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the Immigrant Paradox
T2 - Nativity, Ethnicity, and Postpartum Mental Health Among Latinas in Central Texas
AU - Petruzzi, Liana
AU - Yokananth, Rishit
AU - Rosenthal, Madalyn
AU - Hudson, Erin
AU - Harper, Lorie
AU - Valdez, Carmen
AU - Burgermaster, Marissa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2025/1/1
Y1 - 2025/1/1
N2 - Background: Mental health conditions are a leading cause of maternal mortality. Within Latina ethnicity, being foreign-born has been associated with better health outcomes than being US born, but the relevance of this immigrant paradox to perinatal mental health remains underexplored. This study investigates whether ethnicity (Latina/non-Latina) and nativity (foreign vs. US born) are associated with differences in postpartum depression and anxiety within a sample of women in Central Texas. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a prospective observational cohort (n = 76). Participants completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) between 6 and 12 weeks postpartum. We performed stepwise forward linear regression models with log-transformed depression and anxiety scores. Results: The mean GAD-7 score amongst all participants was 4.07 (SD = 4.72), and the mean EPDS score was 4.68 (SD = 5.21). Approximately 21% of participants met the clinical threshold for anxiety, and 10.8% met the clinical threshold for depression. Hispanic/Latina participants had 56% lower GAD-7 scores compared to non-Latina participants (95% CI: 0.29-0.67), and foreign-born participants had 39% lower GAD-7 scores compared to U.S. born participants (95% CI: 0.39-0.95). Nativity was not significantly associated with EPDS scores and was not retained in the final depression model. Hispanic/Latina participants had 43.1% lower EPDS scores than non-Latinas (95% CI: 0.38-0.86). All results are based on adjusted, log-transformed linear models. Conclusions: We found that Hispanic/Latina ethnicity was associated with lower postpartum anxiety and depression scores. Additionally, being foreign born was associated with lower postpartum anxiety scores. These findings suggest the immigrant paradox may apply to perinatal mental health outcomes among Latinas. Future research should explore within-group differences among Latinas and consider variables such as acculturation, immigration status, income, and country of origin.
AB - Background: Mental health conditions are a leading cause of maternal mortality. Within Latina ethnicity, being foreign-born has been associated with better health outcomes than being US born, but the relevance of this immigrant paradox to perinatal mental health remains underexplored. This study investigates whether ethnicity (Latina/non-Latina) and nativity (foreign vs. US born) are associated with differences in postpartum depression and anxiety within a sample of women in Central Texas. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a prospective observational cohort (n = 76). Participants completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) between 6 and 12 weeks postpartum. We performed stepwise forward linear regression models with log-transformed depression and anxiety scores. Results: The mean GAD-7 score amongst all participants was 4.07 (SD = 4.72), and the mean EPDS score was 4.68 (SD = 5.21). Approximately 21% of participants met the clinical threshold for anxiety, and 10.8% met the clinical threshold for depression. Hispanic/Latina participants had 56% lower GAD-7 scores compared to non-Latina participants (95% CI: 0.29-0.67), and foreign-born participants had 39% lower GAD-7 scores compared to U.S. born participants (95% CI: 0.39-0.95). Nativity was not significantly associated with EPDS scores and was not retained in the final depression model. Hispanic/Latina participants had 43.1% lower EPDS scores than non-Latinas (95% CI: 0.38-0.86). All results are based on adjusted, log-transformed linear models. Conclusions: We found that Hispanic/Latina ethnicity was associated with lower postpartum anxiety and depression scores. Additionally, being foreign born was associated with lower postpartum anxiety scores. These findings suggest the immigrant paradox may apply to perinatal mental health outcomes among Latinas. Future research should explore within-group differences among Latinas and consider variables such as acculturation, immigration status, income, and country of origin.
KW - Hispanic Health
KW - Latina Health
KW - immigration
KW - maternal mental health
KW - postpartum anxiety
KW - postpartum depression
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105023453695
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105023453695#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1177/21501319251400706
DO - 10.1177/21501319251400706
M3 - Article
C2 - 41324229
AN - SCOPUS:105023453695
SN - 2150-1319
VL - 16
JO - Journal of Primary Care and Community Health
JF - Journal of Primary Care and Community Health
ER -