Department of Psychology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2011 Nov;40(11):1519-33. doi: 10.1007/s10964-011-9633-y. Epub 2011 Feb 4.
Hispanic youth are at risk for experiencing depressive symptoms and smoking cigarettes, and risk for depressive symptoms and cigarette use increase as Hispanic youth acculturate to U.S. culture. The mechanism by which acculturation leads to symptoms of depression and cigarette smoking is not well understood. The present study examined whether perceived discrimination explained the associations of acculturation with depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking among 1,124 Hispanic youth (54% female). Youth in Southern California completed surveys in 9th-11th grade. Separate analyses by gender showed that perceived discrimination explained the relationship between acculturation and depressive symptoms for girls only. There was also evidence that discrimination explained the relationship between acculturation and cigarette smoking among girls, but the effect was only marginally significant. Acculturation was associated with depressive symptoms and smoking among girls only. Perceived discrimination predicted depressive symptoms in both genders, and discrimination was positively associated with cigarette smoking for girls but not boys. These results support the notion that, although Hispanic boys and girls experience acculturation and discrimination, their mental health and smoking behaviors are differentially affected by these experiences. Moreover, the results indicate that acculturation, gender, and discrimination are important factors to consider when addressing Hispanic youth's mental health and substance use behaviors.
西班牙裔青年面临着经历抑郁症状和吸烟的风险，随着西班牙裔青年融入美国文化，他们出现抑郁症状和吸烟的风险也会增加。文化适应导致抑郁症状和吸烟的机制尚不清楚。本研究调查了在南加州的 1124 名西班牙裔青年（54%为女性）中，感知歧视是否可以解释文化适应与抑郁症状和吸烟之间的关系。青少年在 9 至 11 年级完成了调查。按性别进行的单独分析表明，感知歧视仅能解释女孩中文化适应与抑郁症状之间的关系。有证据表明，歧视也可以解释女孩中文化适应与吸烟之间的关系，但这种关系仅具有边缘显著性。文化适应与女孩的抑郁症状和吸烟有关。感知歧视预测了两种性别的抑郁症状，而且歧视与女孩的吸烟呈正相关，但与男孩无关。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即尽管西班牙裔男孩和女孩都经历了文化适应和歧视，但这些经历对他们的心理健康和吸烟行为的影响是不同的。此外，结果表明，在解决西班牙裔青年的心理健康和药物使用行为时，文化适应、性别和歧视是需要考虑的重要因素。
