The more 'Americanized' lower income Hispanic women living in south Texas become, the more they are prone to depression, according to a study released today, 1200 WOAI news reports.
 

  The University of Texas School of Public Health studied 439 lower income Hispanic women who came to San Antonio public health clinics to get help with their pregnancies, according to lead researcher Marivel Davila.

  "Women who have not adopted the U.S. Culture, seem to be protective against depression symptoms a lot more than those women who are U.S. born and who are more acculturated or assimilated to U.S. society," she told 1200 WOAI news.

  Davila says the fact that the only women studied in the researcher were lower income pregnant women who went to public health clinics was able to weed out any factors other than their level of 'Americanization.'  She says women who asked for services in English were placed in the 'acculturated' group, while women who asked for services in Spanish were placed in the other group.

  She says other research has indicated that there are differing levels of physical health between new immigrants and long term residents of U.S. citizens, but this was the first study which looked into differences in psychological health.

  "Recent immigrants tend to be healthier than those who have been here for longer periods of time or those who are U.S. born she said."

  Davila said officials will have to study the results to determine why the differing levels of depression exist, but she has some ideas.

  "The Mexican born women were more likely to be married, and that in and of itself is a predictor of depressive symptoms," she said.

  She said Mexican women were more likely to be part of more closely knit family structures, and come from a culture where 'pop culture and advertising' does not suggest that you should be happy every minute of every day, or there's something wrong with you.

  Davila says the Latin American culture 'looks at depression differently' than the culture in the U.S.

  She says the study talked with 318 women who were born in Mexico and 121 who were born in the United States.

  "The higher prevalence rate of depression in Americanized Latina women is of concern in our community, as the population demographics clearly indicate a significant rate of growth of this group in their childbearing years," said San Antonio Metropolitan health Director Dr. Fernando Guerra.