The Role of Ethnic Identity in Mediating the Relationship between Discrimination and Depression

Introduction:

Discrimination can have harmful effects across a range of physical and emotional health outcomes. One such negative outcome is depression. For effective prevention, it is important to identify protective factors that might serve to reduce the negative effects of discrimination on depression. Ethnic identity, defined as a sense of connection to one’s ethnic group, is one potential protective factor. In the context of discrimination, a strong ethnic identity helps individuals recognize positive virtues about their own ethnic group, minimizing effects of denigrating beliefs perpetuated in society. However, some evidence indicates that ethnic identity may actually exacerbate susceptibility to emotional distress. For example, individuals with a strong ethnic identity might be more likely to report discrimination which may increase depressive symptoms. Limited longitudinal studies are available that investigate mechanisms of how discrimination predicts future levels of depressive symptoms. We propose a longitudinal mediation model in which discrimination predicts increased depressive symptoms over time through challenging one’s ability to feel connected to one’s ethnic group. We test whether this mediation model differs by race/ethnicity of the participants.

Methods:

731 primary caregivers (98% mothers) of 2-year-old children from the Woman, Infants, and Children program completed questionnaires. The racial/ethnic composition of the sample was: 53.2% White, 28.2% African American (AA), 9.4% Hispanic/Latino, the remaining participants identified as bi-racial or “Other”). Caregivers’ self-report of experiences of discrimination were assessed when their child was age 3 and 4, ethnic identity was assessed when the child was age 5 and 9, and level of depression was measured when the child was ages 2, 10, and 14.

Results:

Controlling for earlier depression and for intervention status, we found a significant direct path between caregivers’ experiences of discrimination and depressive symptoms 10 years later. Multiple group analyses showed that for only AA participants, ethnic identity mediated the relationship between parental depressive symptoms. Experiencing discrimination led to higher levels of ethnic identity which led to lower levels of depression for only AA caregivers.

Conclusion: Caregivers who experienced higher levels of discrimination when their child was 3 and 4 had higher levels of depressive symptoms 10 years later. The fact that the mediation model was only significant for AA caregivers suggests that ethnic identity is an important protective factor for this group. We will discuss how family interventions can include a focus on ways to feel connected to one’s ethnic group as a source of support and belongingness.