Foreign Nativity, Acculturation, and Mental Health in the Latino Community

Foreign nativity and immigration are chief players when it comes to incidents of mental illness. Moreover, levels of acculturation have ties to the development of mental health conditions and disorders within the Latino community.

For nearly three decades, researchers have been examining the effects of acculturation and the risk of psychiatric disorders among the U.S. Latino population. When paying continual attention to environmental influences, researchers found that stressors associated with cultural transformation could provoke potential psychiatric problems and substance abuse among second- and third-generation Latinos.

"One of the interesting things about immigrant populations or unacculturated populations versus the kind of problems acculturated people have is the prevalence of certain mental disorders," Dr. Luis Vargas, child psychologist and treasurer of the National Latino Behavioral Health Association, told Latin Post. "Immigrant populations, in some areas, have fewer problems than the acculturated group. For example, while U.S. Latinos experience substance abuse, immigrant populations are far less likely to have problems with substance abuse than second, third and so on generations. The acculturation factor seems to present increased stress for the acculturated Latino population. That sheds light on what's happening in the process of acculturation."

Trauma history, acculturative hassles and acculturation style impact the wellbeing of young people in the U.S. Years ago, the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES) produced a report that found that immigrant Latinos had higher lifetime rates for dyspnea, which is a longer term low-grade depression, in contrast to a major depression. While troubling, this may seem mild when compared to the more volatile mental health concerns worrying the U.S.-born Hispanic populations.

When gauging mental health service utilization among U.S. born and foreign-born Latinos, findings have shown that the use of complementary and alternative medicine or non-traditional therapies (herb therapy or homeopathy) was most frequently used among acculturated or U.S.-born individuals, rather than foreign-born. U.S.-born Latinos were also more likely to use prayer and spiritual practices than the immigrant population, which is surprising.

"Why is it that more acculturated folks are using alternative therapies, far more than unacculturated Latinos? I don't know. Is it partly a dynamic that has something to do with what happens when you come to a culture that's different than your culture of origin, when you start to acculturate?" Dr. Vargas stated. "I'm not sure. I think it might have something to do with struggles of ethnic identity and how you see yourself over time, when you're in the process of acculturation."

Nonetheless, Latino clients of any origin benefit from culturally adapted mental health interventions, while those with lower levels of acculturation reportedly benefit more.