Suchergebnisse

The Latinx population suffers from mental health inequalities. Although past work has implicated acculturative stress and anxiety sensitivity as important individual difference factors for anxiety and depression in this group, it is presently unclear how they work together to influence more severe anxiety and depressive symptom expression among Latinx. To help address this gap in the existing literature, the current study evaluated the role of concurrent anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress, in terms of anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders, in a Latinx population in a primary care setting. Participants included 142 Latinx individuals (86.7% female; Mage = 39.66, SD = 11.34). After accounting for shared variance, the results indicated that both anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress were significantly associated with anxious arousal symptoms, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms. However, anxiety sensitivity, but not acculturative stress, was significantly related to a number of mood and anxiety disorders. These findings suggest the importance of assessing both anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress in routine mental health screening, as both factors may be related to poorer psychological health among this group.

The Hispanic population is the largest minority group in the United States and frequently experiences racial discrimination and mental health difficulties. Prior work suggests that perceived racial discrimination is a significant risk factor for poorer mental health among Hispanic in the United States. However, little work has investigated how perceived racial discrimination relates to anxiety and depression among Hispanic adults. Thus, the current study evaluated the explanatory role of experiential avoidance in the relation between perceived racial discrimination and anxiety/depressive symptoms and disorders among Hispanic adults in primary care. Participants included 202 Spanish-speaking adults ( Mage = 38.99, SD = 12.43, 86.1% female) attending a community-based Federally Qualified Health Center. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that perceived racial discrimination had a significant indirect effect on depression, social anxiety, and anxious arousal symptoms as well as the number of mood and anxiety disorders through experiential avoidance. These findings suggest future work should continue to explore experiential avoidance in the association between perceived racial discrimination and other psychiatric and medical problems among the Hispanic population.