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Notably, no distinct network solely composed of friends was identified in the present sample of older immigrants; this may reflect the disruptions in social convoys caused by immigration. The findings of this study promote our understanding of the unique patterns of social connectedness in older immigrants.

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The present study examined the role of acculturation in manifestation of depressive symptoms among 230 Korean-American older adults (M age = 69.8, SD = 7.05) in Florida. Given the cultural emphasis on modesty and self-effacement in the traditional Korean society, we hypothesized that older Korean-Americans who were less acculturated to American culture, when compared to the more acculturated ones, would be more likely to inhibit positive affects in depressive symptom reports. Using two validated measures of depressive symptoms, the short forms of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-SF) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), different response patterns for low and high acculturation groups were identified. First, there was low comparability in the factor structures for both the GDS-SF and the CES-D across low and high acculturation groups. A differential item function (DIF) analysis based on partial correlations indicated that older adults in the low acculturation group inhibited endorsing positive affect items; one item in the GDS-SF (#7 'feel happy') and two items in the CES-D (# 5 'felt hopeful' and # 8 'was happy'). The finding suggests the substantial cultural influences in expressing emotions, especially those related to positive affects. Implications are discussed from a cultural perspective.

Hospice care offers many benefits, including reduced risk of in-hospital death, but Black nursing home residents are less likely to use hospice and may have different perceptions of need for hospice care compared with White residents. Future research and outreach efforts should focus on developing culturally sensitive, disease-focused end-of-life education and communication interventions that target residents, families, nursing home providers, and physicians.

Although social stressors have successfully predicted depressive symptomatology in a number of populations, few studies have examined the relevance of stressors for Mexican American elders. Results are reported here from a multistage probability sample of 3,050 Mexican Americans aged 65 and older drawn from a 5-state region. Participants reported low levels of education and income, and most reported difficulty in reading or writing in English. Deaths, illness of close other, and financial problems were the three most frequent life events, and many reported financial strains. Depressive symptoms were then regressed on demographic indicators, cognitive status, linguistic acculturation, social supports, and three types of stressors. Being a woman, lower income, decreased income, chronic financial strain, and several health stressors were associated with greater symptomatology. Results identified a cluster of economic stressors and conditions that may play a critical role in the etiology of depressive symptoms in this minority population.

OBJECTIVES-To examine cultural equivalence in responses to depressive symptom items of three racial or ethnic elderly groups.DESIGN-Cross-sectional analyses of two national data sets. SETTING-The New Haven Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) and the five-state Hispanic EPESE (H-EPESE).PARTICIPANTS-Whites (n 5 1,876) and blacks (n 5 464) were drawn from the New Haven EPESE and Mexican Americans (n 5 2,623) were drawn from the H-EPESE. MEASUREMENT-The original 20-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).RESULTS-From differential item functioning analyses, a lack of measurement equivalence was found for 16 depressive symptom items. Mexican Americans were predisposed to endorse 12 depressive symptoms. Blacks were more likely than whites to endorse two interpersonal items (unfriendly and disliked). Mexican Americans were more likely than whites to respond to four positive affect items (good, hopeful, happy, and enjoyed) and more likely than blacks to endorse three positive items (good, happy, and enjoyed). CONCLUSION-Resultssuggested response bias to depressive symptom items in racially and ethnically diverse older adults. Mexican Americans were more likely than whites to endorse the large number of depressive symptom items. Blacks were much more likely to respond in patterns similar to those of the whites. Findings from this study provide a foundation for developing culturally appropriate depression measures in health disparities research. Keywords cultural equivalence; depressive symptoms; CESD; measurement equivalence; differential item functioning A growing body of literature documents racial and ethnic disparities in depressive symptoms. 1,2 A number of cross-cultural and cross-national studies on depressive symptoms have found evidence that prevalence rates of probable depression vary dramatically across diverse racial/ and ethnic groups, with rates ranging from 1.5% to 32.0%. 2-5 Because of such cultural variations, it has become a virtual truism in cross-cultural research that racially