Do Human and Social Capital Protect Young African American Mothers From Depression Associated With Ethnic Discrimination and Violence Exposure?

Abstract

Young minority mothers are particularly vulnerable to depression associated with community-level or contextual stressors such as violence exposure and ethnic discrimination. This study explores whether human and social capital act as buffers of the associations between such stressors and maternal depression. Among a sample of 230 urban, African American mothers, who were teenagers when their preschool-age children were born, both being a victim of violence and experiencing ethnic discrimination predicted increased depressive symptoms, and higher educational attainment predicted fewer symptoms. Ethnic identity moderated the association between witnessed violence and at Stockholm University Library on August 22, 2015 jbp.sagepub.com Downloaded from Lewin et al. 287maternal depression, and community cohesion moderated the association between ethnic discrimination and depression. Social support protected against depressive symptoms associated with witnessed violence but seemingly exac erbated depression associated with victimization. The specific roles that forms of human and social capital play in moderating the effects of contextual stressors suggest the need for nuanced programmatic efforts to reduce maternal depression among young African American mothers living in violence-prone, urban neighborhoods.

The Influence of General Discrimination and Social Context on Young Urban Expecting Couples’ Mental Health

“…If young expecting parents are residing in communities that they perceive as having fewer resources and more problems, they then may feel more encumbered in their roles. It appears that this may manifest more in a depressive response rather than a stress related one, which corroborates with existing literature examining the comparatively low stress response (Franco et al, 2010) but high depression response (Lewin et al, 2011) of minority parents in a context of high neighborhood disorder. These responses may be related to perceiving their lived environment as threatening and unable to assist them as they transition into their new role.…”

“…This finding underscores the challenges observed in the literature on neighborhood cohesion where some studies observe a link to measures of mental health while others do not (De Silva et al, 2005; Riina et al, 2013). There are also questions about the unique representation of this construct for communities of color where strong emotional ties have helped to sustain them in the face of adversity and, in this context, color the relationship (Lewin et al, 2011). There are sound methodological, conceptual, and theoretical issues that must be addressed to further enhance our understanding of this construct and operation at the community level.…”

“…Given this body of evidence, we hypothesize that increases in neighborhood problems will result in increased report of depressive and stress symptoms. While there may be clear links between negative neighborhood experiences and mental health, other positive aspects of community life, such as cohesion, may positively impact mental health (Lewin, Mitchell, Rasmussen, Sanders-Phillips, & Joseph, 2011). …”

“…The relationship between neighborhood cohesion, depression, and stress has been observed in some community samples (De Silva, McKenzie, Harpham, & Huttly, 2005; Riina, Martin, Gardner, & Brooks-Gunn, 2013). One study found that a positive association between ongoing experiences with discrimination and depression were reduced among young African American mothers residing in cohesive neighborhoods (Lewin et al, 2011). Understanding the particular contributions of neighborhood cohesion to depression and stress for young expecting parents may help to highlight structural and community approaches to alleviate mental health burden and disparities.…”

Context Matters: Links Between Neighborhood Discrimination, Neighborhood Cohesion and African American Adolescents’ Adjustment

“…Racial discrimination, a common experience for members of minority groups (Garcia Coll et al, 1996), is especially prevalent among African American youth: By the time they reach adolescence, most African Americans have experienced at least one incident of discrimination (Brody et al, 2006; Gibbons, Gerrard, Cleveland, Wills, & Brody, 2004). Not surprisingly, discrimination is linked to a wide range of adjustment problems for African American adolescents, including internalizing (Clark, Coleman, & Novak, 2004; DuBois, Burk-Braxton, Swenson, Tevendale, & Hardesty, 2002; Lewin, Mitchell, Rasmussen, Sanders-Phillips, & Joseph, 2011; Simons, Murry, McLyod, Lin, Cutrona, & Conger, 2002) and externalizing (DuBois et al, 2002; McCord & Ensminger, 2002; Simons, Chen, Stewart, & Brody, 2003; Simons et al, 2006) problems. However, some youth are more resilient to discrimination than others, which may be due to variation in the context in which discrimination experiences take place.…”