Perceived Discrimination and Religiosity as Potential Mediating Factors Between Migration and Depressive Symptoms: A Transnational Study of an Indigenous Mayan Population

Abstract

Evidence suggests that in the US perceived discrimination among migrants of Mexican origin is associated with depressive symptoms. Factors that confer resilience, such as religiosity, could serve as a mediating factor in the context of migration stressors. We hypothesized that migration is associated with higher depressive symptoms and that discrimination and religiosity would mediate this relationship in a binational (US and Mexican) sample of indigenous Mexican migrants. We applied path analysis modeling to test our hypotheses with a sample of 650 individuals (n = 583 in Mexico; n = 67 in US). Results indicated that migration experience and current US residence were associated with perceived discrimination, which in turn were associated with a higher risk for depressive symptoms. Among women not living in the US, religiosity was associated with lower perceived discrimination. Discrimination is pervasive among male and female transnational and domestic migrants and religiosity may serve as a protective factor against discrimination for some women.

Ecologies of adaptation for Mexican Indigenous im/migrant children and families in the United States: Implications for Latino studies

“…These numbers are an underestimate of this population, since Latina/os tend not to self-report their Indigenous origin (Humes et al 2011;Gabbard et al 2012), and in some cases Latina/o Indigenous populations have a very low census form return rate. 3 Within this larger Latina/o Indigenous population, Mexico has one of the largest Indigenous populations in Latin America (Salgado et al 2014) with twelve million people categorized as Indigenous (CONAPO 2005). Diverse Mexican Indigenous populations are one of the fastest growing im/migrant communities in the United States.…”

“…We acknowledge this difficulty, but also consider it crucial to attend to the cultural, historical and sociopolitical factors that have informed Indigenous identities and experiences in particular national contexts. Ultimately, Mexican Indigenous im/migrants' adaptation experiences may or may not be comparable to those of other im/migrant groups with whom they share a national origin (Fox and Rivera-Salgado 2004;Casanova 2011;Salgado et al 2014). Across Mexican and Latina/o immigration literature and American Indian studies, the Mexican Indigenous im/migrant experience is invisible.…”

“…On the other hand, in the United States, Mexican Indigenous im/migrants are surrounded by xenophobic, anti-Latino ideologies labeling them as economic burdens, criminals and uneducated (Wiltberger 2007;Jiménez 2012). They also face intragroup racial stereotyping from nonIndigenous Latinos (Poole 2004;Holmes 2013;Salgado et al 2014). Such macrosystematic ideologies and beliefs function as barometers of social and economic legitimacy, particularly as reflected in exo-(e.g., education and immigration policies) and microsystematic (e.g., schools and social service agencies) aspects of the social ecology.…”

The Important Role of Binational Studies for Migration and Health Research: A Review of US‐Mexico Binational Studies and Design Considerations for Addressing Critical Issues in Migrant Health

“…Eight studies focused on infectious disease prevalence or risk factors (Garfein, ; Barton‐Behravesh et al., ; Goodman et al., ; O'Rourke et al., ; Giuliano et al., ; Zúñiga et al., ; Servin et al., ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ). Additional inclusions were mental health and substance use studies, (Salgado et al., ; Pinedo et al., ; Russell et al., ; Borges et al., ; Leiner et al., ; Orozco et al., ; Robertson et al., ) studies on social support (Guendelman et al., ; Guendelman et al., ), on lead poisoning, (Villalobos et al., ), and on use of health services and health care‐related behaviours (Holmes, ; Bergmark, Barr and Garcia, ; Rivera et al., ; Stallones et al., ).…”

An Exploratory Study of Internal Migration and Substance Use Among an Indigenous Community in Southern Mexico

“…Our SES variable was constructed by using participants' highest level of education (dichotomized as high school or greater vs. did not complete high school) and number of household appliances (e.g., TV, stereo, refrigerator, washing machine, car, drinking water, electricity, oven, bathroom, cable/satellite, computer, and internet connection) in their primary residence, which are strong indicators for SES. 18,21,22 A subgroup analysis was then employed to empirically assess participants based on three mutually exclusive SES categories: 23 low SES, lower-middle SES, and middle-high SES. We used Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) to assess the best model.…”