Depression In Latino Youth

Depression in Latino Youth
Description of the population in risk.
According to President Obama’s State of the Union Address, there are over 50 million Latinos in the US. “Hispanics constitute the country’s largest and fastest-growing minority group.” According to the National Survey of Latinos (2004), the Latino population has doubled between 1990 and 2006.
Latinos come from differentgeographical regions, and they are ethnically and racially diverse, a mixture of the world’s races, cultures, and religions. The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) reported in 2009 that “the Latino population on the U.S. mainland was composed of Mexican Americans (65%), Puerto Ricans (9%), Cubans (3.5%), Salvadorans (3.2%), and Dominicans (2.7%). The remainder is composed of Central Americans, SouthAmericans, or people of other Hispanic or Latino origins (15.4%)”. The majority (66%) of Hispanic households are married-couple families. Of those families, 41% have children under the age of 18. As of 2009, nearly one in four (23.2%) Hispanics were under 18. The Latino population tends to be younger than other populations, for example at the same time that the Latino population is gainingrepresentation in schools and the work force, a great number of American baby boomers are starting to retire. Between 2000 and 2010, there was a 27.3 million increase in the population; Latino’s consisted of half of the increase (President Obama, 2011). According to National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), “Latinos are identified as a high-risk group for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.”Latino children are making up sixty percent of the public schools across the nation. The majority of these children are native-born Americans (92%) and 93 % are U.S. citizens (NCLR). Regrettably, this large percentage of the children population in American schools is at a higher risk to develop psychiatric disorders. Particularly disturbing is the risk rate of depression for Latino girlsafter age 13.
Latino children have a higher risk to develop psychiatric disorders living in the U.S. than living in their country of origin. The longer that Latino immigrant resides in their country before coming to the U.S., the lower the risk of developing depression (Alegria et al., 2007). Latino girls exhibited more depressive symptoms than the African American or white girls. This problemalso gets reflected in the high rate of “attempted suicide” and “seriously considering suicide” by high-school Latino girls. In 1997, it was reported that 14.9% high-school Latino girls had attempted suicide. This rate is much higher than the African American (9.0%) and non-Hispanic white (10.3%) girls. One of every three Latino females in high-school had seriously considered suicide (30.3%). Ameta-analysis reported that even though depressive symptoms for boys and Latino girls seemed similar until age 12, the rate of depression for Latino girls starts to increase considerably around age 13, reaching the highest point between ages 15 to 16. However, the boy’s rates remained constant (Twenge & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002).
Regrettably, when it comes to mental health services offered tothis population, there are many barriers to mental health treatment for the Latino community and it gets worse when it comes to Latino Youth. Among the barriers mentioned by NAMI are:
Latinos are twice as likely to seek treatment for mental disorders in other settings, such as general health care or the clergy, than in mental health specialty settings.
• Among Latinos with mentaldisorders, fewer than 1 in 11 contact mental health care specialists, while fewer than 1 in 5 contact general health care providers.
• The statistics become more alarming among Latino immigrants with mental disorders. Fewer than 1 in 20 Latino immigrants use services from mental health specialists, while less than 1 in 10-use services from general health care providers.
• The existing studies...