Familismo Components and Depression in Latino Adults: The Role of Gender and Immigrant Generation Status

Abstract

Familismo is a Latino cultural value that emphasizes strong familial bonds, as evidenced by feelings of loyalty, reciprocity, and solidarity towards one’s nuclear and extended family, which has three main dimensions: attitudinal, behavioral, and structural familismo (Sabogal et al., 1987).The literature is unclear of the extent to which familismo can be a protective or a risk factor for mental health issues for Latino men and women (Calzada & Sales, 2019; Peña et al., 2011; Stein, et al., 2015). Using the Self-Discrepancy Theory (SDT; Higgins, 1987), the current study expands on Nicasio et al.’s (2019) Attitudinal and Behavioral Familismo Scale (ABFQ), which examines discrepancies between familismo components. Their study assessed how familismo discrepancies related to symptoms of depression. In contrast to Nicasio et al. (2019), our study explored differences between all three familismo components (attitudinal, behavioral, and structural) by creating the Structural Familismo Scale (SFS) and investigated how depressive symptoms were associated with gender and generation status. Findings from this study created the SFS in both English and Spanish through an exploratory factor analysis. There was no significant correlation between familismo difference scores and depressive symptoms. The study revealed no significant differences between first and later generation status and revealed no significant differences among genders with regard to familismo. Findings revealed men reported higher depressive symptoms compared to women.