Depression, Stress, and Intimate Partner Violence Among Latino Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in Rural Southeastern North Carolina

• Published in: Journal of immigrant and minority health Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 1217 - 1224
• Main Authors: Kim-Godwin, Yeoun Soo, Maume, Michael O., Fox, Jane A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer Science + Business Media 01.12.2014; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acculturation; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - ethnology; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Anxiety; Comparative Law; Depression (Psychology); Depression - epidemiology; Depression - etiology; Domestic violence; Farmworkers; Female; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; Hispanic people; Humans; Immigrants; International & Foreign Law; Intimate Partner Violence - ethnology; Intimate Partner Violence - psychology; Intimate Partner Violence - statistics & numerical data; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Middle Aged; Migrant workers; Noncitizens; North Carolina - epidemiology; Occupational health; ORIGINAL PAPER; Private International Law; Public Health; Rural areas; Rural Population - statistics & numerical data; Seasonal Laborers; Social isolation; Sociology; Stress; Stress, Psychological - epidemiology; Stress, Psychological - etiology; Studies; Transients and Migrants - psychology; Transients and Migrants - statistics & numerical data; Working conditions; Young Adult; North Carolina; United States > US; Depression; Latino farmworkers; Intimate partner violence; Stress
• ISSN: 1557-1912; 1557-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-014-0007-x

The purpose of the study is to identify the predictors of depression and intimate partner violence (IPV) among Latinos in rural Southeastern North Carolina. A sample of 291 migrant and seasonal farmworkers was interviewed to complete the demographic questionnaire, HITS (intimate violence tendency), Migrant Farmworker Stress Inventory, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (depression), and CAGE/4M (alcohol abuse). OLS regression and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypothesized relations between predictors of IPV and depression. The findings indicated that respondents reporting higher levels of stress also reported higher levels of IPV and depression. The goodness-of-fit statistics for the overall model again indicated a moderate fit of the model to the data (χ² = 5,612, p <.001; root mean square error for approximation = 0.09; adjusted goodness-of-fit index = 0.44; comparative fit index = 0.52). Although the findings were not robust to estimation in the structural equation models, the OLS regression models indicated direct associations between IPV and depression.