Racial, Ethnic, and Sociodemographic Differences in the level of Psychosocial Distress Among Older Americans

This paper explores the reasons for the observed differences in the level of self-reported depressive symptoms between older African Americans, Hispanic-English speaking, Hispanic-Spanish speaking, and Whites. For all groups in the sample, being male, married, having a high level of education, and good health are strong indicators of lower levels of depressive symptoms. Comparing the levels of self-reported depressive symptoms among the different racial/ethnic groups demonstrated that there are large differences, with the Hispanic-Spanish speaking individuals reporting the highest scores. Results show that language acculturation, the number of years of education, and the number of years of U.S. residency are significant factors that help to explain these differences.