Cultural adaptation profiles among Mexican-descent Latinxs: Acculturation, acculturative stress, and depression.

Abstract

Person-centered analysis was used to examine profiles of acculturation and acculturative stress among Mexican-descent adults in relation to depression. It was hypothesized that identified profiles would support multiple acculturation styles, that acculturation profiles would differentially relate to acculturative stress dimensions, and that those profiles with greater Latinx acculturation and lower acculturative stress would report less severe depression. Mexican-descent Latinx adults (n = 230) completed self-report measures of Latinx and Anglo acculturation, acculturative stress, and depression symptom severity. Latent profile analysis was used to derive acculturation-acculturative stress profiles. Three distinct profiles emerged. One profile was notable for bicultural acculturation with traditional Latinx acculturative stress. The two remaining profiles reported similarly high traditional Latinx acculturation, but differed in acculturative stress, such that one profile was elevated in one dimension of acculturative stress, whereas the other reported elevated acculturative stress across multiple domains. Participants in this last profile also reported significantly greater depression. The findings provide further evidence of the beneficial role of heritage-culture acculturation and suggest that focused versus generalized forms of acculturative stress may be a distinguishing component related to depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).