Major depression in China-to-US immigrants and US-born Chinese Americans: Testing a hypothesis from culture–gene co-evolutionary theory of mental disorders

Abstract

BackgroundIn this study, the culture–gene co-evolutionary theory of mental disorders was used to test the hypothesis that major depression was less prevalent in China-to-US immigrants who migrated to the US as adults than in US-born adult Chinese Americans. MethodsData from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES) were extracted for secondary data analyses on the rates of major depression disorder (MDD) and major depressive episode (MDE) in the two groups. ResultsFindings showed that for life time MDD, the rates for China-to-US immigrant and US-born Chinese were 5.3% and 7.9% for men and 8.5% and 33.1% for women. For 12-month MDD, the corresponding rates were 2.2% and 3.4% for men, and 4.7% and 12.6% for women. For life time MDE, the corresponding rates were 6.8% and 8.8% for men; for women the rates were 8.5% and 33.1%. For 12-month MDE, the rates were 2.2% and 4.4% for men; the rates were 4.7% and 12.6% for women. Controlling for age, education level, income, BMI, marital status, and income-to-needs ratio, China-to-US immigrant women remained less likely to have life time major depression than US-born Chinese American women. LimitationsWhile the study has the strength of utilizing nationally representative datasets, the approach is limited as the data sources lack the capacity to investigate how the strength of connection with the collectivist culture might be related to major depression in the immigrant group.