Gender Norms, Discrimination, Acculturation, and Depressive Symptoms among Latino Men in a New Settlement State

Purpose: Drawing from major theoretical and conceptual frameworks on minority men’s mental health, we designed the current observational study to assess the associations of gender norms, discrimination, and acculturation with clinically significant depressive symptoms (CESD=16) among a sample of immigrant Latino men in North Carolina. Methods: We used data from a baseline survey of men (n=111) recruited for a peer-led health intervention. To assess the associations with depressive symptoms, we performed descriptive and bivariate analyses, followed by multiple logistic regression. Results: Men in the sample tended to be young (mean age 18.5 years), recent immigrants (70.3% immigrated after age 16), and to have incomplete high school education (76.5%). About half (51.4%) reported experiencing discrimination due to their ethnicity and more than a third (37.8%) reported experiencing discrimination due to their race. Using the short form Conformity to Masculine Norms instrument, their mean masculinity score was 52.0; their average 12-item Short Acculturation Scale for Latinos score was 21.8. More than one-quarter of participants (26.1%) had clinically significant depressive symptoms. Multiple logistic regression models showed among this sample of immigrant Latino men in the Southeast, traditional masculine norms—but not perceived discrimination nor acculturation—were associated with clinically significant depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Our results suggest a potential future avenue for intervention research: testing whether changing gender norms could result in improvements to mental health