kristinem.molina

Title of QTUG presentation:

The Relation between Everyday Discrimination and Psychological Distress among Latina/o Subgroups: Considering the Role of Gender

List of Author and co-authors for QTUG presentation:

Kristine M. Molina, M.S. & Ramaswami Mahalingam, PhD

Abstract The relation between everyday discrimination and psychological distress was examined among 2,554 Latinos from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), a national stratified area probability psychiatric epidemiologic survey. Gender was tested as a moderator in the discrimination-distress relationship among the total sample and separately for the four Latino subgroups in order to better understand how gender and ethnicity shape the relationship between discrimination and mental health. Analyses showed that for the aggregated Latino sample, discrimination was associated with psychological distress, and this relationship was moderated by gender. However, different patterns were found across sub-ethnic Latino groups. For Cubans, no main effect for discrimination on psychological distress was found, but an interaction effect was present for this group, with gender moderating the discrimination-distress relationship. That is, being a woman was related to higher levels of psychological distress when faced with discrimination for Cubans. By contrast, only a main effect of discrimination on psychological distress, but no moderating effect of gender on the relationship between discrimination and psychological distress was found among the Puerto Rican, Mexican, or Other Latino samples. The relevance of an intersectionality framework to study subgroup variations and the effects of gender in the discrimination-distress relationship among Latina/os is discussed.