Determinants of Professional Mental Health Service Utilization Among Latina/Os Diagnosed with Depression in the United States

Background/Purpose: Latina/os are the largest ethnic group in the United States, comprising of 17 percent (53 million) of the country’s population. While not a homogeneous group, Latina/os in the United States tend to share unfavorable life circumstances resulting from the processes of immigration and acculturation. As a result, a significant proportion of Latina/os experience depression in their life times.  A recent study found a depression prevalence rate of 27 percent among this population. Despite the large percentage of Latina/os residing in the United States and their great likelihood of experiencing depression, we know relatively little on the determinants of Latina/os professional mental health service utilization. The main purpose of this paper was to explore the determinants of professional mental health service utilization among Latina/s in the United States who have experienced depression in their lifetime.

Methods: Drawing from a nationally representative sample of 707 Latina/os from the 2007 Pew Hispanic Center and Robert Wood Johnson’s Foundation’s Healthcare Survey, we used weighted logistic regression to examine the relationship between being diagnosed with depression and professional mental health utilization in the past year. Analyses adjusted for respondents’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics (age, gender, income, education and number of children), time in the United States (in years), barriers to healthcare (health insurance and primary language), and cultural beliefs towards mental health (fatalismo).

Results:  Unadjusted estimates showed that Latina/os with low levels of education and income, who lack health insurance, and for whom Spanish was their primary language were less likely to seek professional mental health utilization. Adjusting for confounders, revealed that Latina/os who had health insurance and who had greater English dominance had higher odds to use professional mental health services.

Conclusions and Implications: Our findings suggest that lack of health insurance and of English fluency are barriers to mental health service utilization among Latina/os diagnosed with depression in the United States. Greater access to health insurance and to Spanish-speaking mental health specialists would increase the utilization of professional mental health services among Latina/os in the United States.