The Effect of Closeness within Stepfamilies on Depression Among American Indian Emerging Adults

Background and Purpose: 

Research indicates that the American Indian population has one of the highest rates of depression in the U.S., and yet they are a population often overlooked within current research. The purpose of this study was to fill in the gap of research within the American Indian population by examining stepfamily dynamics that fostered closeness and how those feelings of closeness impacted future levels of depression within the emerging adults who grew up in stepfamilies.

Methods: 

In one of the largest samples collected to date, we examined 340 American Indian from the Stepfamily Experiences Project (STEP) data. Participants were emerging adults (ages 18-30) who grew up in a stepfamily between ages 8-18. The dependent variable was symptoms of depression, which was measured by 20 questions from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale. The independent variable included six questions that measured feelings of closeness within a stepfamily.

Results:

We ran an OLS regression and we found that for every one point increase on the closeness scale, there was a 2.72 point decrease in depression scores (p<0.001). We also found that that as biological parents maintained a caring and loving relationship with their children, and as the residential step-parent communicated in a healthy manner with their children, their likelihood of depression in emerging adulthood went significantly down. 

 Conclusions and Implications:

Our findings suggest that when there are higher levels of closeness within stepfamilies, the American Indian children who grow up within those stepfamilies had lower levels of depression in their emerging adulthood years. These results could be used by clinicians in order to greater help those who suffer, their families, and people of different cultures. Clinicians could use this information in order to create a more specific cultural application of the Family Systems Theory in working with both families and individuals from ethnic minorities who present with depression.