Alcohol use and depressive symptoms among Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic Whites

Alcohol use is associated with depressive symptoms in several studies. Using data from a community survey, this study examined whether this relationship (a) can be accounted for by ethnic or sociodemographic differences among persons who engage in various levels of alcohol use; and (b) differs for Mexican Americans (N = 1244) and non-Hispanic Whites (N = 1149). Using large quantities of alcohol, and, among men, daily drinking, were associated with depressed mood. These associations were similar for Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic Whites, and associations of quantity and frequency with depression were independent of each other. Among women, the cultural and demographic characteristics of high-quantity drinkers and abstainers (both of whom tended to be Mexican Americans) accounted for the association of alcohol use with depression. Among men, there was some suggestion that unemployment and unmarried status mediated the association of alcohol quantity with depression. People who drank greater quantities of alcohol per occasion reported more somatic depressive symptoms, and more frequent male drinkers reported more of most types of depressive symptoms.