Intergenerational education mobility and depressive symptoms in a population of Mexican origin

Low educational attainment has been associated with depression among Latinos. However, few studies have collected intergenerational data to assess mental health effects of educational mobility across generations.

Using data from the Niños Lifestyle and Diabetes Study, we assessed the influence of intergenerational education on depressive symptoms among 603 Mexican-origin individuals. Intergenerational educational mobility was classified: stable-low (low parent and/or low offspring education), upwardly mobile (low parent and/or high offspring education), stable-high (high parent and/or high offspring education), or downwardly mobile (high parent and/or low offspring education). High depressive symptoms were defined as scoring ≥10 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-10 (CESD-10). We examined prevalence ratios (PRs) for depressive symptoms with levels of educational mobility. We used general estimating equations with log-binomial models to account for within-family clustering, adjusting for age, gender, and offspring and parent nativity.

Compared with stable-low participants, the lowest prevalence of CESD-10 score ≥10 occurred in upwardly mobile (PR = 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.39-0.78) and stable-high (PR = 0.62; 95% CI = 0.44-0.87) participants. Downwardly mobile participants were also less likely to have a CESD-10 score ≥10 compared with stable-low participants (PR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.38-1.11), although the estimate was not statistically significant.

Sustained stress from low intergenerational education may adversely affect depression. Latinos with stable-low or downwardly mobile intergenerational educational attainment may need closer monitoring for depressive symptoms.