The correspondence of health complaints and depressive symptoms among Anglos and Mexican-Americans

This study examines the relationship between depressive symptoms and somatic complaints and/or disorders in two ethnic groups. Data reported herein are from an epidemiological field survey of a disproportionate stratified sample of Anglos (N = 637) and two Mexican-American subsamples, United States-born (N = 342) and Mexican-born (N = 201), all living in Santa Clara County, California. The covariation between depressive symptoms and a severity of somatic complaints/disorders scale derived from collapsing International Classification of Diseases categories was compared among the three ethnic subsamples with control on age, sex, education, and marital status. A significant, direct linear correlation was found between depressive symptomatology and severity of somatic complaints/disorders for each ethnic group and was found in multivariate analyses not to change significantly with the introduction of controls. Partial correlations pointed to a stronger association for Mexican-Americans than for Anglos.