Parent-Child Nativity, Race, Ethnicity, and Common Mental Health Conditions Among United States Children and Adolescents

Kasra Zarei; Lisa Kahle; Dennis W Buckman; Anna Ohlis; Siddartha Aradhya; Kelvin Choi; Faustine Williams

doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113618

Parent-Child Nativity, Race, Ethnicity, and Common Mental Health Conditions Among United States Children and Adolescents

J Pediatr. 2023 Dec:263:113618. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113618. Epub 2023 Jul 18.

Authors

Kasra Zarei¹, Lisa Kahle², Dennis W Buckman², Anna Ohlis³, Siddartha Aradhya⁴, Kelvin Choi⁵, Faustine Williams⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of Intramural Research, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Bethesda, MD; Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: kasra.zarei@nih.gov.
² Information Management Services, Inc, Calverton, MD.
³ Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Sociology, Stockholm University Demography Unit, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Division of Intramural Research, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Bethesda, MD.

Abstract

Objective: To examine associations between race, ethnicity, and parent-child nativity, and common mental health conditions among U.S. children and adolescents.

Methods: Data were from 2016 to 2019 National Survey of Children's Health, a US population-based, serial cross-sectional survey, and restricted to children who had access to health care. We used weighted multivariable logistic regression to examine the associations between race and ethnicity (Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, Other-race); mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, and behavior/conduct problems) stratified by household generation; and between household generation and outcomes stratified by race and ethnicity, adjusting for demographics (age, sex, family income to poverty ratio, parental education), and an adverse childhood experience (ACE) score.

Results: When stratifying by household generation, racial and ethnic minority children generally had similar to lower odds of outcomes compared with White children, with the exception of higher odds of behavior/conduct problems among third + -generation Black children. When stratifying by race and ethnicity, third + generation children had increased odds of depression compared to their first-generation counterparts. Third + generation, racial and ethnic minority children had increased odds of anxiety and behavior/conduct problems compared with their first-generation counterparts. The associations generally remained significant after adjusting for the ACE score.

Conclusions: Lower odds of common mental health conditions in racial and ethnic minority children could be due to factors such as differential reporting, and higher estimates, including those in third + generation children, could be due to factors including discrimination; systemic racism; and other factors that vary by generation and need further investigation to advance health equity.

Keywords: adverse childhood experiences; childhood adversity; ethnicity; household challenges; nativity; race; trauma; youth mental health.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Cross-Sectional Studies
Ethnicity*
Humans
Mental Health*
Minority Groups
Parent-Child Relations
United States / epidemiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding