Acculturation and Depressive Symptoms in Turkish Immigrant Women
[Thesis]
Sen, Zeynep Idil
Politikos, Natalie
University of Hartford
2020
108 p.
Psy.D.
University of Hartford
2020
Between 1960 and 2000, immigration to the United States (U.S.) has added over 47 million people to the overall population. Within multiple immigrant groups in the U.S., depression is one of the most commonly reported mental health problems and has been linked to the stressful process of acculturation to a new social structure. A virtual replication of Choi, Miller, and Wilbur's (2009) study with Korean immigrant women was conducted with Turkish immigrant women to explore the following two hypotheses: (a) whether cluster analysis of responses from Turkish immigrant women replicate the acculturation subgroups found by Choi and colleagues (2009) (Home Country, Marginalized, Americanized, and Bicultural), and if so, (b) whether depressive symptoms for Turkish immigrant women co-varied in the same way with these subgroups as found for Korean immigrant women. As per findings of the previous study with Korean immigrants, I hypothesized that Turkish immigrant women who are most integrated into American culture will report lower depressive symptoms in comparison to other acculturation clusters. The results partially supported the main hypotheses regarding the link between acculturation pattern and levels of depression. The American cluster reported the lowest levels of depression, followed by the Bicultural and Marginalized clusters. Women in the Turkish cluster reported the highest levels of depression. Employment status was found to be the only demographic variable that yielded a significant difference between the groups and depressive symptoms. The findings provided preliminary information on factors to consider when working with Turkish American women in the U.S. Clinicians should be willing to seek additional training (e.g., cultural competency training, diversity training, consultation) to provide the optimal treatment for diverse populations, such as Turkish immigrant women.