Psychosocial Stress, Social Inequality, and Mental Health in Puerto Rican Women in Upstate New York.

ABSTRACTAs a group, stateside Puerto Rican women experience multiple social inequalities due primarily to sexism and racism. This predicament places them at risk for psychosocial stress and psychological distress. This study explored the presence of (1) psychosocial stress associated with social inequality, (2) social support, and (3) mental health symptoms in a sample of Puerto Rican women in upstate New York. The results shed light on the psychosocial realities and mental health needs of Puerto Rican women in small cities. They help inform culturally responsive program development and social and mental health policy. Descriptive data and policy recommendations are provided. [Key words: Puerto Rican women, Latinas, psychosocial stress, social inequality, discrimination, mental health]ACCORDING TO THE 2010 U.S. CENSUS, PUERTO RICAN WOMEN COMPRISE ABOUT 51 PERCENT OF THE PUERTO RICAN POPULATION (4.8 MILLION) IN THE U.S. MAINLAND. These estimated 2.48 million Puerto Rican women account for about 10 percent of all Latina women (U.S. Census 2011). In the state of New York, Puerto Rican women comprise 52.3 percent of the Puerto Rican population (U.S. Census 2011). Historically, they have concentrated in New York City, but more recently they have been increasingly represented in smaller cities across New York State (Bose 2006). These include the upstate cities of Albany and Amsterdam, both located in a geographic area where the Latino population has increased 18.5 percent from 1980 to 2000 (City Data 2005). Here, Latina women comprised 52 percent of the total Latino population and 66.7 percent of these Latina women self-identified as Puerto Rican (Ramos and Jurkowski 2009; U.S. Census 2001). Data depicting the sociodemographic characteristics of Puerto Rican women in the mainland are scarce. Bose (2006) provides some data on the socioeconomic status of Puerto Rican women in New York State, including Albany. For example, their unemployment rates are higher in Albany (19.3 percent) than at the state level (13.9 percent). A similar disparity is found between poverty rates of the two groups, with 41.8 percent for Puerto Rican women in Albany as compared with 36.1 percent for New York State overall. Interestingly, the individual median income is higher for Albany ($19,592) than for New York State ($14,464), but household income is lower for Puerto Rican women in Albany with a median of $25,400 compared to $29,300 for New York State. Finally, the percentage of Puerto Rican female-headed households is lower in Albany at 50.8 percent, as compared with 55.1 percent for Puerto Rican women in New York State as a whole (Bose 2006). In sum, the figures for Puerto Rican women in the Albany area depict a comparatively depressed socioeconomic profile.This picture becomes even bleaker when the figures for Puerto Rican women are compared to those for non-Puerto Rican Latina women in Albany. For example, a higher percentage of Puerto Rican women (41.8 percent) live in poverty compared to 38.9 percent of non-Puerto Rican Latina women. They also experience a higher unemployment rate (13.9 percent) compared to 11.9 percent for non-Puerto Rican Latina women. Puerto Rican women have a higher rate of female-headed households (50.8 percent) compared to 15.9 percent for all non-Puerto Rican Latina women in Albany. Published data on the socioeconomic status of Puerto Rican women in the city of Amsterdam are currently unavailable.Theoretical FrameworkThe underlying framework for this study derives from the stress process paradigm, one of the most widely used to conceptualize and study the relationships between stress, coping, and manifestations of stress (Avison and Gotlib 1994; Katerndahl and Parchman 2002; Rao 2009). There are various models of the stress process, including the stresscoping theory (Lazarus and Folkman 1984) and the Stress Process Model (Pearlin, Mullan, Semple, and Skaff1990), which guide this research. …