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Background <p>Arab immigrants grapple with a high level of depression and emotional distress during their stay in the U.S. Despite the&#xa0;established strong association between depression and emotional distress, the underlying mechanism that intrigues this relationship&#xa0;is unknown. Our aim in this research is to 1) determine whether self-reported depression feelings from the previous 12 months&#xa0;among Arab immigrants living in the U.S. predict emotional distress experienced in the past 30 days and 2) evaluate the potential&#xa0;mediating effect of social cohesion and family life impairment on the association between depressive feelings and emotional distress.</p> Method <p>We conducted secondary data analyses using the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) from 2013-2022. A total&#xa0;sample of 193,214 Arabs were included in our analyses. Eligible respondents included those who self-identify as of Arab origin(s)&#xa0;living in the U.S., with no restriction on age or language spoken. We employed a generalized structural equation model to test the&#xa0;mediating effect of both social cohesion and family life impairment on the association between Arab immigrant depression feelings&#xa0;and emotional distress.</p> Results <p>Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 117 years, with a mean age of 56.090 (SD 18.44) years. Our sample population&#xa0;consisted of 83,920 men (43.43%), and 109,301 (56.57%) women. Our findings imply that depression feelings in a previous year&#xa0;significantly predicted larger odds of emotional distress in the previous 30 days among our Arab cohort after controlling for&#xa0;demographic and socioeconomic factors (adjusted OR = 16.65, 95% CI [12.10-21.21], p0.001). We found that both social cohesion&#xa0;(an OR =1.05, 95% CI [1.01- 1.09], p0.001) and family life impairment (an OR =3.01, 95% CI [2.44- 3.57], p0.001) significantly&#xa0;partially mediate the connection between depression feelings in the past 12 months and prior 30 days of emotional distress.</p> Conclusion <p>We found a significant positive association between self-reported depression feelings in the prior 12 months and recent&#xa0;emotional distress, partially mediated by social cohesion and family life impairment. These findings emphasize the crucial role of&#xa0;social assembly and familial dynamics in shaping distress outcomes among Arab people with previous depression feelings, thereby&#xa0;underscoring the importance of tailored interventions targeting both social and familial factors to improve mental health outcomes in&#xa0;Arab communities.</p>

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Mediators of the Relationship between Worst Feelings of Depression and Frequency of Emotional Distress among Arabs in the United States

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月19日

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  • Shaimaa Elrefaay,
  • Sandra Weiss,
  • Lisa Fortuna,
  • Chen Jyu-Lin

摘要

Background

Arab immigrants grapple with a high level of depression and emotional distress during their stay in the U.S. Despite the established strong association between depression and emotional distress, the underlying mechanism that intrigues this relationship is unknown. Our aim in this research is to 1) determine whether self-reported depression feelings from the previous 12 months among Arab immigrants living in the U.S. predict emotional distress experienced in the past 30 days and 2) evaluate the potential mediating effect of social cohesion and family life impairment on the association between depressive feelings and emotional distress.

Method

We conducted secondary data analyses using the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) from 2013-2022. A total sample of 193,214 Arabs were included in our analyses. Eligible respondents included those who self-identify as of Arab origin(s) living in the U.S., with no restriction on age or language spoken. We employed a generalized structural equation model to test the mediating effect of both social cohesion and family life impairment on the association between Arab immigrant depression feelings and emotional distress.

Results

Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 117 years, with a mean age of 56.090 (SD 18.44) years. Our sample population consisted of 83,920 men (43.43%), and 109,301 (56.57%) women. Our findings imply that depression feelings in a previous year significantly predicted larger odds of emotional distress in the previous 30 days among our Arab cohort after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors (adjusted OR = 16.65, 95% CI [12.10-21.21], p0.001). We found that both social cohesion (an OR =1.05, 95% CI [1.01- 1.09], p0.001) and family life impairment (an OR =3.01, 95% CI [2.44- 3.57], p0.001) significantly partially mediate the connection between depression feelings in the past 12 months and prior 30 days of emotional distress.

Conclusion

We found a significant positive association between self-reported depression feelings in the prior 12 months and recent emotional distress, partially mediated by social cohesion and family life impairment. These findings emphasize the crucial role of social assembly and familial dynamics in shaping distress outcomes among Arab people with previous depression feelings, thereby underscoring the importance of tailored interventions targeting both social and familial factors to improve mental health outcomes in Arab communities.