Prevalence of Mental Health Issues in the Borderlands: A Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to (a) examine the results of a binational study of two colonias near El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, focusing on mental health and (b) analyze those results in relation to the existing literature on Hispanic mental health to determine how border regions compare with Hispanic enclaves in nonborder regions. We focus on gender, birthplace, length of residency, and level of acculturation correlated with self-reported diagnoses of depression in our analysis. Our survey instrument incorporates portions of the Behavioral Risk Factor and Surveillance Survey; the SF36, version 2; and the CAGE scale for alcohol use and abuse. We found that birthplace, acculturation, and length of residency at the border did not correlate in the same ways to mental health issues as in nonborder regions.

Mental health outcomes of Mexico’s drug war in Ciudad Juárez: A pilot study among university students.

“…The study used pilot data from a sample of university students in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, collected at the height of a period of armed conflict between warring drug cartels and Mexican state forces, when exposure to traumatic events related to the conflict was highly likely. This area is also characterized by high rates of depression, especially among low-income women (O’Connor et al, 2008); thus mental health is of particular concern in the United States–Mexico border region even without the stressor of armed conflict. This descriptive report presents the data analyzed by gender and age and by PTSD criterium.…”

Re-Examination of Quality of Life Indicators in US - Mexico Border Cities: a Critical Review

“…Poor environmental conditions in the region are connected to poor physical and mental health especially in the colonias, which are informal, unregulated periphery urban subdivisions (Hilfinger Messias et al 2017;Marquez-Velarde et al 2015;Mier et al 2008;O'Connor et al 2008). The term, colonia, means neighborhood or community in Spanish (Hilfinger Messias et al 2017).…”

“…This dominating narrative highlights the large opportunity for social indicators researchers to inform future research, policy, and practice regarding border communities, especially U.S.-Mexico border communities. While environmental concerns have been investigated regarding housing (e.g., O'Connor et al 2008), industry (Liverman et al 1999), and border barriers (e.g., Bolstad 2017;Lasky et al 2011), little discussion and research has occurred that can inform sustainable practices across border communities outside of the BOP. Issues such as poor health, food insecurity, low education, high unemployment, and social capital remain and must be addressed to unearth reasons for variations in health and QoL in specific areas (e.g., Collins 2013; Weigel and Armijos 2018).…”

Mental health outcomes of drug conflict among university students at the U.S.–Mexico border.

“…Mexicans are also less likely than other Latino groups to have been exposed to political or civil violence (Fortuna et al, 2008). However, Mexican-origin Hispanics in the El Paso border region, even before the worst years of the conflict, report significantly higher rates of depression than immigrant groups or native born Hispanics (O’Connor et al, 2008). The additional stressor of an armed conflict thus increases the risk of negative mental health outcomes in a population that has already been documented as experiencing high rates of depression (Aker, Önen, & Karakili&ccedil, 2007; Amin & Khan, 2009; Ayazi, Lien, Eide, Swartz, & Hauff, 2014; Başoğlu et al, 2004; Fortuna et al, 2008; Husain et al, 2011).…”