Acculturation and Depression Mediated by Sense of Community: Older Immigrant Women from the FSU

The purpose of this study was to examine the acculturation process of 151 Russian immigrant women who resided in the Chicago area. This study investigated the influences of acculturation and sense of community on depression. Mediation analysis was used to assess whether sense of community explained the relationship between acculturation and depression. Exploratory analyses were also conducted to test for moderated mediation using the percentage of Russian speakers in the census tract. Results suggested that sense of community fully mediated the relationship between American identity acculturation and depression, but Russian acculturation was not related to depression. In addition, the findings in this study indicate that multidimensional and bidirectional measurement of acculturation to the native and host cultures is needed in order to understand the acculturation process for this population. Future research is needed that takes into consideration how sense of community is defined and measured to reflect the experiences of immigrants.