The Association of Nativity and Mental Health Treatment Use Among Asian and Latine Groups

This cross-sectional study sought to investigate the associations of nativity with the use of mental health treatments, specifying by treatment type, among a nationally representative sample of Asian and Latine adults living in the United States. Further, the study sought to determine if these associations were moderated by racial/ethnic group. Data came from Asian and Latine adult respondents in the 2011-March 2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Separate logistic regression analyses modeled associations of nativity with three outcomes: any mental health treatment use, past-month antidepressant use (with/without MHP visit), and past-year MHP visit (with/without antidepressant use). Models were adjusted for demographics (racial/ethnic group, age, gender, partnered status, and education level) then nativity. Lastly, healthcare access-related (insurance status, access to routine primary care, and frequency of past-year primary care visits) variables were controlled for. Foreign-born (vs. US-born) Asian and Latine Americans had significantly lower odds of any treatment use, past-month antidepressant use, and past-year MHP visit. Adjusting for healthcare access did not meaningfully change these associations. Further, among foreign-born groups, race/ethnicity moderated the association between nativity and treatment use in that Asian respondents were significantly less likely to report using any mental health treatment or past-year MHP visit compared to Latine respondents. This effect was not seen among US-born groups. Interestingly, this effect was also not seen for past-month antidepressant use, which may be due to a low number of respondents who endorsed past-month antidepressant use, regardless of nativity and/or racial/ethnic group.