Shattered Dreams: Unauthorized Status and Depressive Symptoms among Mexican Immigrant Women in the United States

• In Event: 242 - Section on International Migration Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Health of U.S. Immigrants

Abstract

How does unauthorized status impact depressive symptoms among unauthorized Mexican immigrant women? Using thirty face-to-face interviews with unauthorized Mexican immigrant women in Houston, Texas, I explore the relationship between unauthorized status and depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that unauthorized Mexican immigrant women experience depressive symptoms associated with: 1) fear of deportation; 2) family fragmentation, and 3) economic uncertainty. This study emphasizes the importance of considering unauthorized status as one aspect of the context of reception that affects Mexican immigrant women’s mental health outcomes. This study demonstrates how unauthorized status further exacerbates the economic hard times that Mexican immigrants face in an anti-immigrant environment. This research contributes to the segmented assimilation literature by highlighting the extent to which a negative societal reception context, in the form of unauthorized legal status, impacts the mental health outcomes of Mexican unauthorized immigrant women.

Author

• San Juanita Edilia Garcia, The Ohio State University