The number of Black immigrants in this country has quintupled since 1980, sitting at a record 4.2 million (Anderson & Lopez, 2018).  While Black immigrants comprise 9% of the United States Black population today, the Census Bureau estimates that figure rising to 16.5% by 2060 (Anderson, 2015).  While interracial differences are critical for inquiry in the social and behavioral sciences, intraracial differences are equally important.  This poster explores the mental health of an ethnically diverse sample of Black women of varying backgrounds in terms of nativity, languages, ages, etc. This poster summarizes study findings, highlights research and practice implications and provides recommendations for future studies.
Participants include ethnically diverse Black women (N = 91), aged 18- to 47-years-old (M = 26.64).  Participants represent at least 8 countries, with 51.6% US-born (n = 47).  While interviews were conducted in English, the majority (n = 52) spoke another language such as French, Creole, Igbo, etc.
This is an IRB-approved, cross-sectional study. Participants were recruited from various community centers via flyers and snowball sampling. Interviews with the participants lasted 1-to-3 hours and each person was debriefed at the end of the process. Measures included (1) a demographic questionnaire inquiring about age, sex, nativity, nationality, and languages spoken; (2) Beck Depression Inventory (BDI – II; Beck et al, 1996) assessing depression; and (3) Self Esteem Rating Scale (SERS; Nugent & Thomas, 1993) assessing self-esteem.On average, participants exhibited high levels of self-esteem (M = 73.23), low levels of depression (M = 7.36) and low levels of worry (M = 40.10).  Regarding nativity, US-born Black women exhibited significantly higher levels of self-esteem than their foreign-born counterparts (t (63) = -2.383, p = .020), while no statistically significant between-group differences in depression (t (64) = 1.122, p = .23) or worry (t (40) = -.181, p = .86) were found. More results will be presented concerning age. This study is one step towards understanding the rich diversity of the Black community. While some measures show convergence between US- and foreign-born participants, notable differences exist, particularly with self-esteem. Research and practice recommendations will be provided.