DEPRESSION, ALCOHOL ABUSE, AND GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN MAZAHUA WOMEN IN A RURAL MEXICAN VILLAGE

Abstract

This first study of depression and alcohol abuse in indigenous women in Mexico focuses on Mazahua women in a rural village. Women between the ages of 15 and 55 were interviewed using the Beck Depression Inventory, an Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse survey, and a socioeconomic survey. Unexpected results showed that although alcohol abuse was absent, these women experience depression a generation earlier than the international and national averages for women, with an overall incidence about twice as great. Depression was associated with spouse's emigration, infidelity, or alcoholism. Sharp intergenerational differences were found in identity and socioeconomic status.