The protective roles of ethnic identity, social support, and coping on depression in low-income parents: A test of the adaptation to poverty-related stress model

OBJECTIVE: This study tested the Adaptation to Poverty-Related Stress (APRS) model's proposed relationships between poverty-related stress (PRS), ethnic identity affirmation (EI), social support, engagement coping, and depression in a racial/ethnically diverse sample of low-income parents. METHOD: Path analysis was used to test the APRS model in a sample of 602 parents living at or below 200% of the federal poverty line (50% male, mean age = 32.55 years, SD = 8.78, 34.8% White). Multigroup path analysis tested moderation by gender and race/ethnicity. RESULTS: Path analysis revealed that PRS was indirectly associated with higher depressive symptoms through less social support and less use of engagement coping operating in parallel and sequentially in a three-path mediated sequence. Conversely, EI was indirectly associated with lower depressive symptoms through greater social support and greater use of engagement coping operating in parallel and sequentially. However, PRS remained a direct predictor of higher depressive symptoms. Moderation by gender and race/ethnicity was not found. CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings provide empirical support for the APRS model. This study suggests that clinical and preventive interventions targeting depression in low-income parents could benefit from focusing on improving low-income parent's use of engagement coping and perceived social support. Ethnic identity is a promising target as it to protects against PRS' negative impact on coping and social support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).