Pacific and English Language Fluency and Mental Disorder Symptom Indications Among Pacific Mothers in New Zealand: Findings From the Pacific Islands Families Study

Abstract

Within New Zealand (NZ), Pacific people experience higher prevalence of mental disorder than non-Pacific people. Bilinguals are believed to have psychological advantages over monolinguals, although the empirical evidence base is equivocal. A prospective cohort of Pacific mothers was studied at 6 weeks (n = 1272), 1-year (n = 1135), and 2-year (n = 1059) postpartum. At 6 weeks, 343 (27.0%) mothers were fluent in both Pacific and English languages, 519 (40.8%) only fluent in Pacific language(s), and 410 (32.2%) only fluent in English. Over assessment waves, 16.0%, 12.5%, and 8.7% of mothers had mental disorder symptom indications. In adjusted generalized estimating equation analysis, mothers speaking English only had odds of mental disorder symptom indication of 2.24 as compared to bilingual mothers, while those who spoke Pacific language(s) only had odds of 1.52. Supporting Pacific and English languages within NZ may confer mental health benefits to new Pacific mothers and potentially others.