PROVO - When Ricardo Negrete immigrated to Utah at age 15, he felt apart from the other kids at his new school.

"Because I didn't speak the language, I felt like I didn't belong," said Negrete, 25, now a case worker for the Utah Farmworker Program. "Looking back, I didn't think it was depression or anything, but I felt sad. It was just something that weighed on my mind."

A Brigham Young University researcher says those kinds of experiences, plus being the target, real or perceived, of racism, often leads to sleep difficulties or depression in Latino immigrants,.

Clinical psychologist Patrick Steffen discovered the association while studying why Mexicans experience higher blood pressure and incidents of heart disease after immigrating to the United States.

The study, published in the latest issue of Ethnicity and Disease, establishes sleep problems as a link between racism and depression.

"We found that perceived racism impacts the quality of their sleep, and disturbed sleep is related to depression," Steffen said. "Individuals who have experienced racism could be thinking about what happened the previous day, feeling stressed about their ability to succeed when being judged by something other than merit - skin tone or a different way of speaking.

"Sleep is the pathway through which racism affects depression."

Angela Fanjul, a clinical social worker with Holy Cross Ministries, said the study resonates with her clients' experiences

"It is absolutely [right] on with what I have found in my practice," said Fanjul, who works predominantly with Latino immigrants. "There's a lot of depression and a lot of self-doubt."

BYU's Steffen is now in the midst of a four-year, $260,000 study funded by the American Heart Association to nail down causes of higher blood pressure and increased heart disease in Mexican immigrants.

Mexicans generally have low blood pressure and low rates of heart disease in their native country, Steffen said. He said changes in diet and physical activity definitely affect the health of immigrants as well.

Gina Bellazetin, a victim advocate for the South Salt Lake Police Department and former official in the Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City, can add her own perspective.

"It's just everything, starting from worrying about where they're going to eat, where they're going to stay," Bellazetin said. "I've heard from everybody. They have bad experiences. It's traumatic."

Add on top of that discrimination, and it's no wonder immigrant health suffers, said Maria Farrington of Centro de La Familia.

"As a Latino, anytime one perceives racism, it is very tough on one's psyche," Farrington said. "Racism hurts everybody because it's born of ignorance."

The study also notes that Latinos who have lived in the states longer seem to experience more perceived racism than those who have recently immigrated because they are more aware of how people are treating them.

Steffen came up with data for the study by administering clinical mental-health evaluations to 168 Latino immigrants who had been in the United States an average of five years. Forty-five percent of subjects were female, and subjects' average age was 33.

Preventing incidents of discrimination may be impossible, but Steffen advises quality counseling for immigrants suffering from depression and sleep loss.

thollingshead@sltrib.com