Protective and Promotive Effects of Latino Early Adolescents' Cultural Assets Against Multiple Types of Discrimination

Profiles of Latinx cultural orientation among adolescents: Associations with internalizing symptoms and moderation by ethnic-racial discrimination

INTRODUCTION

The objectives of the current study were the following: (1) to explore multidimensional profiles of Latinx cultural orientation using Spanish language use, familismo, and ethnic-racial identity (ERI) affirmation among Latinx adolescents, (2) to test how Latinx cultural orientation profiles were associated with adolescents' internalizing symptoms (i.e., depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms), and (3) to test whether associations between profiles and internalizing symptoms were moderated by adolescents' ethnic-racial discrimination experiences.

METHODS

The study was conducted among a sample of 204 Latinx adolescents (52.4% female; Mage = 14.35, SDage = 1.75).

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis indicated four profiles of Latinx cultural orientation: higher affirmation and lower Spanish (HALS), higher Spanish (HS), lower familismo and affirmation (LFA), and higher familismo/lower Spanish and affirmation (HFLSA). Latinx adolescents who reported lower levels on more than one Latinx cultural orientation dimension (e.g. LFA or HFSLA) also reported worse health when compared to adolescents who reported higher levels of more than one Latinx cultural orientation dimension (e.g., HSA). The associations between Latinx cultural orientation profiles and internalizing symptoms were not moderated by adolescents' ethnic-racial discrimination.

CONCLUSION

Findings provide researchers and practitioners with an understanding of the various ways in which Latinx adolescents remain connected to their Latinx culture and implications for their outcomes.

Peer Discrimination, Deviant Peer Affiliation, and Latino/a Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms: A Prospective Study

OBJECTIVE

U.S. Latino/a adolescents experience high levels of ethnic discrimination, particularly in new immigrant destinations. Due to the salience of peers during adolescence, this study examined how peer discrimination related directly and indirectly, through deviant peer affiliation, to changes in Latino/a adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Culture-specific moderators hypothesized to buffer discrimination impacts on adolescent symptomology included Spanish language enculturation and adolescents' social ties to relatives in the family's country-of-origin.

METHOD

The sample of 547 Latino/a adolescent participants from the Caminos al Bienestar study (55.4% female; age M = 12.8, range = 11-16) was selected at random from middle schools in a large, suburban school district in Atlanta, Georgia. Three time points of survey data spaced roughly 6 months apart were collected during 2018 and 2019.

RESULTS

Results from longitudinal structural equation models revealed that peer discrimination was associated indirectly with increased externalizing symptoms, through increases in affiliation with deviant peers (β = 0.05; SE = 0.02; B = 0.02; 95% CI = 0.01, 0.09). We did not observe direct or indirect effects of peer discrimination on changes in internalizing symptoms, and we found no significant protective effects of either Spanish language enculturation or social ties with the country-of-origin.

CONCLUSIONS

Ethnic discrimination by peers may lead to deviant peer affiliation and, in turn, increased externalizing behaviors. Future research identifying protective factors that buffer discrimination impacts on deviant peer affiliation is needed to inform the development of interventions that can prevent Latino/a adolescents' externalizing symptoms.

The Heritability of Psychopathology Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Moderation by Family Cultural Values in the ABCD Study

Family cultural values that emphasize support, loyalty, and obligation to the family are associated with lower psychopathology in Hispanic/Latino/a youth, but there is a need to understand the implications of family cultural values for youth development in racially/ethnically heterogeneous samples. This study examined phenotypic associations between parent- and youth-reported family cultural values in late childhood on youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early adolescence, and whether family cultural values moderated genetic and environmental influences on psychopathology symptoms. The sample comprised 10,335 children (Mage=12.89 years; 47.9% female; 20.3% Hispanic/Latino/a, 15.0% Black, 2.1% Asian, 10.5% other) and their parents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, and biometric models were conducted in the twin subsample (n = 1,042 twin pairs; 43.3% monozygotic). Parents and youth reported on their family cultural values using the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale at youth age 11-12, and parents reported on youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist at youth ages 11-12 and 12-13. Greater parent- and youth-reported family cultural values predicted fewer youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Biometric models indicated that higher parent-reported family cultural values increased the nonshared environmental influences on externalizing symptoms whereas youth-reported family cultural values decreased the nonshared environmental influences on internalizing symptoms. This study highlights the need for behavior genetic research to consider a diverse range of cultural contexts to better understand the etiology of youth psychopathology.

Critical Consciousness for Connectivity: Decoding Social Isolation Experienced by Latinx and LGBTQ+ Youth Using a Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Health Equity

Systemic oppression creates a context in which Latinx LGBTQ+ youth experience social isolation. Social isolation has been associated with mental and physical health disparities, including disproportionate levels of depression, substance use, self-harm, and attempted suicide. These disparities are often magnified in rural and suburban areas with fewer identity-affirming spaces. This community-engaged study reports on the formative process of developing a Latinx LGBTQ+ telenovela (soap opera) allyship intervention based on critical consciousness theory. We conducted eight focus groups with community advisory boards, which included Latinx LGBTQ+ youth (n = 12), health and social service providers serving LGBTQ+ youth (n = 10), 4-H Latinx alumni youth (n = 12), and 4-H Latinx parents (n = 8). We interviewed nine Latinx LGBTQ+ youth enrolled in a film-making workshop. As a result of our multi-stakeholder approach, we: (1) described how stakeholders reflected on and decoded intersectional isolation on the individual, community, and structural levels; and (2) identified ways that stakeholders suggested taking action by improving access to resources to address social isolation, provide culturally competent healthcare, and co-create an enabling social environment. Our study indicated the importance of tapping into core values and intersectional identities to build solidarity among and within marginalized groups to dismantle oppressive systems.

Systems of Oppression: The Impact of Discrimination on Latinx Immigrant Adolescents' Well-Being and Development

With over 400 harmful immigration policy changes in the past 4 years, Latinx adolescents and families nationwide are developing within a context of extreme anti-immigrant sentiment (Dismantling and reconstructing the U.S. immigration system: A catalog of changes under the Trump presidency, Migration Policy Institute, 2020). This paper introduces the Multitiered Model of Oppression and Discrimination (MMOD), a conceptual model for understanding the impacts of multiple levels of discrimination on the well-being and development of Latinx immigrant adolescents. Interpersonal discrimination (Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2010, 32, 259), community-held stereotypes (Social Psychology of Education, 2001, 5, 201), institutional policies (Children and Youth Services Review, 2018, 87, 192), and structural practices (Journal of Criminal Justice, 2020, 66, 1) can negatively impact well-being and development among these adolescents. Culturally sustaining interventions, civic engagement and mobilization, and policies targeting inequitable policies and practices will provide healing and an avenue for liberation.

The Phenotypic, Psychological, and Social Interplays of Skin Color and Developmental Outcomes among Mexican-origin Adolescents: Dismantling Systems of Racism and Oppression during Adolescence: Dismantling Systems of Racism and Oppression during Adolescence

Mexican-origin children from immigrant families are impacted by various systemic oppressions in life. The study seeks to examine how adolescents' developmental outcomes are associated with specific phenotypic, psychological, and social features of skin color, as manifested by skin tone, skin color satisfaction, and foreigner stress. By taking a holistic approach, we examine both positive and negative adjustment outcomes, including delinquency, resilience, and effortful control. Participants were 604 Mexican-origin adolescents aged between 11.08 and 15.29 (Mage  = 12.91, SD = 0.92) with at least one immigrant parent. The findings highlight the harm of foreigner stress and the benefit of skin color satisfaction in Mexican-origin adolescents' development of delinquency, resilience, and effortful control, especially for those with a darker skin color.

The Associations between Contextual and Cultural Stressors, Internalizing Symptoms, and Social Support

The current study aims to examine the associations between neighborhood safety, racial-ethnic discrimination, and depressive symptoms, as well as explore social support as a protective factor using the Minority Stress Model for three different BIPOC groups (i.e. African American, Puerto Rican, and Dominican). African American and Latino youth living in urban environments often encounter multiple stressors at the same time, and it is critical to learn more about how these stressors influence well-being in tandem. The results showed that among African American youth safety concerns were associated with depressive symptoms while discrimination was associated with Latino youth's depressive symptoms.

Measurement considerations in the link between racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescent well-being: A meta-analysis

Racial/ethnic discrimination is a commonplace experience for many adolescents of color, and an increasing number of studies over the past 25 years have sought to document discrimination and its consequences at this stage of the life course. The evidence is clear and convincing that racial/ethnic discrimination is harmful for adolescents' socioemotional and behavioral well-being as well as their academic success. Discrimination measurement, however, poses a critical source of potential variation in the observed effect sizes capturing the associations between racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescents' well-being. This meta-analysis integrated 1,804 effect sizes on 156,030 unique ethnically- and geographically-diverse adolescents (M age = 14.44, SD = 2.27) from 379 studies that used 79 unique instruments to assess racial/ethnic discrimination. The meta-analysis focused on a host of measurement-related moderators, including the number of items, response scale and response dimensions, reliability, retrospective reference period, perpetrators, and initial target populations. Larger effect sizes were observed for instruments with more items and with non-dichotomously rated items. Perpetrator and retrospective reference period also emerged as key moderators, while measure reliability, response dimensions, and initial measurement development characteristics were not significant moderators. Findings provide key insights for the development of more precise, effective instruments to assess perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in adolescence.

Stressful Experiences, Connection, and Depressive Symptoms Among Taiwanese Han and Indigenous Youth

This study examined Taiwanese Han and indigenous (Tayal) youth’s experiences of stressful life events, the association between stressful experiences and depressive symptomology, and also the indirect and interactive effects of connection on the relationship between stressful experiences and depressive symptomology. Taiwanese Han (97%) is the majority group, whereas indigenous people make up 2.3% of Taiwan’s population. Taiwanese indigenous people have experienced disparities across socio-historical, educational, and economic aspects of their lives. This study included 291 eighth-grade participants (40% from the Tayal tribe, 48.8% female, and M_age = 13.44). The Han sample in this study all lived in cities, and the Tayal sample all lived in the tribal areas of the Northern Taiwan mountain regions. Person-centered (latent class analyses) and cumulative (sum of items) approaches were used to investigate family and school stressful events, respectively. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted separately for the Han and Tayal participants to examine the role of family and school connection in relation to family and school stressors and depressive symptomology. Our results showed that stressful experiences are clearly linked to depressive symptomology and family connection was important to both Tayal and Han youth in supporting their coping with depressive symptoms. However, Tayal youth might be particularly vulnerable to family stressful events because family stressors disrupted their connection with their parents and thereby minimized the protective function of family relationships. To decrease the likely onset of depression during early adolescence, our results suggest that it is important for parents and other family members to monitor adolescents’ daily experiences of stress and provide support when needed. Furthermore, mental health interventions need to be tailored specifically for youth in specific racial, social, and economic contexts. Tayal youth mental health might benefit particularly from increasing school connection and decreasing stresses experienced in family contexts. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Perceived discrimination and contextual problems among children and adolescents in northern Chile

Discriminatory behaviors among inter-ethnic relations in schools have long been noted and studied, but there are several correlations between discriminatory behaviors and other constructs that need further investigation. As an example, the relation between perceived discrimination and contextual problems-which include family, school and peer problems-among children and adolescents in Latin America has received little attention from previous studies. Further, the mediating role of ethnic identification and collective self-esteem in this relation also needs to be considered as they could be proven as protective factors for discriminatory behavior and its outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed to, first, establish the relationship between perceived discrimination and contextual problems in inter-ethnic students aged 8-19 years living in Arica, Chile; and second, to identify the role that ethnic identification and collective self-esteem play within this relation. In order to investigate this matter, a cross-sectional study was carried out with 3700 students in 29 schools between the fourth year of primary education and the last year of secondary education, aged between 9-18 years, with 48.4% men and 51.6% women. The sample was divided into primary and secondary school groups. The scales utilized were the Everyday Discrimination Scale, Multi-Group Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised Scale, Collective Self-Esteem Scale and the dimensions of contextual family, school and peer problems, as well as the general index of contextual problems of the Child and Adolescent Assessment System. For data analysis, we tested a path analytic model at both the within and between levels to account for the relations between variables. In each group the models obtained an optimal fit. We found that perceived discrimination and ethnic identification were directly related to contextual problems (.23-.39), and collective self-esteem had only a mediating role. This study showed that strategized interventions focusing on ethnic identification and perceived discrimination should be utilized by schools to create a better developing environment.

A Lifespan Model of Ethnic-Racial Identity

The current paper presents a lifespan model of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) from infancy into adulthood. We conceptualize that ethnic-racial priming during infancy prompts nascent awareness of ethnicity/race that becomes differentiated across childhood and through adulthood. We propose that the components of ERI that have been tested to date fall within five dimensions across the lifespan: ethnic-racial awareness, affiliation, attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge. Further, ERI evolves in a bidirectional process informed by an interplay of influencers (i.e., contextual, individual, and developmental factors, as well as meaning-making and identity-relevant experiences). It is our goal that the lifespan model of ERI will provide important future direction to theory, research, and interventions.

The Distal Role of Adolescents' Awareness of and Perceived Discrimination on Young Adults' Socioeconomic Attainment among Mexican-Origin Immigrant Families

Cultural-ecological frameworks posit that there are harmful effects of social stratification on developmental outcomes. In particular, awareness of aspects of social stratification in society and interpersonal experiences of discrimination, more generally and within specific contexts, may differentially influence outcomes across life stages; yet, few studies have examined the distal effects during adolescence on early adult developmental outcomes. The current study fills this gap by examining distal mechanisms linking adolescents' (Time 1: ages 13-15) awareness of and perceived general and school discrimination to young adults' (Time 3: ages 23-25) socioeconomic attainment (i.e., educational attainment, occupational prestige, earned income) through adolescents' (Time 2: ages 16-18) academic adjustment (i.e., grades and educational expectations). The study also examined variation by adaptive culture (i.e., English and Spanish language use behavior, familism values) and youth gender. Data are from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (N = 755 Mexican-origin adolescents and their foreign-born parents; 51.5% male adolescents; Time 1 M age = 14.20 years). The results revealed that adolescent's awareness of societal discrimination (Time 1) related to adolescents' higher grades (Time 2), which, in turn, related to higher educational attainment and occupational prestige in early adulthood (Time 3). For young women, but not men, sources of perceived discrimination within the school context during adolescence related to lower educational attainment. Additional variation by adaptive culture and gender was also found. Implications discussed are related to positive development among Mexican-origin youth in immigrant families.

Discrimination, Skin Color Satisfaction, and Adjustment among Latinx American Youth

Race-related biases and discrimination and easily observable race-related characteristics, such as skin color, appear to go hand and hand, but it remains unclear how these factors work together to shape youth development. The current study addresses this gap by investigating skin color satisfaction as a mediator between perceptions of discrimination and adjustment. Data are from a cross-sectional sample of Latinx youth (N = 175; M_age = 12.86; 51.4% female; 86.9% US-born) who completed measures of foreigner-based objectification, peer discrimination, adult discrimination, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and the importance or value attributed to academic success. Evidence of significant indirect effects of skin color satisfaction in the links between foreigner-based objectification and self-esteem as well as academic importance was found. Skin color satisfaction did not mediate links between either peer or adult discrimination and self-esteem, depression, and academic importance. The results provide support that being perceived as a foreigner has negative implications for Latinx youth adjustment through skin color satisfaction. The present study expands understanding of how different forms of differential treatment may affect minoritized youth. Implications and future research ideas are discussed.

Risk and Resilience in Minority Youth Populations

This review presents current theory and empirical research that address the interplay between risk and resilience processes among minority youth in the United States. To move the clinical sciences forward in their research and treatment approaches to solving minority–majority health and well-being disparities, ecological, intersectional, and emic (within-group) approaches must be adopted. We discuss the consequences of systematic oppression and marginalization for children in the United States, focusing primarily on research regarding xenophobia, discrimination, and racism. Lastly, we provide examples of recent interventions that take emic approaches to closing minority–majority gaps in developmental outcomes.

The effect of minority status and social context on the development of depression and anxiety: a longitudinal study of Puerto Rican descent youth

Few longitudinal studies have explored to date whether minority status in disadvantaged neighborhoods conveys risk for negative mental health outcomes, and the mechanisms possibly leading to such risk. We investigated how minority status influences four developmental mental health outcomes in an ethnically homogeneous sample of Puerto Rican youth. We tested models of risk for major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), depressive and anxiety symptoms (DAS), and psychological distress, as Puerto Rican youth (aged 5-13 years) transitioned to early adulthood (15-29 years) in two sites, one where they grew up as a majority (the island of Puerto Rico), and another where they were part of a minority group (South Bronx, New York). At baseline, a stratified sample of 2,491 Puerto Rican youth participated from the two sites. After baseline assessment (Wave 1), each youth participant and one caregiver were assessed annually for two years, for a total of three time points (Waves 1-3). From April 2013 to August 2017, participants were contacted for a Wave 4 interview, and a total of 2,004 young people aged 15 to 29 years participated in the assessment (response rate adjusted for eligibility = 82.8%). Using a quasi-experimental design, we assessed impacts of minority status on MDD, GAD, DAS and psychological distress. Via mediation analyses, we explored potential mechanisms underlying the observed relationships. Data from 1,863 Puerto Rican youth (after exclusion of those with MDD or GAD during Waves 1-3) indicated links between minority status and higher rates of lifetime and past-year GAD, DAS and past 30-day psychological distress at Wave 4, and a marginal trend for MDD, even after adjustments. Childhood social support and peer relationships partially explained the differences, as did intercultural conflict, neighborhood discrimination, and unfair treatment in young adulthood. The experience of growing up as a minority, as defined by context, seemingly elevates psychiatric risks, with differences in social relationships and increased social stress as mediators of this relationship. Our findings suggest that interventions at the neighborhood context rather than at the individual level might be important levers to reduce risks for the development of mood disorders in minority youth.