Latinx Adolescents' Assets, Risks, and Developmental Pathways: A Decade in Review and Looking Ahead

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.

Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Latinx Children, Youth, and Families: Clinical Challenges and Opportunities

Latinx children, youth, and families in the United States have been disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to non-Latinxs, experiencing a higher burden of deaths, economic adversity, parental stress, and mental health problems. At the same time, Latinx children, youth, and families in the United States have rich cultural and community resources that serve as a source of protection and promotion. To our knowledge, no special issue has been devoted to the impact of the pandemic on Latinx children, youth, and families, which limits opportunities to examine its implications for clinical theory, research, assessment, policy, and practice. To address this gap, we present this special issue entitled "Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of Latinx children, youth, and families: Clinical challenges and opportunities," a collection of nine articles written by Latinx scholars. In this introduction, we explain why it is important to center Latinx children, youth, and families and why we need to use a structural-intersectional approach. We summarize the articles in this collection by grouping them by themes: immigration and family separation; the impact of family economic adversity; school and family contexts of mental health; the pandemic experience of Latinx LGBTQ and AfroLatinx youth; and a model to imagine the future of Latinx children, youth, and families. We conclude with a brief summary and suggestions for future research.

Extending the Psychology of Working Model for Latinx Youth: Incorporating Youth Voice

Psychology of working theory (PWT) emphasizes the role of contextual constraints in career development, as well as promotive factors that might be cultivated to navigate these constraints. Although PWT has implications for promoting youth career development, most research has focused on college students and working adults. We interviewed 12 youth residing in a Latinx community with a high level of poverty and attending a well-resourced private high school with a high degree of college acceptance to explore developmentally and culturally relevant promotive factors that might inform the extension of PWT for youth. Analyses conducted through Consensual Qualitative Research revealed a strong sense of purpose and hope that were grounded in family, school, and workplace supports. Participants reported critical awareness of societal inequities and a focus on challenging inequity through hard work rather than societal change. We discuss implications for extending PWT theory, research, and intervention with Latinx youth.

Future Directions on BIPOC Youth Mental Health: The Importance of Cultural Rituals in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Culture plays an important role in the development of mental health, especially during childhood and adolescence. However, less is known about how participation in cultural rituals is related to the wellbeing of youth who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and part of the Global Majority. This is crucial amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a global event that has disproportionally affected BIPOC youth and disrupted participation in rituals. The goal of this paper is to promote advances in clinical child and adolescent psychology focused on rituals. We begin by defining culture and rituals and examining their role on development. We illustrate these issues with the Lunar New Year in China, Maya rituals in México, Ramadan in Turkey, and Black graduations and Latinx funerals in the United States. We discuss how the pandemic has affected participation in these rituals and their potential impact on BIPOC children and adolescents' mental health. We propose future directions and recommendations for research.