Parenting of siblings in Latinx families during middle childhood

Parents' management of their children's sibling relationships, or sibling-focused parenting, has substantial theoretical and practical importance but is rarely studied. This study's goals were to describe dimensions of sibling-focused parenting and to examine sociocultural resources and challenges as potential correlates among Latinx mothers and fathers in 262 families with two children in middle childhood. Families were recruited from 11 public elementary schools, and caregivers (248 mother figures; 118 father figures) participated in a home visit and phone interviews at the onset of the study. Sibling-focused parenting included three dimensions: positive guidance (10 items), nonintervention (four items), and authoritarian control (five items). Parents rated positive guidance as their most frequent strategy, and comparisons of mothers and fathers from the same families revealed that mothers engaged in more sibling-focused parenting overall than fathers. Regarding correlates, mothers' familism values and mothers' and fathers' family cohesion reports were associated with more positive guidance and mothers' cohesion was negatively related to nonintervention in sibling conflicts. For mothers only, parenting stress was linked to all three dimensions of sibling-focused parenting-negatively to guidance and positively to authoritarian control and nonintervention; maternal depressive symptoms were positively linked to authoritarian control. Economic hardship was not a significant correlate of any dimension. Findings suggest that sibling-focused parenting is a key domain of parenting in need of further research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic pride and cultural values promote positive youth development in a conceptual replication of the Five Cs model

The current study examined the Five Cs model of positive youth development (PYD; Lerner et al., 2005) in U.S. Mexican-origin youth (N = 674, 50% female) and tested the extent to which ethnic pride, familismo, and respeto, as an index of cultural orientation, predicted PYD across midadolescence. PYD was modeled using a bifactor structure, which defined global PYD and the Five Cs (Caring, Character, Competence, Confidence, and Connection) using theoretically similar measures matched to the conceptual definitions of the Cs. Tests of longitudinal invariance of the bifactor model at ages 14 and 16 established scalar invariance, providing support for the structure and stability of the Five Cs and global PYD using the theoretically similar measures across time. Adolescents' cultural orientation (latent factor incorporating familismo, respeto, and ethnic pride) at age 14 was positively associated with the Five Cs within and across time. Greater cultural orientation at age 14 predicted increased global PYD across ages 14 and 16. The contribution of cultural orientation to the PYD across midadolescence did not differ by adolescent gender or nativity. These findings demonstrate the robust nature and stability of the Five Cs model of PYD and provide novel evidence that ethnic pride, familismo, and respeto promote greater PYD in Mexican-origin youth during midadolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Coping (together) with hate: Strategies used by Mexican-origin families in response to racial-ethnic discrimination

Coping in the context of racial-ethnic discrimination is often framed as an individualistic process, where the focus is on how the individual deals with the racialized stressor to mitigate its negative effects. However, individuals exist within social contexts including the family and coping processes may operate interdependently as well. Further, racialized stressors have the potential to disrupt the entire family system, regardless of whether the experience in that moment is shared among all its members. Despite these realities, few studies have considered how Latinx youth and their parents may cope together in the face of racial-ethnic discrimination. To address this gap, we analyzed focus group data from Mexican-origin adolescents (n = 17; M_age = 12.8; 71% girls) and their parents (n = 17; M_age = 42.8; 82% mothers) to explore the coping strategies used in response to racial-ethnic discrimination. An inductive thematic analysis identified a broad range of coping strategies representing both individualistic and interdependent approaches to deal with racial-ethnic discrimination. Strategies included (a) reframing (with pride) and ignoring an encounter, (b) standing up for oneself, (c) talking issues out, (d) problem-solving together, and (e) protection tactics. These findings provide evidence for the ways in which Mexican-origin families help adolescents cope with racial-ethnic discrimination and offer a glimpse as to how adolescents may help their families cope as well. Future research is needed to further explore the interdependent nature of coping as Latinx family members protect and support one another in the face of pervasive racialized stressors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Mexican-origin parents' workplace discrimination and well-being: The roles of familism values, family conflict, and gender

OBJECTIVE

This study examined Mexican-origin parents' perceived workplace discrimination, familism, family conflict, and gender as related to parents' well-being (i.e., self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and general physical health) over a 2-year period during the 2007-2009 "Great Recession" in the U.S.

METHOD

Data were drawn from two waves of a larger study of 246 Mexican-origin predominantly immigrant families with adolescents. Using a matched-pairs sample of mothers and fathers, path analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized relations.

RESULTS

Moderation analyses revealed that high levels of familism weakened the link between workplace discrimination and parents' depressive symptoms, whereas high levels of parent-youth conflict exacerbated the association to parents' psychosocial well-being. There was variation by parent gender, with parent-youth conflict being more strongly associated with fathers' self-esteem than mothers'.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that Mexican-origin parents' familism can mitigate and family conflict can exacerbate the risks of workplace discrimination on parents' psychosocial well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Social Identities of Persons With Schizophrenia and Social Functioning: Individual and Family Caregiver Perspectives

ABSTRACT

We apply social identity theory and self-categorization theory to examine the role of social identities in relation to the recovery of persons with schizophrenia. We assess whether illness-based and non-illness-based identities held by both those with schizophrenia and their caregivers explain additional variance in social functioning in persons with schizophrenia beyond the previously established predictors of negative symptoms and theory of mind. Sixty Mexican-origin adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and their family caregivers were obtained through an outpatient mental health clinic located in either Los Angeles, CA, or in Puebla, Mexico. A three-step hierarchical regression indicated that identity endorsements, from both the perspective of the person with schizophrenia and their caregiver, and negative symptomatology are significant independent predictors of social functioning. Specifically, greater endorsement of nonillness identities both for the person with schizophrenia and also their caregiver is associated with higher social functioning. Illness identity plays an important role in the path to recovery.

Mexican-Origin Adolescent Mothers' Economic Contexts, Educational Re-Engagement, and Their Children's School Readiness

Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of 204 Mexican-origin adolescent mothers, their mother figures, and their children, the current investigation examined (a) adolescent mothers' educational re-engagement and attainment beginning during their pregnancy and ending when their child was 5 years old; and (b) the influence of the family economic context on adolescent mothers' educational re-engagement and attainment and their children's academic and social-emotional outcomes. Findings detailed adolescent mothers' re-engagement in school after the birth of their child and revealed that family income during adolescents' pregnancies was directly associated with re-engagement and attainment, and also initiated cascade effects that shaped adolescents' economic contexts, their subsequent re-engagement and attainment, and ultimately their children's academic and social-emotional outcomes at age 5.

Life satisfaction trajectories during adolescence and the transition to young adulthood: Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth

Despite the importance of life satisfaction for health and well-being, there is a paucity of longitudinal studies tracking changes in life satisfaction in ethnic minority youth. In a sample of 674 Mexican-origin youth, the present research examined life satisfaction trajectories from middle (age 14) to late adolescence (age 17) and from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 21). On average, life satisfaction did not change significantly from age 14 to 17, and then decreased from age 17 to 21 (d = .30), perhaps reflecting difficulties transitioning into adult roles. Drawing on ecological systems theory, we examined both proximal (i.e., family) and distal (i.e., social-contextual) environmental factors (measured via self- and parent-reports) that may account for between-person variation in life satisfaction trajectories. Youth with more positive family environments in middle adolescence (age 14) had higher mean life satisfaction from middle adolescence to young adulthood (age 21). In contrast, youth with more negative family environments and who experienced greater economic hardship and more ethnic discrimination in middle adolescence (age 14) had lower life satisfaction during this period. Many of these factors also predicted change in life satisfaction from middle (age 14) to late adolescence (age 17), but not from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 21). This research extends the current understanding of life satisfaction during a critical developmental period in an understudied population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Neighborhood Qualification of the Association Between Parenting and Problem Behavior Trajectories Among Mexican-Origin Father-Adolescent Dyads

To address the combined importance of fathers and neighborhoods for adolescent adjustment, we examined whether associations between fathers' parenting and adolescents' problem behaviors were qualified by neighborhood adversity. We captured both mainstream (e.g., authoritative) and alternative (e.g., no-nonsense, reduced involvement) parenting styles and examined parenting and neighborhood effects on changes over time in problem behaviors among a sample of Mexican-origin father-adolescent dyads (N = 462). Compared to their counterparts in low-adversity neighborhoods, adolescents in high-adversity neighborhoods experienced greater initial benefits from authoritative fathering, greater long-term benefits from no-nonsense fathering, and fewer costs associated with reduced involvement fathering. The combined influences of alternative paternal parenting styles and neighborhood adversity may set ethnic and racial minority adolescents on different developmental pathways to competence.

Dispositional optimism: a psychological resource for Mexican-origin mothers experiencing economic stress

Dispositional optimism is believed to be an important psychological resource that buffers families against the deleterious consequences of economic adversity. Using data from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin families (N = 674), we tested a family stress model specifying that maternal dispositional optimism and economic pressure affect maternal internalizing symptoms, which, in turn, affects parenting behaviors and children's social adjustment. As predicted, maternal optimism and economic pressure had both independent and interactive effects on maternal internalizing symptoms, and the effects of these variables on changes over time in child social adjustment were mediated by nurturant and involved parenting. The findings replicate and extend previous research on single-parent African American families (Taylor, Larsen-Rife, Conger, Widaman, & Cutrona, 2010), and demonstrate the generalizability of the positive benefits of dispositional optimism in another ethnic group and type of family structure.

Structural and cultural factors in successful aging among older Hispanics

Successful or healthful aging are terms that draw attention to life course issues related to individual, physical, and psychologic development and maturation, but they also draw attention to the material basis of successful aging and the social structures that determine one's place in the social hierarchy. This article focuses on barriers to optimal aging for Hispanics, especially those of Mexican origin, and argues that cultural factors and social class are closely associated. The reduction of health disparities and equity in medical and long-term care requires an understanding of both cultural and material sources of differential health levels.