Cultural stress, personal identity development, and mental health among U.S. Hispanic college students.

The present study examines the extent to which culturally stressful experiences may predict impaired well-being, increased internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety), and increased externalizing problems (social aggression, physical aggression, and rule breaking) among a sample of Hispanic college students in Miami across a 12-day period. The predictive effects of cultural stressors on these outcomes were examined both (a) directly and (b) indirectly through daily fluctuations in students' personal identity synthesis and confusion. Results indicated direct predictive effects of cultural stress on four forms of well-being (self-esteem, life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and eudaimonic well-being), on symptoms of depression and anxiety, and on physical aggression and rule breaking. The predictive effects of cultural stress on all four forms of well-being and on symptoms of depression and anxiety were partially mediated through daily fluctuations (instability) in students' sense of personal identity synthesis. Findings were consistent across genders and between U.S.- and foreign-born students. Results are discussed in terms of implications for intervention and for policy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

International Responses to Prevention Intervention Research During Human Ecosystem Disruptions: A Commentary on the Special Issue of Prevention Science.

The purpose of this commentary on the special issue of Prevention Science, "International Responses to Prevention Intervention Research During Human Ecosystem Disruptions," is to review the six target articles included in this issue, evaluate their results, and highlight the myriad ways in which diverse teams of prevention scientists mobilized to conduct rigorous scientific research during major human ecosystem disruptions (HEDs). The articles included in this issue consider both the etiology of mental and behavioral health challenges (i.e., substance use, mental health, behavioral problems) during HEDs and preventive intervention efforts aimed at addressing these challenges (i.e., adaptation and implementation of evidence-based interventions in novel contexts). This commentary discusses each article with emphasis on the respective contributions that prevention science teams have made to public health during major HEDs. Even in the most challenging contexts, prevention scientists have been at the forefront of public health efforts and have evidenced the vital role of prevention science for public health during HED events. The commentary concludes by highlighting the critical roles that prevention scientists can play in addressing critical public health issues during large-scale HEDs.

Everyday discrimination and risk for clinical depression among a community sample of undocumented Latino immigrants in the United States.

Undocumented Latino immigrants in the United States face pervasive discrimination that increases their risk for experiencing depressive symptomatology. Although research has linked discrimination to depressive symptoms more broadly, we do not know whether everyday forms of discrimination are associated with elevated risk for clinical depression among this population. Using data collected from a community sample of undocumented Latino immigrants during the 2015 Trump campaign, we found that everyday discrimination was associated with significantly higher odds of being classified as higher risk for clinical depression. Findings indicate everyday discrimination as a risk factor for clinical depression among undocumented Latino immigrants.

The problem of miscitation in psychological science: Righting the ship.

Scholarly citation represents one of the most common and essential elements of psychological science, from publishing research, to writing grant proposals, to presenting research at academic conferences. However, when authors mischaracterize prior research findings in their studies, such instances of miscitation call into question the reliability and credibility of scholarship within psychological science and can harm theory development, evidence-based practices, knowledge growth, and public trust in psychology as a legitimate science. Despite these implications, almost no research has considered the prevalence of miscitation in the psychological literature. In the largest study to date, we compared the accuracy of 3,347 citing claims to original findings across 89 articles in eight of top psychology journals. Results indicated that, although most (81.2%) citations were accurate, roughly 19% of citing claims either failed to include important nuances of results (9.3%) or completely mischaracterized findings from prior research altogether (9.5%). Moreover, the degree of miscitation did not depend on the number of authors on an article or the seniority of the first authors. Overall, results indicate that approximately one in every 10 citations completely mischaracterizes prior research in leading psychology journals. We offer five recommendations to help authors ensure that they cite prior research accurately. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Mental health and disadvantaged youth: Empowering parents as interventionists through technology.

Youth mental health is in a crisis as prevalence rates for youth psychopathology continue to rise. With global increases in youth mental health problems, along with the havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health disparities continue to widen as youth from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., ethnic/racial minority, low socioeconomic, rural, gender and sexual minorities) are disparately impacted. Parents occupy a critical position in their children's lives in terms of influence, proximity, and responsibility for providing their children with the resources they need to protect their mental health. Yet, disadvantaged families experience persistent barriers that impede their access to mental health treatment, and few accessible mental health resources exist for parents from these backgrounds. Consequently, parents in disadvantaged families rarely receive formal psychological training and often lack the skills needed to effectively intervene when their children experience mental health problems. Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs)-psychosocial interventions that have been digitally translated-offer a promising means to reduce mental health disparities among disadvantaged youth by providing their parents with vital mental health resources while overcoming many of the traditional barriers to care. However, the full potential of technology has yet to be realized, as few to no evidence-based and culturally sensitive DMHIs exist for disadvantaged families. A priority for the field is to promote health equity by providing disadvantaged families with the mental health resources that they need. Toward this end, the present article calls on the field to harness technology to empower parents from disadvantaged families as interventionists in their youths' mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Crisis Migration Adverse Childhood Events: A New Category of Youth Adversity for Crisis Migrant Children and Adolescents.

The present article proposes an extension of the concept of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to apply to crisis migration - where youth and families are fleeing armed conflicts, natural disasters, community violence, government repression, and other large-scale emergencies. We propose that adverse events occurring prior to, during, and following migration can be classified as crisis-migration-related ACEs, and that the developmental logic underlying ACEs can be extended to the new class of crisis-migration-related ACEs. Specifically, greater numbers, severity, and chronicity of crisis-migration-related ACEs would be expected to predict greater impairments in mental and physical health, poorer interpersonal relationships, and less job stability later on. We propose a research agenda centered around definitional clarity, rigorous measurement development, prospective longitudinal studies to establish predictive validity, and collaborations among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

Trajectories of depression for Latino immigrant adolescents: The influence of individual, family, and sociocultural factors.

Latino immigrant adolescents represent a high-risk group for developing depression. Such risk for depression becomes more salient in emerging destination contexts (e.g., Oregon) where immigrant youth face considerably more stressors compared to traditional contexts (e.g., Texas, New York, and California). However, no study to date has considered how depression unfolds over time among Latino immigrant youth in emerging contexts. Using data from a three-wave prospective longitudinal design across 3 years, we employed latent growth curve (LGC) modeling to assess depression trajectories among 217 Latino immigrant families in the emerging context of western Oregon. Moreover, we assessed the influence of salient predictors on these trajectories across individual (gender and time in U.S. residency), family (family cultural stress, effective parenting practices, parent depression), and sociocultural (ethnic discrimination) levels. Results from LGC revealed that youth, on average, followed a decreasing trajectory of depression. Furthermore, identifying as female and higher levels of parent depression significantly predicted higher baseline levels of youth depression. No significant predictors emerged for the slope. However, follow-up analyses from multiple-group LGCs found that, whereas males were stable in their trajectories, females exhibited significantly more variability in their initial levels of depression and slopes over time. Moreover, when considered separately, predictors were significant only for females such that parent depression predicted higher baseline depression scores, and family cultural stress predicted a more slowly decreasing slope. Results suggest that Latina immigrant females are more variable in their depression patterns than males and may be more sensitive to family-related stressors that contribute to depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Alcohol Use Severity among Hispanic Emerging Adults: Examining Intragroup Marginalization, Bicultural Self-Efficacy, and the Role of Gender within a Stress and Coping Framework.

Most research on cultural stressors and alcohol has focused on intercultural stressors. Continuing to exclude intracultural stressors (e.g., intragroup marginalization) from alcohol research will yield a biased understanding of the experiences of Hispanics living in a bicultural society. As we amass more studies on intracultural stressors, research will be needed to identify mutable sociocultural factors that may mitigate the association between intracultural stressors and alcohol. To address these limitations, we examined the association between intragroup marginalization and alcohol use severity and the extent to which gender and bicultural self-efficacy may moderate this association. A convenience sample of 200 Hispanic emerging adults ages 18-25 (men = 101, women = 99) from Arizona (n = 99) and Florida (n = 101) completed a cross-sectional survey. Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses. Higher intragroup marginalization was associated with higher alcohol use severity. Gender functioned as a moderator whereby intragroup marginalization was associated with higher alcohol use severity among men, but not women. Also, higher social groundedness functioned as a moderator that weakened the association between intragroup marginalization and alcohol use severity. Role repertoire did not function as a moderator. Our findings are significant because they enhance the reliability of the association between intragroup marginalization and alcohol use severity, and the moderating effect of gender in this respective association. This emerging line of research suggests that alcohol interventions targeting Hispanics may have a significant limitation by not accounting for intracultural stressors.

Distinct co-occurrence patterns of acculturation and perceived context of reception between weekdays and weekends among Hispanic college students.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to examine distinct co-occurrence patterns of acculturation and perceived context of reception between weekdays and weekends among Hispanic college students in Miami and their influences on psychosocial maladaptation. METHODS: We conducted a 12-day diary study with a sample of first- and second-generation Hispanic college students in Miami (n = 864). Depressive symptoms and physically aggressive behaviors were assessed on Days 1 and 12, and acculturation components and perceived negative context of reception were measured using single items on Days 2-11. We examined the overlap between weekday and weekend patterns of acculturation and negative context of reception, as well as links of this overlap with depressive symptoms and with physically aggressive behaviors. RESULTS: Overall, six distinct co-occurrence patterns of acculturation and perceived contexts of reception emerged from the analysis. Four of these appeared to represent stable co-occurrence patterns regardless of weekdays and weekends and two indicated changing co-occurrence patterns between weekdays and weekends. Students in patterns of the Moderate Biculturalism-High Negative Context of Reception regardless of weekdays and weekends reported high depressive symptoms and physically aggressive behaviors. Also, for the two changing co-occurrence patterns, students in patterns of the Changes in both Acculturation and Negative Context of Reception between weekdays and weekends reported high scores on both depressive symptoms and physical aggressive behaviors. CONCLUSION: Both stable and changing patterns in acculturation and context of reception co-occurrences between weekdays and weekends predicted psychosocial maladaptation.

Effects of social support processes during implementation of community-based randomized controlled trials: An example from a culturally adapted replication trial for Latino families.

AIMS: Little work has considered the effects of salient interpersonal processes on the successful implementation and receipt of community-based interventions within randomized control trial designs. METHOD: Using data from the intervention arm (n = 120) of Nuestras Familias: Andando Entre Culturas (Our Families: Walking Between Cultures)-a community-based parent training intervention among Latino families-we assessed the effects of two common social support processes (group member and group leader support) during intervention delivery on participant satisfaction, use of intervention techniques at program termination, and longer-term parenting outcomes. RESULTS: Findings indicated that group member and leader social support predicted program satisfaction, and group leader support predicted greater use of intervention techniques at termination. However, social support processes did not predict longer-term parenting outcomes. CONCLUSION: Group member and leader support may help to promote higher consumer satisfaction and initial use of intervention techniques in a community intervention for Latinos.

Editorial Perspective: Reducing mental health disparities among underserved youth: using technology to equip parents as agents of change.

Prevalence rates for youth psychopathology have steadily increased over the last two decades. Youth from underserved families (e.g. racial/ethnic minority, rural, poor, gender, and sexual minority) are disparately impacted as they face myriad risk factors that adversely affect their mental health. Parents play an integral role in their mental health of underserved youth as they are responsible for making sure that their children get the help that they need. Yet, parents in underserved families often cannot access mental health treatment due to persistent barriers they face such as stigma, discrimination, and high treatment costs, to name a few. Consequently, parents from these families are less likely to receive the psychological training necessary to intervene in their youths' mental health. Although traditional parent management training programs have made progress toward equipping parents with important mental health services, these programs often require considerable investment of time and resources (e.g. money, childcare, in-person attendance) that make them inaccessible to disadvantaged families. Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) offer to provide parents in underserved families with the psychological training they need to effectively intervene in their youth's mental health while overcoming barriers to care. However, few to no culturally sensitive and evidence-based DMHIs exist to address the mental health needs of underserved families. This editorial perspective highlights the need to develop and implement parent-focused DMHIs for underserved families so that parents will have the mental health resources they need to act as agents of change.

Correlates of Alcohol Use Likelihood for Latino Immigrant Youth in an Emerging Context.

Using a three-wave prospective longitudinal design spanning 3 years, we assessed alcohol use likelihood trajectories and their correlates among a community sample of Latino immigrant adolescents in the emerging immigrant context of Western Oregon. Results from growth mixture modeling revealed two distinct classes: lower risk youth who reported little likelihood of alcohol use but whose trajectory was increasing, and higher risk youth who reported higher likelihood of alcohol use and whose trajectory was stable. We found significant differences between the two classes such that lower risk youth reported greater levels of Latino cultural orientation and parental monitoring, whereas higher risk youth reported greater levels of family cultural stress and delinquency. Results are discussed in terms of prior research and theory.

Cultural stress, daily well-being, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms among Hispanic college students.

The present study was designed to examine the extent to which, in a sample of 873 Hispanic college students, daily levels of, and variability in, well-being would mediate the predictive effects of culturally related stressors (discrimination, negative context of reception, and bicultural stress) on internalizing and externalizing symptoms 11 days later. A 12-day daily diary design was utilized, where reports of cultural stressors were gathered on Day 1, daily well-being reports were gathered on Days 2-11, and outcomes were measured on Day 12 (with controls for Day 1 levels of these same outcomes). Structural equation modeling results indicated that daily means of, and variability in, well-being significantly mediated the predictive effect of Day 1 ethnic/racial discrimination, negative context of reception, and bicultural stress on Day 12 symptoms of anxiety and depression. No effects emerged for externalizing symptoms. When we decomposed the latent well-being variability construct into its component indicators (self-esteem, life satisfaction, psychological well-being/self-acceptance, and eudaimonic well-being), daily variability in life satisfaction and self-acceptance appeared to be primarily responsible for the mediated predictive effects we observed. These results are discussed in terms of implications for further research, for counseling practice, and for the development of more inclusive university practices and policies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Promoting Strong Latino Families Within an Emerging Immigration Context: Results of a Replication and Extension Trial of a Culturally Adapted Preventive Intervention.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Nuestras Familias: Andando Entre Culturas, a culturally adapted evidence-based parent management training (PMT) preventive intervention, with a sample of 241 Spanish-speaking Latino parents and their middle-school-aged children residing in an emerging immigration context. Scientifically rigorous studies of programs designed for this setting are rare. The intervention was designed to promote prosocial parenting practices and to prevent youth substance use and related problem behaviors. The RCT was designed as an extension and replication of a prior trial (Martinez & Eddy in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 841-851, 2005) which was also conducted in an emerging immigration context. Two key issues were of primary interest: intervention feasibility and intervention efficacy. Intervention feasibility was assessed through weekly session attendance, participation, and parent-reported session satisfaction as well as overall program satisfaction. Intervention efficacy was assessed by comparing changes within the intervention and control groups on parenting practices and youth adjustment from pre-intervention baseline to post-intervention termination 6 months later. Results provided support for the feasibility of delivering the intervention on a large scale within communities. Consistent with the prior trial, positive effects of the intervention were detected on parenting practices and on youth outcomes. Differential effects of the intervention were detected based on youth gender and nativity status, such that girls benefited the most with respect to tobacco use likelihood, and foreign-born youth benefited the most with respect to decreased depressive symptoms.Findings provide additional evidence for Nuestras Familias as an efficacious family-based intervention for Latino families within communities that are sites of emerging immigration in terms of both improving parenting practices and decreasing risk for youth substance use and related problem behaviors.

Parent immigration stress predicts youth externalizing behavior trajectories among Latino families in an emerging immigrant context.

According to ecodevelopmental and social learning models, Latino immigrant parents experience considerable stress associated with the immigration process, and such immigration-related stress is theorized to influence behavioral outcomes among their youth. Using a three-year longitudinal design among 217 Latino immigrant families in western Oregon, we assessed whether parents' (94% mothers, Mage  = 36.2 years) experience of immigration-related stress influenced the trajectory of their adolescents' (43% female, Mage = 13.4 years) externalizing behaviors. Controlling for covariates (gender, acculturation, age at migration, and gender), results showed that youth exhibited a normative downward trajectory for externalizing behaviors, and parents' experience of immigration stress significantly and negatively predicted this trajectory. Findings suggest that parents' experience of immigration stress may disrupt a normative trajectory of declining externalizing behaviors among Latino immigrant adolescents.

De acuerdo con los modelos de ecodesarrollo y de aprendizaje social, los padres inmigrantes latinos sufren bastante estrés asociado con el proceso de inmigración, y se cree que este estrés relacionado con la inmigración influye en los resultados conductuales entre sus hijos adolescentes. Utilizando un diseño longitudinal de tres años entre 217 familias de inmigrantes latinos del oeste de Oregon, evaluamos si el estrés sufrido por los padres debido a la inmigración (el 94 % madres, edad promedio = 36.2 años) influyó en la trayectoria de las conductas de exteriorización de sus hijos adolescentes (el 43 % de sexo femenino, edad promedio = 13.4 años). Teniendo en cuenta las covariables (el género, la aculturación, la edad al momento de la migración), los resultados indicaron que los adolescentes demostraron una trayectoria normativa descendente para las conductas de exteriorización, y que el estrés sufrido por los padres debido a la inmigración predijo significativamente y negativamente esta trayectoria. Los resultados indican que el estrés sufrido por los padres debido a la inmigración puede alterar una trayectoria normativa de disminución de las conductas de exteriorización entre los hijos adolescentes de inmigrantes latinos.

Acculturation Trajectories Differ by Youth Age at Arrival and Time in Residency among Latino Immigrant Families in a US Emerging Immigrant Context.

The present study was designed to examine acculturation trajectories of first-generation, Latino immigrant youth and their parents in an emerging immigrant context. We also examined whether acculturation trajectories differed between families with youth who migrated at different stages of development and who have spent differential amounts of time in the United States (US). A community sample of 217 immigrant families in western Oregon was purposely sampled according to youths' age at arrival and time in US residency (TR) and assessed three times over a 3-year period. Families were stratified into three TR groups: TR1 = 2-4 years spent in the US; TR2 = 6-8 years spent in the US; and TR3 = 10-12 years. Parents and youth in each TR group completed measures assessing their acculturation to US American and Latino culture. Results from multiple-group latent growth models showed that acculturation trajectories differed for both youth and parents depending on the TR group. Moreover, both youth and their parents within each TR group differed in their acculturation trajectories. Overall, although youth slowly gravitated toward biculturalism over time, their parents remained relatively separated such that they reported high endorsement of their heritage culture and low endorsement of US culture over time. Findings are discussed in terms of prior research and theory.

Exposure to ethnic discrimination in social media and symptoms of anxiety and depression among Hispanic emerging adults: Examining the moderating role of gender.

METHOD: Two hundred Hispanic emerging adults from Arizona (n = 99) and Florida (n = 101) completed a cross-sectional survey, and data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses. RESULTS: Higher social media discrimination was associated with higher symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety. Moderation analyses indicated that higher social media discrimination was only associated with symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety among men, but not women. CONCLUSION: This is likely the first study on social media discrimination and mental health among emerging adults; thus, expanding this emerging field of research to a distinct developmental period.

Discrimination Trends and Mental Health Among Native- and Foreign-Born Latinos: Results from National Surveys in 2004 and 2013.

We examined national trends and mental health correlates of discrimination among Latinos in the USA. We used data from two nationally representative surveys based on the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions collected in 2004 and 2013. Results indicated that perceived discrimination, both any and recurrent, increased for Latinos across nearly every demographic, with the greatest increases occurring for Latinos who were ages 65 and older, had household incomes less than $35,000, were less educated, were immigrants, and who lived in the Midwest. Findings also indicated that any and recurrent discrimination were associated with increased odds of a mood, anxiety, or substance use disorder and this association was observed for nearly all manifestations of discrimination. We also observed a dose-response association where experiencing discrimination in a greater number of domains was associated with increased likelihood of mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Results suggest that discrimination is a social stressor that has increased for Latino populations in recent years and may represent a serious risk factor for the psychological and behavioral health of Latinos. Findings are discussed in terms of prior research and the potential implications for prevention scientists working with Latino populations.

Toward a Typology of Transnational Communication among Venezuelan Immigrant Youth: Implications for Behavioral Health.

We identify subtypes of Venezuelan youth based on patterns of technology-based communication with friends in their receiving (US) and sending (Venezuela) countries and, in turn, examine the behavioral health characteristics among different "subtypes" of youth. Using data from 402 recently-arrived Venezuelan immigrant youth (ages 10-17), latent profile analysis and multinomial regression are employed to examine the relationships between technology-based communication and key outcomes. We identified a four-class solution: [#1] "Daily Contact in US, In Touch with Venezuela" (32%), [#2] "Daily Communication in Both Countries" (19%), [#3] "Weekly Contact: More Voice/Text Than Social Media" (35%), and [#4] "Infrequent Communication with US and Venezuela" (14%). Compared to Class #1, youth in Classes #2 and #3 report elevated depressive symptomatology and more permissive substance use views. Findings suggest that how youth navigate and maintain transnational connections varies substantially, and that technology-based communication is related to key post-migration outcomes.