Latina mothers' mental health: An examination of its relation to parenting and material resources.

The demands and stressors associated with motherhood can increase a mother's risk for mental health concerns. Latina mothers are particularly vulnerable to the relation between motherhood-related stressors and maternal mental health given that they are at an increased risk for mental health concerns, that they are likely to have their mental health needs go unmet, and that traditional Latinx cultural values/gender roles emphasize women assuming the role of primary caregiver of the family's children. In an attempt to better understand how motherhood impacts Latina mother's mental health, this study explored the relations among parental self-efficacy, parenting stress, and maternal mental health. This study also explored how a mother's perception of her material resources influenced these relations. One hundred and thirty-two Latina mothers completed questionnaires to assess parenting stress, parental self-efficacy, and maternal mental health risk. The moderating effect of maternal perception of material resources in the aforementioned relations was assessed through the creation of a composite variable derived from items in the demographic questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analyses were used. Higher levels of parenting stress, but not parental self-efficacy, were related to increased maternal mental health risk. Furthermore, mothers who perceived themselves to have lower material resources were at increased risk for diminished mental health in the context of low parental self-efficacy. Results of this study yielded important information that is necessary for informing healthcare best practices, identifying targets for future interventions, and ultimately improving the health outcomes of Latinx mothers and their families.

Las exigencias y los factores desencadenantes de estrés asociados con la maternidad pueden aumentar el riesgo de una madre de tener problemas de salud mental. Las madres latinas son particularmente vulnerables a la relación entre los factores desencadenantes de estrés relacionados con la maternidad y la salud mental materna dado que tienen mayor riesgo de padecer problemas de salud mental, que probablemente sus necesidades de salud mental queden insatisfechas y que los valores culturales y los roles de género latinos tradicionales enfatizan que las mujeres asuman el rol de cuidadoras principales de los niños de la familia. Con el fin de comprender mejor cómo la maternidad influye en la salud mental de las madres latinas, en este estudio se analizaron las relaciones entre la autoeficacia parental, el estrés por la crianza y la salud mental de las madres. En este estudio también se analizó cómo la percepción de una madre de sus recursos materiales influyó en estas relaciones. 132 madres latinas contestaron cuestionarios para evaluar el estrés por la crianza, la autoeficacia parental y el riesgo de problemas de salud mental en las madres. Se evaluó el efecto moderador de la percepción materna de los recursos materiales en las relaciones antes mencionadas mediante la creación de una variable combinada derivada de ítems de los cuestionarios demográficos. Se usaron análisis de regresión lineal múltiple. Los niveles más altos de estrés por la crianza, pero no la autoeficacia de los padres, estuvieron relacionados con un mayor riesgo para la salud mental materna. Además, las madres que percibían que tenían menos recursos materiales tuvieron un mayor riesgo de tener una salud mental deteriorada en el contexto de una autoeficacia parental baja. Los resultados de este estudio arrojaron información importante que es necesaria para orientar las mejores prácticas de la asistencia sanitaria, identificar objetivos para futuras intervenciones y finalmente mejorar los resultados de salud de las madres latinas y sus familias.

Family processes among Latino Early Head Start families: Understanding the role of caregiver acculturation.

The Family Stress Model (FSM) provides a framework for how economic pressure can impact family processes and outcomes, including parent's mental health, parenting, and child problem behaviors. Although the FSM has been widely replicated, samples disproportionately impacted by poverty, including early childhood samples and in particular Latino families with young children, have been largely excluded from FSM research. Therefore, among a sample of Latino Early Head Start children (N = 127), the current study evaluated a modified FSM to understand the direct and indirect pathways among economic pressure, parental depression, parenting self-efficacy, the parent-child relationship, child problem behaviors, and parental acculturation. Results showed that the majority of the direct FSM pathways were well-replicated among Latino caregivers of young children. Further analyses illuminated how some pathways were replicated among more but not among less-acculturated Latino parents. Implications for future FSM research with Latino families as well as for parent-focused interventions are discussed.