Greater loss of face and family honor values are associated with greater positive expectancies and substance abuse among Middle Eastern/Northern African U.S. college students.

BACKGROUND: Traditional cultural orientation is protective against substance use for Asian Americans and Latinos. However, little empirical research has examined traditional cultural values and substance use among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) individuals. MENA cultures tend to emphasize maintaining family honor and personal social integrity, which may influence substance use cognitions and behavior. OBJECTIVE: Test whether loss of face and family honor influenced risky alcohol/cannabis use via positive expectancies. We expected that greater loss of face and family honor values would predict lower positive expectancies and risky substance use. METHODS: MENA college students (N = 246; 58.6% women) were recruited via Qualtrics Panels and completed an online survey. We tested path models, estimating direct and indirect effects of cultural predictors, adjusting for age, gender, generation status, marital status, and living situation. Substance use was modeled as risk categories (low- versus high-risk) and as count-type outcomes using zero-inflated models. RESULTS: Greater family honor values predicted higher positive alcohol and cannabis expectancies (b = .24-.32, p < .001). Greater loss of face values also predicted more positive expectancies (b = .22-.24, p < .001). Mediation analysis generally indicated that cultural factors were indirectly associated with risky use via positive expectancies. CONCLUSION: MENA college students' greater family honor and loss of face values are associated with greater alcohol and cannabis use, in part through positive expectancies. Cultural pressures may enhance the perceived benefits of alcohol and cannabis use. Substance use intervention programs should integrate MENA college students, and address family honor and loss of face as culturally-salient risk indices.

Mexican-Origin Youths' Trajectories of Internalizing Symptoms from Childhood into Adolescence and Associations with Acculturation Processes.

We examined depression and anxiety symptom trajectories in Mexican-origin youth (N = 674) and tested longitudinal associations with acculturation dimensions. We used eight waves of data from the California Families Project, collected annually from 5th (Mage = 10.86, SD = 0.51) to 12th (Mage = 16.79, SD = 0.50) grade. Major depression disorder (MD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms were assessed by structured psychiatric interview. Cultural measures, selected based on theory and empirical evidence, included English/Spanish use, familism, traditional gender role (TGR) attitudes, and ethnic pride. Symptom trajectories were modeled using latent growth analyses, and parallel process growth models examined covariation between internalizing and acculturation trajectories. Models adjusted for child sex, nativity, mother's education, and family income. MD symptoms decreased across adolescence on average, with steeper decreases among boys and children born in Mexico. GAD symptoms also decreased on average, with higher mean levels among girls. Age 10 Spanish use, familism, and ethnic pride were inversely related to age 10 MD symptoms. Steeper increases in Spanish use, familism, and ethnic pride predicted decreasing MD. Higher age 10 MD predicted increasing Spanish use and decreasing English use. Greater age 10 TGR attitudes predicted higher age 10 GAD but steeper declines in GAD and MD. Increasing ethnic pride slopes predicted decreasing GAD. Greater childhood TGR attitudes, and the maintenance of Spanish use, familism, and ethnic pride into adolescence, were associated with more optimal trajectories of MD and GAD symptoms. Interventions for Mexican-origin youth internalizing problems should encourage the retention of heritage culture strengths, including familism and ethnic pride.

Familism, sibling relationship qualities, and sibling sex constellation as predictors of alcohol use among Mexican-origin adolescents.

Sibling relationship qualities and traditional family values (i.e., familism) are contextual factors relevant for early substance use risk among Mexican-origin adolescents. Yet limited research has examined whether familism moderates the effects of sibling relationship features on alcohol use. The present study examined whether familism enhanced or reduced the effects of sibling intimacy, negativity, and sibling deviance on later alcohol use, also testing whether sibling sex constellation (sisters, brothers, mixed) modified the patterns of influence. We analyzed two waves of data (N = 404) from the California Families Project, a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth. Using zero-inflated Poisson models, we examined unique and intersecting prospective influences of age 14 sibling contexts and familism on the likelihood of and degree of engagement in alcohol use at age 16. Results indicated a complex interplay of sibling features, familism values, and alcohol use patterns. Familism moderated the effects of sibling intimacy on later alcohol use patterns. For those with lower familism, increasing intimacy was associated with higher probability of any use, but decreasing degree of use (especially for brother pairs and sister pairs). Among those with higher familism, increasing intimacy predicted reduced probability of any use, but increases in the degree of use (for sister and mixed pairs). More sibling negativity was related to reduced alcohol use probability for brothers, and increased alcohol use in mixed sibling pairs. Sibling deviance was associated with greater age 16 alcohol use. This study highlights cultural considerations for including siblings in substance use prevention programs for Mexican-origin youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Mexican-origin youth substance use trajectories: Associations with cultural and family factors.

The current study identified alcohol and cannabis use trajectories among a sample of Mexican-origin youth and examined cultural and familial correlates from childhood to adolescence. Mexican-origin youth (N = 674) from Northern California were assessed annually from ages 10 to 17 (8 waves). Latent class growth modeling examined variability in developmental trajectories for last 3-month alcohol and cannabis use frequency. Analyses also examined between-trajectory differences in youth's cultural practices and values, family cultural conflict, general parent-child conflict, and parental monitoring at 4 time points from ages 10 to 16. Analyses resulted in a 4-class model for alcohol use, comprising nonusers (62%), early-increasing (10%), adolescent-limited (11%), and late-onset (17%) subgroups, and a 4-class model for cannabis use, including nonusers (74%), early-increasing (8%), occasional use (16%), and high-declining (2%) subgroups. Findings suggested that early language use (higher English at age 10 and lower Spanish at age 12) was a temporally distal marker for several alcohol and cannabis use trajectories, whereas lower traditional family values at ages 14 and 16 were associated with several classes characterized by early substance use. Elevations in familial (parent-child conflict, parental monitoring) risk factors co-occurred in time and generally suggested temporally proximal connections with substance use behavior. Further, there was evidence that a less prominent decline in certain protective factors (e.g., father monitoring) was associated with reductions in substance use. These findings inform the literature by describing youth subgroups with variable risk for substance use development, and suggest modifiable risk factors associated with more frequent substance use trajectories. (PsycINFO Database Record

Stakeholder perspectives on a toolkit to enhance caregiver participation in community-based child mental health services.

Client engagement in services is a critical element of effective community-based child and family mental health service delivery. Caregiver engagement is particularly important, as caregivers often serve as gatekeepers to child mental health care and typically must consent for services, facilitate service attendance, and are often the target of intervention themselves. Unfortunately, caregiver engagement has been identified as a significant challenge in community-based child mental health services. To address this gap, the Parent And Caregiver Active Participation Toolkit (PACT), which includes therapist training and participation tools for caregivers and therapists, was developed. Stakeholders' perspectives regarding the delivery of interventions designed to improve the quality and effectiveness of community-based care are essential to understanding the implementation of such interventions in routine service settings. As such, this mixed methods study examined the perspectives of 12 therapists, 8 caregivers, and 6 program managers who participated in a community-based randomized pilot study of PACT. Therapists, caregivers, and program managers agreed that PACT was acceptable, appropriate, and feasible to use in community settings and that both changes in therapist practices and caregiver participation resulted from implementing PACT. Some variable perceptions in the utility of the therapist training components were identified, as well as barriers and facilitators of PACT implementation. Results expand the parent pilot study's findings as well as complement and expand the literature on training community providers in evidence-based practices. (PsycINFO Database Record

Self-Reported Parenting of Clinic-Referred and Non-referred Mexican American Mothers of Young Children.

Behavioral parent training (BPT) interventions for child behavior problems have been based on decades of research that demonstrate links between particular parent behaviors and child externalizing problems. However, the majority of this research has been conducted with European-American (EA) families, and less is known about whether these findings can be generalized to Mexican Americans (MAs). In the current study, we investigated self-reported parenting practices that have been associated with externalizing behavior problems among EA families (harsh parenting, inconsistency, and low parental warmth), to determine if those practices can also differentiate MA mothers whose young children have clinically significant behavior problems from MA mothers whose children do not have behavior problems. Participants were 115 MA families with young children, 58 with a child with clinically significant behavior problems and 57 with a child in the normal range for such problems. Results indicated that MA mothers whose children have behavior problems self-reported significantly less warmth and consistency and more harsh parenting compared to parents whose children's behavior was in the normal range. These findings indicate that parenting behaviors that are associated with externalizing behavior problems among EA families are associated with the same problems among MA families with young children, suggesting that parent training interventions designed to target these behaviors are also likely to be relevant to MA families with children in this age range. However, findings also indicate that parenting behaviors differ depending on acculturation level, suggesting that BPT programs must respond to variation in normative parenting practices for MA families.