Familism refers to a set of enduring cultural values in Mexican-origin families that emphasize family assistance, obligation, cohesion, and support. Familism has been repeatedly identified as a source of resilience for even some of the most vulnerable youth, linked to positive academic and behavioral outcomes. Yet some research finds that familism is not enough to transcend hurdles that are too great and resources that are too limited. Feelings of gratitude are also salient features of daily life for many Mexican-origin youth, linked with but different from family obligation. Feelings of gratitude can go overlooked in research that focuses on the prevalence of responsibilities or time spent with family, without accounting for contextual factors, such as legal status circumstances in families or parents’ long hours at work, which can interfere. A central aim in this study is to bridge the gap between research on familism, research on gratitude, and research on legal status implications for Mexican-origin youth, by looking at plural and changing legal status situations in the family context and how familism is experienced by youth across families with plural legal status situations. The two topics – familism and legal status – can together contribute to a more holistic understanding of the actual experiences of youth and family, and how we can promote successful pathways for a significant population of Mexican-origin youth. This study tracks 42 families randomly selected from a larger sample of 428 Mexican-origin families in Los Angeles (La Vida, PI: Andrew Fuligni; Co-PI: Thomas Weisner; Co-PI: Nancy Gonzales) using intensive qualitative interviews, home visits, official school records, and qualitative evidence from a subsample of relatives in Mexico. The Pew Research Center estimates that 51% of Mexican immigrants are undocumented and the majority of their children are U.S. citizens, yet mixed-status families remain largely absent from research. This study looks at the implications of familism, family ties, and legal status across the critical developmental period of late adolescence using a comprehensive, longitudinal, and mixed methods dataset with three years of qualitative and contextual evidence. Evidence shows a significant connection between gratitude and familism for Mexican-origin youth in Los Angeles, and that legal status can account for some of the variation in how familism is experienced. The added strain of unauthorized status does not weaken family cohesion or intensify family conflict; rather, unauthorized youth report feeling grateful to their parents and find meaning in high levels of family responsibility; many emphasize the importance of family connection with immediate and extended relatives in Mexico. The determination to “seguir adelante” (push ahead), in spite of it all, is one theme that emerged across interviews. To succeed academically is a desired outcome across families. This study also aims to contribute to our understanding of the pathways that lead to these desired outcomes for Mexican-origin youth growing up in different family contexts.

Although much is known about the difficulties faced by children with ADHD in school settings, very little research has explored the functioning of adults with ADHD in work environments. Experimental studies demonstrate that certain contexts can significantly reduce ADHD symptom severity; we ask whether the lived experience of young adults with ADHD in different work settings parallels these findings. Are there particular occupations in which young adults report functioning better than others?

To examine this issue, we interviewed 125 young adults, originally diagnosed with ADHD as children ages 7-9, regarding their current work environments. Many young adults reported that their symptoms are context-dependent; working in specific occupations, they feel less encumbered by their symptoms. In some of these environments, participants report feeling better able to focus; in others, their symptoms—such as high energy levels—become strengths rather than liabilities. Modal descriptions included work marked by high levels of stress or challenge, novel or varied tasks, a fast pace, hands-on work, physical labor, and/or work they found intrinsically interesting. For our subjects, ADHD is experienced as an interaction between themselves and their environment. These exploratory findings demonstrate the need to account for the role of context in our understanding of ADHD as a psychiatric disorder, especially as it manifests in young adulthood. Implications for clinical care and diagnostic conceptualization of the disorder are discussed.

This dissertation examines youths’ experiences at a theater after-school program (ASP) using data collected through a mixed methods research protocol. The lens through which participatory frameworks at Green Door Theater’s ASP are examined over a range of levels from individuals and their psychophysiology, youth and teachers actively co-constructing the ecocultural context, to understanding the program in relation to school more broadly. Data were collected during the 2015-2016 academic school year. Adding to the growing body of process oriented ASP research, the dissertation engages with the microprocesses that occur as part of youths’ learning and developmental contexts, rather than strictly focusing on an outcome analysis. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical and literature that is relevant to the dissertation. Chapter 2 characterizes the methodology, study participants and field site to give the broad context of the research project. It also includes a theoretical discussion of Green Door Theater’s (GDT) program in relation to the concept of “cultural competencies” and “cross roads.” Chapters 3 and 4 present electrodermal activity as part of an ethnographic research protocol in order to triangulate data regarding subjective experience. The method is applied to understanding how, and in what myriad ways, well-being may come to fruition at GDT. Chapter 5 examines the multi-modal co-construction of space as a possible mechanism for supporting components of “quality” programs. Since attendance at ASPs does not necessitate positive outcomes or experiences, it is important to not only understand what components help create quality programming, but also in what ways those components are created through practice. In Chapter 6, I present the concept of the micro temporal arc as a possible lesson planning tool to capture and sustain engagement in the program over time. This chapter is intended to be oriented towards those designing ASPs in a more practical way. In order to understand how the program relates to the youths’ time at schools, Chapter 7 compares two contexts through a statistical analysis of questionnaire responses and qualitative ethnographic data. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of some concluding thoughts, including some room for program improvement and future research.

Based on 15 months of fieldwork in the only public psychiatric hospital in the state, this dissertation uses extended participant-observation, interviews, questionnaires, and the analysis of audio-recorded clinical visits to examine the beliefs and practices surrounding psychiatric healthcare in Puebla, Mexico. Each chapter provides insight into how patients and practitioners negotiate medical care in a resource poor setting, using direct recordings of clinical discourse and interaction as supporting evidence. Chapter 1 characterizes the geographic and historical landscape of psychiatric healthcare in Mexico, and it juxtaposes the significant investment in infrastructure and tourism found in the globalizing context of Puebla with the uneven distribution of psychiatric care across the state. Chapter 2 discusses political and economic processes and characterizes the texture of multiparty interaction during psychiatric care in Mexico. It argues that although psychiatric training and psychotropic medications have ben largely developed outside of Mexico, psychiatric providers use local expectations regarding the co-presence and involvement of kinfolk to recruit kin as informal translators and medication administrators as well as providers of social support. Chapter 3 reviews audio-taped psychiatric consultations to demonstrate how professional understandings of the nature and course of mental illness are presented to psychiatric patients, and it challenges the notion that psychiatrists rely on medication management above psychotherapy or other treatment recommendations in areas faced with structural, organizational, and resource limitations. It also identifies a strong divergence between an American belief that psychiatric medication is taken “for life” and the grounded treatment timelines that recommend a medication be taken for nine to eighteen months before evaluating the tapering or cessation of the drug. Chapter 4 emphasizes the value of non-clinical language for the experientially-based amelioration of distress and presents the phrase “estar m�s tranquilo” as a way for patients to manage both their internal emotional volatility and the volatility of their immediate surroundings. Chapter 5 of the dissertation presents case studies of two patients, one of whom ended treatment early and another who successfully followed their treatment plan, in order to underscore different subjective experiences of clinical care and its results. The dissertation concludes by arguing that adaptation and "tranquilidad" may provide the potential for a shift in how we understand chronic mental illness, and calling for more research on the spectrum of experience with various mental illnesses.

This paper explores fragile X newborn screening (FXNBS) from the perspective of parents whose newborns were diagnosed as FX premutation carriers as a result of their participation in a FXNBS pilot project conducted at the University of California, Davis. Interviews conducted with 6 such parents are analyzed and parents grouped into three response categories, negative, mixed, and positive, based on statements about their contentment with participation in the study as communicated in the interviews. Negative aspects of screening, as communicated by parents, include the ambiguous nature of the diagnosis of a low range premutation and heightened anxiety related to the development of the newborn. Positive aspects include feelings of empowerment from the knowledge received about the newborn and confidence that any developmental problems that emerge can be treated by the FX research and treatment team that ran the project. This paper represents the first report of responses to FXNBS from parents of identified newborns. The analysis presented here leads to three considerations that will minimize harm and maximize benefit if FXNBS is implemented. These include 1) utilizing effective educational materials to inform parents of the risks associated with screening, 2) reporting only FX mutations that likely have clinical relevance, and 3) implementing comprehensive follow-up.

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