UC Irvine

This dissertation project examines the mental and behavioral health consequences of racialized stressors including perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, deportation fear, and acculturative stress among Latina/o/e adolescents and emerging adults of immigrant origin or descent. This project also explores cultural and familial strengths through the potential moderating roles of communal coping, maternal positive parenting behaviors, and attachment relationship quality with mothers in the context of racialized stress. Adolescence and emerging adulthood both represent a developmental period in which individuals strive for independence from parents and transition into a phase of identity and future-oriented exploration (Arnett, 2004; Moretti & Peled, 2004). Given the pressures experienced from individual, phase of life, and developmental factors, numerous adolescents and young adults report struggling with mental health (American College Health Association, 2013; Arnett, 2000; 2004; Huynh et al., 2021; McDermott et al., 2015; Rivas-Drake et al., 2008). Additionally, Latina/o/e adolescents and young adults must contend with disproportionate mental health strain (e.g., higher depression rates) due to racialized stressors such as discrimination and acculturative conflict relative to their non-Hispanic White counterparts and even compared to older Latina/o/es (Alegría et al., 2008; Castillo & Schwartz, 2013; Huynh et al., 2012; 2021; Pérez et al., 2008).

Latina/o/e culture gives prominence to interdependence, familial harmony and connection, as well as communality as a means for preserving the family’s well-being and each individual’s overall health, providing a base for coping with daily life stressors including racialized stress (Campos et al., 2014; 2018; Campos & Kim, 2017; Carter & Forsyth, 2010; Kulish et al., 2019; Molina et al., 2016; Stein et al., 2014; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2015). For instance, through a number of various closely-related concepts, familial and communal support have showcased a host of positive outcomes including protecting against the onset of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as alcohol use despite experiences with racialized stressors such as perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, deportation fear, and acculturative stress (Ajrouch et al., 2010; Campos et al., 2014; Crockett et al., 2007; Carter & Forsyth, 2010; Rastogi et al., 2012; Stein et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2007). Building on this foundation, this project aims to deepen the understanding of positive family dynamics, attachments, and community as effective coping resources for Latina/o/e youths and emerging adults by exploring and delving into the interplay of risks associated with racialized stress and potential protective benefits of positive parenting behaviors, attachment relationship quality, and communal coping (i.e., we-talk).

Study 1 draws upon an all-Latina/o/e sample of 173 youths (e.g., 11-17 years old) from a sample of mother-youth dyads participating in the Youth Engaged for Action YEA/Madres a Madres (YEA/Madres) program, a collaborative community intervention focused on promoting parent-child attachment bonds and reducing mental health symptoms and disparities among Latina/o/e mothers and their children (see Borelli et al., 2021a; 2021b). This study focuses on the individual and interactive influence of communal coping assessed via linguistic analysis of first-person pronoun use (i.e., we-talk) and deportation fears expressed during an attachment interview on youth mental health and aggression. The study reveals a significant positive association between youth deportation fear and mother-reported youth depression. Additionally, communal coping (i.e., we-talk) did not demonstrate a main effect, but it significantly moderated the association between youth deportation fear and mother-reported youth depression indicating that the negative effects of deportation fear on mother-reported youth depression are only present when communal coping is low.

Study 2 assesses the main and interactive effects between each individual marker of racialized stress (e.g., perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, acculturative stress, deportation fear), along with attachment relationship quality with one’s maternal caregiver, and communal coping on self-reported depression, anxiety, and alcohol use among a sample of Latina/o/e college and university students between the age of 18 and 25. Data for this study were obtained through recruitment of university and college students via the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Social Ecology Human Subject Pool as well as across various Los Angeles community colleges using in-person and social media outreach, with a resultant sample of 115 undergraduate students. The results revealed significant positive associations between deportation fear and alcohol use, perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and depression and alcohol use, as well as acculturative stress and anxiety. However, neither attachment relationship quality nor we-talk were significant predictors or moderators. The findings underscore some of the negative outcomes associated with racialized stressors including deportation fear, discrimination, and acculturative stress for Latina/o/e emerging adults, but were unable to showcase the protective benefits or coping potential of communal coping and attachment relationship quality.

Through both of these studies, this dissertation project provides valuable insights into the complicated relationship between attachment, parenting behaviors, communal coping, and mental and behavioral health among Latina/o/e adolescents and emerging adults in relation to contexts of racialized stress. Conclusively, this research contributes to both the understanding and need for further exploration of the complexities of family and communal support as coping resources for experiences with racialized stress among youth and young adults. This is especially the case given that for Latina/o/es, social support systems offer the most palpable coping resources to build on and areas to target for optimizing health promotion as well as prevention and intervention strategies (Ajrouch et al., 2010; Berkman, 2000; Campos et al., 2014; 2018; Crockett et el., 2007; DeGarmo & Martinez, 2006; Albrecht & Goldsmith, 2003; Mossakowski & Zhang, 2014). However, the coinciding effects of these racialized stressors may cross a threshold into toxicity that inundates the protective benefits of attachment or communal coping resources, highlighting the need for the field to focus on multilayered approaches to research and interventions in order to redress the socioecological factors and structures perpetuating racialized toxic stress (Bowen et al., 2022; Cogburn, 2019; Condon et al., 2019; Garner & Yogman, 2021).