Poster #6 - The Impact of Different Forms of Discrimination as Predictors of Social Anxiety in Latino Adolescents

• In Event: 1-079 - Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: 05 - Cultural Processes

Abstract/Description

A growing body of literature suggests that Latino youth display anxiety symptoms at significantly higher rates than other ethnic groups (Martinez, Polo, & Carter, 2012). Family cultural values and strong ethnic identity typically serve as protective factors for Latino youth (Rivas-Drake et al., 2014; Stein et al., 2014). However, social anxiety is a particularly pernicious problem that has not been shown to be shielded against by typically protective cultural values (Polo & Lopez, 2009; Rivas-Drake et al., 2014). This may be, in part due, to experiences of discrimination, as discrimination has been shown to be an important factor in predicting greater internalizing symptoms in Latino youth (Huang & Goto, 2008; Cavanaugh et al., 2017). Therefore, more research is needed to understand how cultural protective and risk factors impact social anxiety in Latino youth, especially how peer related discrimination influences social anxiety in youth.
This study assessed predictors of risk and resilience that may influence the development of social anxiety in 175 Latino adolescents, with a specific emphasis on examining the effect of different sources and types of discrimination. Two separate regression analyses were run looking at the impact of private regard (MIBI; Sellers et al.,1997), English language proficiency and preference (Chung, R. H. G., Kim, B. S. K., Abreu, J. M., 2004), and familism values (MACVS; Knight et al.,2010), along with three separate measures of discrimination: foreigner objectification (Brief Perceived Discrimination Scale; Armenta et al.,2013), school-based discrimination from peers (Way,1997), and school-based discrimination from adults (Way,1997). Based on previous research, we hypothesized that peer discrimination and lower English language skills would be predictive of greater social anxiety symptomatology as youth would ruminate on their social interactions with peers, whereas adult school-based discrimination and familism values would not be significant predictors due to not being proximally related to the peer context.
Linear regression analyses supported our hypotheses and indicated that peer discrimination in school settings (B=.203,p=.023) and lower English language skills (B=-.185,p=.021) were significant predictors of social anxiety in Latino adolescents. Results suggest that the source of discrimination and manner of discrimination matter in the development of social anxiety, as school-based discrimination from adults was not predictive of social anxiety symptoms. Foreigner objectification was only predictive when controlling for adult discrimination but not peer discrimination. As hypothesized, neither familism values or private regard were associated with social anxiety symptoms.
Our findings suggest social anxiety symptoms in Latino adolescents may be more significantly linked to peer discrimination and English proficiency as youth worry how they will be treated during social interactions at school. Likewise, discrimination from one’s peers in school may be more impactful than discrimination from adults because of the relative importance adolescents place on peer groups. Overall, future work should continue to examine how peer experiences contribute to social anxiety in Latino youth, and identifying potential culturally-relevant protective mechanisms given that key factors in the literature were not protective (i.e., private regard, familism values).

Authors

• Noah Keita Christophe, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Yesenia Mejia, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Vaibhav Sapuram, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Gabriela Stein, University of North Carolina at Greensboro