Poster #182 - The Role of Mental Health Promotion on Maternal Factors on Depression and Self-Esteem in Latinx Youth

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Adolescence highlights an important time-period in development marked by various changes, specifically, social-emotional changes and changes in parental relationships (Roeser, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2000). Additionally, their development is partially dependent upon their overall social-emotional well-being and whether surrounding adults provide nourishing environments that aid in their growth (Roeser, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2000). Interestingly, in Latinx culture, mothers are highly regarded and maternal love is considered sacred engendering stronger mother-child ties, and passing down of their cultural beliefs (Durand, 2011). Factors such as parental work schedules have demonstrated to be associated with adolescents’ depressive symptoms and unfavorable family experiences have shown to mediate this relationship (Han & Miller, 2010). Research is scarce in identifying the role of maternal mental health promotion in parent-child relationships to help explain the relationships between mother’s work on Latinx adolescent mental health, taking into consideration the higher rates of self-esteem and depression experienced by Latinx youth. Two aims led this study. First, maternal occupation and maternal work hours will be related to adolescent mental health. Second, maternal discussions of mental health strategies will be related to adolescent mental health.

The data used was collected from the first wave of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) dataset. 564 Latinx parent-youth (52.6% female) dyads were included in this study. Maternal factors were measured from reports of maternal occupation and maternal work hours. To measure Mental Health Promotion, a scale was created using 5 items that accessed maternal support of promoting psychological well-being. Mental health outcomes were identified as depression and self-esteem.

Preliminary intercorrelations revealed there are significant relationships between maternal factors and mental health indicators (Table 1). Moreover, hierarchical regressions were conducted to test the relationships between study variables. Results indicate that maternal occupation is related to more depression (β = 0.01; p < .01). Additionally, it was found that mental health promotion strategies were significantly associated with depressive symptoms (β = 0.17; p < .01). Furthermore, similar relationships were found between maternal work and self-esteem (β = 0.01; p < .05) and mental health promotion and self-esteem (β = 0.30; p < .01).

Findings indicate that maternal factors such as occupational levels and relationship indicators are significantly related to child depression and self-esteem in Latinx families. Furthermore, the results from this study suggest that mental health promotion may be the underlying factor in mediating the relationship between maternal work factors and youth’s psychosocial well-being. The implications of these findings on adolescent mental health development in Latinx families will be further discussed.

Authors

• Crystal Leanette Venegas, California State University, Northridge
  Presenting Author

• Meeta Banerjee, California State University, Northridge
  Non-Presenting Author