Longitudinal Associations of Cultural Stressors and Cultural Values on Depression in Latinx Youth in the Midwest

• In Event: Acculturation and Cultural Values

Abstract

Latinx youth often experience acculturative stressors (e.g., discrimination, language difficulties) that increase their risk for mental health problems (Stein et al., 2016). Acculturation refers to the changes that take place as a result of culturally dissimilar people and can lead to experiencing acculturative stress (Schwartz et al., 2010). In contrast, cultural values are essential constructs in the Latinx culture and can act as protective factors against youth maladjustment (Hernández & Bámaca, 2016; Ma et al., 2017). An important cultural value for Latinx youth is familism, which encompasses feelings of connection, support, and respect towards one's family (Campos et al., 2014; Stein et al., 2014). Familism has been attributed to positive outcomes for Latinx youth, such as positive family functioning and better mental health (Stein et al., 2017). Thus, Latinx youth are likely to experience competing cultural demands both in regard to their families' expectations and the expectations to acculturate to the dominant culture.
To test this, the goal of the current study was to assess how cultural values (including both acculturation and acculturative stress, as well as familism) impacted depressive problems in Latinx youth over time. We hypothesized that T1 acculturation (both acculturative stressors and acculturation values) would be positively associated with T2 depression. We also hypothesized that T1 familism would counteract these associations and be negatively associated with youth depression at T2. Lastly, that interaction terms between acculturative stress and cultural variables will predict depression.
Participants were Latinx youth (N= 123, Mage= 11.53, 59% female; 85.6% two-parent) in the Midwest in largely rural communities (78%). Most parents (74%) did not complete high school and were predominantly born in Mexico (91%). Most youth (96%) were born in the U.S. Participants completed self-reported surveys at two-time points (one year apart). Youth reported on acculturative stressors (Gonzales et al., 1995), cultural values (familism and acculturation; Knight et al., 2010), and depression (Capaldi & Rothbart, 1992; Radloff, 1977).
Correlations among the variables and covariates are shown in Table 1. The results of our nested regression models are shown in Table 2. In model 1 (with only our main cultural variables included), we found that T1 acculturative stressors positively predicted T2 depression, and T1 familism negatively predicted T2 depression. These associations remained the same after adding the covariates. In model 3, controlling for T1 depression, gender became significant (for girls), T1 familism became marginally significant, and multicultural events was not significant. Interaction terms for cultural values and multiple stressful events were calculated, but terms were not statistically significant.
Overall our hypotheses that cultural values impact Latinx depression were partially supported. Hypothesis two was supported—we found that T1 familism negatively predicted T2 depression in all three of our models (although the effect of familism was marginally significant when controlling for T1 depression). Hypothesis one was partially supported. Acculturative stressors were positively associated with T2 depression (except when controlling for T1 depression). Material success and Independence/self-reliance were positively concurrently correlated with depression, but they did not predict depression in any of the regression models.

Group Authors

Fabiola Herrera, Zoe E. Taylor, Blake L. Jones

Authors

• Fabiola Herrera, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Zoe Ellen Taylor, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Non-Presenting Author

• Blake L. Jones, Brigham Young University
  Non-Presenting Author