Maternal Risk Profiles, Parenting, and Mother/Adolescent Positive Psychosocial Adjustment in Mexican Immigrant Families

• In Event: Research on Family Stressors

Abstract

Mexican immigrant parents in socioeconomically disadvantaged families may face multiple risk factors in the form of cultural stress, economic stress, work stress, and psychological distress in their adaption to US society. Prior studies have used the family stress model to show that parental risk factors may negatively influence youth adjustment through disrupted parenting practices. Nonetheless, previous studies applying the family stress model have typically focused on examining the independent influences of distinct parental risk factors on adolescent adjustment (Conger et al., 2010), ignoring (1) the interconnected/interrelated effects of multiple risk factors, which can be examined using a person-centered approach and (2) the indirect effects of parental risk factors on both parent and adolescent positive psychosocial outcomes. Thus, the current study, focusing on low-SES Mexican immigrant families, identified distinct maternal profiles of risk factors, and examined how those profiles influenced both adolescents’ and mothers’ positive psychosocial adjustment via parenting (adolescent-reported and mother-reported) (Figures 1 and 2).

Participants were 604 Mexican-origin adolescents (6th-8th grades and Mage=12.91 years, SD=0.92) and 595 mothers (Mage=38.89, SD=5.74) recruited in the central area of Texas across three waves. Maternal risk profiles at Wave 1 were identified by 10 indicators (cultural stress including daily discrimination, ethnic discrimination, foreigner stress, feeling like a misfit, and language discrimination; work stress, psychological distress; and economic stress including financial strain, financial difficulty, and financial adjustment) at Wave 1. Parenting (warmth, inductive reasoning, and monitoring) at Wave 2 and positive psychosocial outcomes (life meaning and resilience) at Wave 3 were assessed for both mothers and adolescents. Data analyses were conducted using Mplus 8.6 (Muthén & Muthén, 2017-2021).

Using latent profile analysis, three types of maternal risks at Wave 1 were identified: low risk, moderate risk, and high risk profiles (Figure 3). Compared with mothers in the moderate risk profile, mothers identified in the low risk profile reported the lowest economic stress, cultural stress, work stress, and depressive symptoms, while mothers identified in the high risk profile had the highest levels of each of the four risk factors. Results of the mediation model revealed that (1) mothers in the low-risk profile at Wave 1 were likely to exhibit supportive parenting at Wave 2, which in turn promoted their sense of resilience and life meaning at Wave 3; and (2) adolescents’ self-reported supportive parenting at Wave 2 were positively associated with their resilience at Wave 3 (Table 1).

The results suggest that mothers who are less exposed to multiple contextual risks, such as perceived cultural stress, are more likely to engage in supportive parenting and then develop a sense of resilience and life meaning to overcome the challenges they face in adapting to the US. This study imparts a more comprehensive understanding of the family stress model by incorporating multiple maternal risk factors and exploring the potential mediating roles of parenting practices in links between maternal risk factors and mothers’ and adolescents’ psychosocial outcomes. It also provides implications for policy and interventions to promote both parents’ and adolescents’ positive psychosocial adjustment in low-SES Mexican immigrant families.

Authors

• Jinjin Yan, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Su Yeong Kim, University of Texas at Austin