Poster #90 - Impacts of Cultural Stress and Peer Relationships on Delinquency in Immigrant Adolescents

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

Cultural stress has been theorized to operate as a strain and highlighted as an important risk factor when discussing self-control and psychosocial functioning (Juang & Cookston, 2019). Broadly, cultural stress refers to stressors rooted in perceptions of a negative context of reception, discrimination, and the tension in attempting to maintain one’s heritage culture while also adopting the receiving society’s culture (Meca et al., 2019). Prior research has found that cultural stress is associated with a variety of detrimental consequences such as substance abuse (Wahl & Eitle, 2010) and violence (Perez et al., 2008). However, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms has been limited.

Addressing these gaps, the proposed study utilized baseline data from a longitudinal study of 302 recently immigrated (<5 years in the US) adolescents (53% boys; Mage=14.51) to determine whether positive and deviant peer association mediates the association between cultural stress and externalizing problem behaviors. The path model estimated in Mplus was associated with good fit [CFI=.998; SRMR=.015]. As indicated in Table 1, bicultural stress was positively associated with negative/deviant peer associations and, to a lesser extent, positive peer association. In contrast, negative context of reception was negatively associated with positive peer association whereas discrimination was positively associated with deviant peer association. Deviant peer association was also positively associated with both aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors. As indicated in Table 2, results indicated that deviant peer association partially mediated the association between bicultural stress and both aggression and rule-breaking; and fully mediated the association between discrimination and aggression and rule-breaking.

Findings from the present study provide important guidance for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the detrimental impact of cultural stress. Although findings indicate bicultural stress make youth more susceptible to associate with deviant peers, bicultural stress was also positively associated with positive peer association. These contradictory findings may highlight the precarious role immigrant youth experience, as they are likely to experience bicultural stress from interactions with a variety of peer groups. In addition, our findings indicated that discrimination was associated with externalizing behaviors entirely through deviant peer association. This stressor is crucial for HL youth as this marginalization may obstruct beneficial paths, such as forming prosocial peer groups, for a healthy transition into adulthood (Forster et al., 2015). Given that the rise in xenophobic and anti-immigrant beliefs in the U.S. directed at HL populations has led to a hostile context for increased cultural stress (Vos et al., 2020), understanding the mechanisms underlying the association between cultural stress and psychopathology is particularly critical. Moreover, the decomposition of cultural stress is essential towards providing specific guidance in HL youth (Meca et al., 2019). We hope the current work serves to further foster this research moving forward.

Authors

• Lauren Santibanez, University of Texas at San Antonio
  Presenting Author

• Bethany Cruz, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Angela Ragsdale

• Hannah Sheikh

• Alan Meca, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Jennifer B. Unger, University of Southern California