Poster #67 - Dynamic Daily Processes of Negative Context of Reception, Satisfaction with Life, and Depressive Symptoms Among Hispanic College Students

• In Event: Poster Session 08

Abstract

Previous work has defined “negative context of reception” as feeling unwelcome or the perception that one is not afforded the same opportunities compared to individuals from other immigrant groups (e.g., Schwartz et al., 2014). Recent studies have identified negative context of reception as compromising students’ mental health (e.g., Lee et al., 2021). However, less is known regarding dynamic processes among these factors at the daily level. Therefore, the first aim of our study was to examine dynamic daily processes among negative context of reception and students’ mental health indicators (depressive symptoms and satisfaction with life) (see Figure 1). Further, recent studies have suggested that a hybrid cultural identity style (HIS) (reflecting strategies that can be used to integrate multiple cultural identities) is related to positive mental health, and that an alternating cultural identity style (AIS) (defining by shifting cultural identities depending on the circumstances) are positively associated with negative mental health (e.g., Ward et al., 2021). It may be the case that HIS and AIS act as moderators, amplifying or attenuating the associations between negative context of reception and (positive and negative) mental health indicators. Therefore, our second aim was to examine inter-individual differences of cultural identity styles on the daily associations between negative context of reception and depressive symptoms and satisfaction with life (see Figure 1).
We conducted a 12-day diary study with a sample of Hispanic college students in Miami (n = 864; average age = 21.13 years; 75.9% female). Two cultural identities (HIS and AIS) were assessed on Day 1, and negative context of reception, depressive symptoms, and satisfaction with life were measured using single items on Days 2-11. Multilevel analyses were used to examine research aims. Missing cases were handled with FIML. Standardized coefficients (β) are reported as effect sizes. All analyses were performed in SPSS and Mplus.
Results indicated that autoregressive paths a, d, and g in Figure 1 were significant and positive (β = .20, .27, and .55, p < .001 for depressive symptoms, negative context of reception, and satisfaction with life, respectively). Also, in Figure 1, cross-lagged paths b and c were significant and positive, but paths e, and f were significant and negative (not reported due to word limits). Further, we found that the HIS reduced the negative cross-lagged associations between satisfaction with life at Day X-1 and depressive symptoms at Day X (β = -.04, p < .05). For interpretation, simple slopes for cross-lagged effects were computed at high and low levels of HIS (above and below the mean). Results indicated that students reporting higher levels of HIS were characterized by significant and negative cross-lagged effects (β = -.09, p < .001). However, this negative cross-lagged effect was non-significant for students reporting lower levels of HIS (β = -.01, p = .54). Exploring the daily processes and effects of cultural identity will not only assist counselors in better conceptualizing clients’ issues, but will also facilitate the development of more individualized interventions aimed at counseling individuals in a multiculturally-sensitive manner.

Authors

• Tae Kyoung Lee, Sungkyunkwan University
  Presenting Author

• Alan Meca, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Colleen Ward, Victoria University of Wellington

• Ágnes Szabó, Victoria University of Wellington

• Jaimee Stuart