Poster #93 - Cultural Values and Individual Adjustment Among Latinos: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Familism is a key cultural value that is associated with the psychosocial functioning and physical health of Latino youth and adults (Perez & Cruess, 2014). Over the past three decades, a growing body of research has examined the effects of individuals’ and family members’ familism values on a wide range of adjustment outcomes. We know little about the magnitude of these effects or about the conditions that may strengthen or weaken the associations between familism and individual adjustment. To advance the field, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies examining the association between familism values and Latinos’ individual adjustment. Our meta-analysis was framed within a risk and resilience perspective drawing from the field of developmental psychopathology (Causadias, 2013; Masten & Coatsworth, 1988; Rutter, 1987) to consider evidence for the different ways that familism values may be linked to individual adjustment.
Familism values can serve a promotive function in the lives of Latino youth, meaning that regardless of the level of risk in their lives, stronger familism values are associated with better adjustment (Causadias, 2013). Promotive factors are those that have the beneficial effect of increasing the probability of developing adaptive behavior and well being (Causadias, Salvatore, & Sroufe, 2012; Sameroff, 1999). Evidence of familism values as promotive comes from research revealing that stronger familism values are associated with more positive psychosocial well-being (e.g., Pina-Watson, Ojeda, Castellon, & Dornhecker, 2013). It is also possible that familism values can serve as a source of risk in Latino individuals’ lives to the extent that these values are positively associated with indicators of adjustment problems. Fuligni, Tseng, and Lam (1999), for example, found that youth who reported the highest family obligation values reported lower school performance relative to youth who reported low or moderate family obligation values.
Our meta-analysis focused on attitudinal familism, which reflects the strong emphasis in Latino culture on values that reflect the importance of family (Calzada, Tamis-LeMonda, & Yoshikawa, 2013; Knight et al., 2010), and individual adjustment, assessed within three domains: internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and positive well-being. The literature search was conducted using three databases (see Figure 1). Searches included multiple terms for familism and Latino/Hispanic background. All articles were reviewed to determine if they included the following: (a) quantitative measure of attitudinal familism; (b) quantitative measure of individual adjustment within one of the target domains; and (c) Latino participants.
We aggregated effect sizes to examine the link between familism and each domain of functioning. We employed random-effects models that assume a normal distribution of effects sizes (Hedges & Vevea, 1998). We corrected for measurement unreliability and then transformed using Fisher’s transformation of r to obtain the most accurate estimates (Card, 2012). The average effect size and confidence interval were reverse transformed (from Zr to r) for interpretation. We also computed standard errors and tested heterogeneity with the (Q) test (Hedges and Olkin, 1985) and the magnitude of this variability was determined by the I2 index (Higgins and Thompson, 2002).

Authors

• Karina M. Cahill, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Kimberly Updegraff, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• José M. Causadias, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Edwin J. Vazquez, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author