Temporal Orientation and the Association Between Adversity and Internalizing Symptoms in Vietnamese American Adolescents

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Adversity predicts a wide range of negative outcomes, including internalizing symptoms (Margolin, Vickerman, Oliver, & Gordis, 2010). Despite this well-established relationship, cross-cultural findings suggest variation in whether and to what extent factors increase risk or buffer the impact of adversity. Evidence also demonstrates cross-cultural variation in the level of internalizing symptoms endorsed by Asian Americans compared to their White peers (Lau, Fung, Wang, & Kang, 2009). Cultural congruence, the degree to which a factor is considered normative to an individual’s culture, may be an important determinant of cross-cultural variation in adaptive responses. In the current study, we examine whether culturally congruent temporal orientation (TO; i.e., the relative emphasis one places on the past, present, or future) may differentially impact the relationship between adversity and internalizing symptoms. Studies suggest that TO differs based on culture and may even explain heterogeneity in outcomes (see Gao, 2016 for review); thus, the relationship between adverse experiences and internalizing problems may differ across groups as a function of culturally congruent TO.

This study relies on secondary data analysis of the Adolescents Coping with Everyday Stress study (see Lau et al., 2016; Tsai et al., 2018). Participants were 676 Vietnamese American and European American students from public high schools in Los Angeles County. Participants completed the study in two waves, three months apart. First, we will conduct a cross-sectional analysis of the 676 participants in the baseline sample using descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations to test associations between specific Asian cultural values (i.e., familism and interdependence), European American cultural values (i.e., independence), TOs (i.e., past, present, and future), internalizing symptoms, and adversity. We predict that Vietnamese American adolescents will be more likely to demonstrate past TO compared to European American peers. Within the Vietnamese American group, past TO will be positively associated with interdependence and family obligation in culturally congruent ways. In addition to looking at correlations overall, we will also test associations within race subgroups.

The primary analysis will focus on testing the extent to which culture shapes the adaptive nature of TO using the longitudinal sample of 676 participants. Utilizing a multigroup Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach in Mplus 8, we will test the potential moderating effects of TO (past, present, and future) on the relation between adversity and internalizing symptoms across cultural groups. Because past TO is more common and related to cultural values in Asian communities, we predict that it may be weakly associated with risk for Vietnamese American adolescents, but more strongly associated with risk for European American adolescents. However, we have no a priori hypotheses related to the effects of cultural influences on present or future orientation. Findings will inform a cross-cultural understanding of developmental pathways to internalizing problems following adverse life events. Data analyses are already underway and will be completed well in advance of the 2021 Biennial Meeting.

Authors

• Alexandra Marie Zax, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author

• Omar G Gudiño, University of Kansas
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anna S Lau, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• William Tsai, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bahr Weiss, Vanderbilt University
  Non-Presenting Author