Acculturative Stress and Internalizing Symptoms among Latinx Youth: The Moderating Role of Peer Support

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Exposure to acculturative stress is associated with psychological problems among Latinx youth, including internalizing symptoms (Crockett et al., 2007). Stress buffering theory posits that social support limits the subjective experience of stress thereby reducing the detrimental effects of stressful experiences on mental health (Cohen & Wills, 1985). Consistent with this model, studies have indicated a robust stress-buffering effect of family support for Latinx youth; however, findings regarding peer support are mixed (Raffaelli et al., 2012). The buffering effect of peer support may depend on the type of stressor experienced and the dimensions of stress that are measured. This study examined the relations of acculturative stress to internalizing problems (depression and anxiety) among Latinx youth as well as the potential buffering role of support from peers. Furthermore, we explored distinct dimensions of stress by disaggregating the number of stressful experiences reported (number of stressors) from the amount of stress reported in response to each stressful experience (subjective stress).

Participants were 306 Midwestern Latinx adolescents (M age=15.50, 46.2% girls) who reported whether they had experienced seven scenarios involving pressure to acculturate (number of stressors) and how stressful those experiences were (subjective stress), along with their perceptions of peer support and their symptoms of anxiety and depression. Measurement models were conducted for each primary variable. A single-factor model fit best for Peer Support, Depression, and Anxiety, respectively. For pressure to acculturate, a two-part model fit best, with one factor representing the number of stressors experienced (number of stressors) and the other representing the amount of stress youths perceived regarding the stressors they had experienced (subjective stress). Reliability-corrected factor scores were used in a regression analysis, in which peer support, number of stressors, subjective stress, and the interaction between peer support and each stress factor were used to predict depression and anxiety. Interactions were probed with simple slopes tests.

As shown in Figure 1, subjective stress (but not the number of stressors) was positively associated with depression and anxiety symptoms. Peer support was negatively associated with depression symptoms but not with anxiety symptoms. There were three significant interactions in this model: between subjective stress and peer support on (1) depression and (2) anxiety, and (3) between the number of stressors and peer support on depressive symptoms. For the interactions between subjective stress and peer support on depression and anxiety (illustrated in Figures 2a and 2b), when peer support was high, subjective stress was no longer associated with either depression or anxiety symptoms, consistent with the stress-buffering hypothesis. For the interaction between the number of stressors and peer support in relation to depression symptoms (see Figure 2c), peer support lost its beneficial effect as the number of stressors increased. Discussion focuses on the divergent findings for number of stressors and subjective stress and the need to include these two variables in future research on Latinx youth.

Authors

• Alexander Michael Wasserman, Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Lisa J Crockett, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chelsie D. Temmen, University of Louisville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gustavo Carlo, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author