Associations Among Latinx Adolescents’ School Experiences, Disclosure, and Parental Solicitation: A Daily Diary Study

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

During adolescence, youth begin to spend more time outside of the home and without parental supervision (Larson et al., 1996). As a result of this increased autonomy, adolescents can choose which details of their daily experiences they share with their parents. Social domain theory suggests that adolescents’ experiences related to school climate, such as interactions with peers and teachers, are multifaceted because they are considered personal to adolescents, whereas parents believe that this domain of adolescents’ lives still warrants their involvement (Smetana & Asquith, 1994). For instance, a qualitative study examining disclosure among Latina adolescents found that females disclose school-related matters to their paternal figures while discussing personal matters (e.g., boys and menstruation) with their maternal figures (Veliz-Moran, 2016). Another study focused on Puerto Rican adolescents found that subscribing to Latino family values was related to more disclosure and less lying, which suggests a potential moderating role of familism (Villalobos & Smetana, 2012). In longitudinal study, disclosure and solicitation were associated with adolescents developing depressive symptoms across time, where disclosure was associated with fewer depressive symptoms, and parental solicitation was associated with more depressive symptoms (Fernandez et al., 2018). Opportunities for disclosure and solicitation are also increasing in this digital age where information is a text message away. Given the implications that disclosure and solicitation can have for adolescents and the increased mechanisms of parent-adolescent communication, it is important that we understand the ways school climate might influence adolescent disclosure and parent solicitation on a daily basis. Understanding this mechanism is particularly important to study among Latinx populations as we know very little regarding Latinx adolescents’ daily school experiences. The goal of the current study was to leverage daily diary data to examine daily associations among positive and negative school climate, adolescent-reported solicitation and disclosure, and the moderating role of familism.
Data were from a pilot study with Latinx parent-child dyads (N = 21) residing in the Northeast U.S. Parents (95% female; 33% U.S. born) and adolescents (Mage=12.76 years, SD = 1.00, Range = 11-14; 52% female; 52% U.S. born) completed a baseline survey and three daily surveys for 14 days. Adolescent reports of familism were assessed once at baseline, daily positive (e.g. feeling happy, calm), and negative school climate (e.g., feeling hopeless, stressed) were assessed after each school day and disclosure and solicitation were assessed every evening. We fit four multilevel models to these data with time nested within persons. For reported disclosure, between-person effects of positive school climate were marginally associated with more disclosure at the end of the day (Figure 1). No significant findings for negative school climate and familism emerged. For solicitation, between-person effects of positive school climate were associated with more disclosure, and negative school climate was marginally associated with less disclosure at the end of the day (Figure 2). Overall, findings highlight the importance of positive and negative experiences on two important domains of parental monitoring for Latinx adolescents. Future research should investigate additional daily school experiences and their relation to parent-child relationships.

Authors

• Jasmin Castillo, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Griselda Martinez, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lorena Aceves, Child Trends -Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dawn Paula Witherspoon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mayra Y Bamaca, University of California-Merced
  Non-Presenting Author