This study investigated ethnic-racial identity developmental processes (i.e., exploration and resolution) as pathways for adolescents to develop global bicultural competence, or the ability to meet heritage and host cultural demands. The sample included 749 U.S. Mexican-origin youth (30% Mexico-born; 51% male) followed from early-to-late adolescence (Mage = 12.79 to 17.38 years). Longitudinal structural equation analyses revealed that youth’s sequential engagement in ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution (from early-to-middle adolescence) promoted global bicultural competence in late adolescence. Findings highlight the benefits of achieving clarity about one’s ethnic-racial identity via self-exploration efforts for adolescents’ ability to respond effectively to bicultural demands. This study advances mechanisms via which ethnic-racial identity development may support youth adaptation to multiple cultural systems.
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Pathways linking ethnic discrimination and drug-using peer affiliations to underage drinking status among Mexican-origin adolescents
Using a three-wave longitudinal data set of Mexican-origin adolescents (N = 602, Mage = 12.92, SD = 0.91 at Wave 1), this study examines parallel pathways from early exposure to ethnic discrimination and drug-using peers, separately, to underage drinking status by late adolescence. Negative affect was expected to mediate the link from ethnic discrimination to underage drinking status (the stress-induced pathway), whereas social alcohol expectancy was expected to mediate the link from drug-using peers to underage drinking status (the socialization pathway). Our findings lend support to the stress-induced pathway while controlling for the socialization pathway. For the stress-induced pathway, we found that early ethnic discrimination experiences were related to higher likelihood of having engaged in underage drinking by late adolescence through elevated negative affect sustained across adolescence. For the socialization pathway, we found no association between affiliation with drug-using peers in early adolescence and underage drinking status, either directly or indirectly. Present findings highlight the unique role of early ethnic discrimination experiences in underage drinking among Mexican-origin adolescents, over and above the effect of drug-using peers. Alcohol use interventions targeting ethnic minority adolescents should account for adolescents' ethnic discrimination experiences by helping adolescents develop adaptive coping strategies to handle negative affect induced by discrimination (e.g., reappraisal) rather than using alcohol to self-medicate.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1651128
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10296803
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
- ISSN:
- 1064-1297
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This study examined 164 African American adolescents’ (
M age = 15) daily reports of racial discrimination and parental racial socialization over 21 days. The study examined same‐day and previous‐day associations of adolescents’ discrimination and socialization experiences with their positive and negative psychological affect. It further explored whether racial socialization messages buffered discrimination’s effects on affect when messages were received during the same day and on the day prior to discrimination. Findings indicated the deleterious effect of racial discrimination (associated with more negative affect) and highlighted the importance of examining youth’s short‐term coping in critical developmental years. Findings also showed how messages promote positive youth emotions. However, daily moderating associations differed from prior survey studies, suggesting the importance of examining short‐term processes. -
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Abstract Using a three‐wave longitudinal sample of 108 Chinese American parent‐adolescent dyads (
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Abstract Ethnic–racial discrimination, the differential treatment of individuals based on ethnic or racial group membership, predicts poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety. This is supported by long-standing theories on the social determinants of health and minority stress. However, these theories are rarely expanded to neurobiological sciences, limiting our understanding of mechanisms underlying observed associations. One potential neurobiological pathway between ethnic–racial discrimination exposure and anxiety is that ongoing exposure to racially charged encounters presents imminent threats that may modify stress-sensitive neurocircuitry, like the amygdala.
The current study evaluated whether amygdala volume mediated associations between ethnic–racial discrimination exposure and anxiety symptoms in Latina girls, a group exhibiting heightened levels of untreated anxiety and disproportionately subjected to ethnic–racial discrimination.
Thirty predominantly Mexican-identifying Latina girls residing in Southern California (
M Age = 9.76,SD = 1.11 years) completed a T1-weighted structural MRI scan. Using thePerceptions of Racism in Children and Youth , participants self-reported the prevalence and severity of various discriminatory experiences. Participants also self-reported their anxiety symptoms via theScreen for Child Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders. Controlling for total intracranial volume and annual household income, an indirect effect of ethnic–racial discrimination on anxiety symptoms via left amygdala volume was observed,β = −0.28,SE = 0.17, BC 95% CI [−0.690, −0.017]. The current findings suggest that the left amygdala is sensitive to racialized threats in childhood and that stress-related alterations may, in part, contribute to elevated anxiety in Latina girls. Our data elucidate a potential mechanism by which this form of sociocultural stress can adversely impact mental health, particularly in the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence, a period marked by a host of interlinked neurophysiological and social changes. -
Objectives: Recognizing that immigrant parents socialize their children in specific ways, the current study examines Mexican-origin families’ parental socialization profiles using both parental cultural socialization and general parenting dimensions. We seek to understand how these dimensions interact to form culturally grounded parental socialization profiles in a sample of Mexican-origin parents and adolescents. Method: There were 604 adolescents, 595 mothers, and 293 fathers within Mexican-origin families self-reporting on 2 cultural socialization dimensions (respeto, independence) and 4 general parenting dimensions (warmth, hostility, monitoring, reasoning). Adolescent outcomes were assessed 1 year later. Results: Latent profile analysis revealed eight parental socialization profiles representing distinct combinations of cultural socialization and parenting dimensions. Relative to other profiles, the Integrative-Authoritative profile (high on socialization toward respeto and independence; high on warmth, monitoring, and reasoning; and relatively low on hostility) was the most common parenting pattern and was also associated with more optimal adolescent outcomes. Conclusion: Examining cultural socialization alongside general parenting dimensions can better capture parental socialization strategies among Mexican-origin parents. The various parental socialization profiles that characterize Mexican-origin parents have important implications for adolescent outcomes.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000504
