This study investigated the association between bicultural competence and academic adjustment (i.e., engagement, efficacy, achievement) among 193 Latino youth (65.3% female; 89.1% U.S.-born) followed from senior high school year (Mage = 17.58 years, SD = .53) to fifth college semester (2017-2019). Latent growth analyses revealed that youth’s overall bicultural competence trajectory was moderately high and stable across this period. Youth who maintained or increased bicultural competence levels over time (slopes) demonstrated greater self-efficacy. Youth with greater high school bicultural competence (intercepts) demonstrated higher engagement but lower achievement. No other associations emerged. This study highlights that the promoting influence of bicultural competence may not extend to all indicators of academic adjustment but may depend upon the contexts and demands they navigate.
Keywords: Academic Adjustment, Biculturalism, Longitudinal Growth Trajectories
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Contextualizing Bicultural Competence Across Youths’ Adaptation From High School to College: Prospective Associations With Mental Health and Substance Use
Bicultural competence, the ability to navigate bicultural demands, is a salient developmental competency for youths of color linked with positive adjustment. In this study, we investigated how discrimination experiences informed developmental trajectories of behavioral and affective bicultural competence across youths’ adaptation from high school to college and how these biculturalism trajectories predicted later adjustment (i.e., internalizing symptoms and binge drinking). Data were collected between 2016 and 2020 and included 206 U.S. Latino youths (mean age = 17.59 years, 64% female, 85% Mexican origin, 11% first-generation immigrants, and 62% second-generation immigrants). Linear latent growth analyses revealed that youths who experienced greater time-varying discrimination demonstrated lower concurrent behavioral and affective bicultural competence. Higher behavioral bicultural competence intercepts were associated with fewer internalizing symptoms in the third college year. No other significant associations emerged for internalizing symptoms or binge drinking. These findings have implications for mental-health equity among Latino youths during a critical period of psychopathology onset.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10402896
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Clinical Psychological Science
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2167-7026
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 320-343
- Size(s):
- ["p. 320-343"]
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract This study investigated the association between bicultural competence and academic adjustment (i.e., engagement, efficacy, achievement) among 193 Latino youth (65.3% female; 89.1% U.S.‐born) followed from their senior high school year (
M age = 17.58 years,SD = 0.53) to their fifth college semester (2016–2019). Latent growth analyses revealed that youth's overall bicultural competence trajectory was moderately high and stable across this period. Youth who maintained or increased bicultural competence levels over time (slopes) demonstrated greater self‐efficacy. Youth with greater high school bicultural competence (intercepts) demonstrated higher engagement but lower achievement. No other associations emerged. This study highlights that the promoting influence of bicultural competence may not extend to all indicators of academic adjustment but may depend upon the contexts and demands they navigate. -
Incorporating both heritage (e.g., Latino) and national (e.g., American) cultural systems into our sense of self (i.e., bicultural identity) and developing the ability to successfully respond to demands associated with each of these systems (i.e., bicultural competence) have been theorized to be central to the development and positive adjustment of U.S. Latinos, a group that represents a large segment of the country’s population. In this comprehensive review, we examined empirical research on biculturalism among U.S. Latinos spanning four decades (1980-2020), with a focus on synthesizing the field’s understanding of antecedents and consequents associated with biculturalism and identifying directions for future research. Our review of 152 empirical articles revealed that this literature was characterized by multiple approaches to the conceptualization (i.e., dual-cultural adaptation, dual-cultural identities, bicultural identity integration, and bicultural competence) and subsequent operationalization of biculturalism. Although each conceptualization has different implications for the conclusions that can be drawn regarding an aspect or facet of biculturalism and potential influence on adjustment, a significant majority (78%) of studies, across conceptualizations, provided evidence supporting a positive association between biculturalism and Latinos’ adjustment. In addition, a relatively small body of qualitative work was identified, and findings largely informed potential antecedents of biculturalism. We review this literature with attention to: the aspects of biculturalism that are associated with Latinos’ adjustment (i.e., psychosocial and physical health), how sample characteristics may limit the generalizability of this work, and important directions for future research both in terms of conceptualization and study design.more » « less
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Few studies have used longitudinal approaches to consider the cumulative impact of COVID-19-related stressors (CRSs) on the psychological adjustment of mothers and children. In the current study, we tracked changes in maternal depressive symptoms and children’s behavioral problems from approximately 2 years before the pandemic (T1) to May through August 2020 (T2). Second, we explored maternal hair cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone as predictors of change in maternal depressive symptoms. Mothers ( N = 120) reported on maternal and child psychological adjustment at both time points. Hair hormone data were collected in the lab at T1. Results suggest increases in children’s internalizing symptoms from T1 to T2 and that higher levels of CRSs were associated with increased maternal depressive symptoms. Maternal and child adjustment were correlated. Maternal hair cortisol, but not dehydroepiandrosterone, was associated with significant increases in depressive symptoms. Findings underscore the importance of considering the family system and cumulative risk exposure on maternal and child mental health.
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Experiences of racial discrimination have been found to be associated with internalizing problems among ethnic–racial minority youth. However, mediating and moderating processes that might explain this association is less well understood. Thus, the present study aimed to examine whether Chinese American adolescents’ bicultural identity integration harmony (BII-Harmony) mediated the association between their experiences of racial discrimination and internalizing behaviors. Furthermore, we examined the moderating role of their parents’ BII-Harmony in this mediation model. Chinese American adolescents ( Mage= 13.9 years; SD = 2.3; 48% female) reported their experiences of racial discrimination and BII-Harmony, and their parents ( Mage= 46.2 years; SD = 5.2; 81% mothers) reported their BII-Harmony and their children’s internalizing difficulties. Chinese American adolescents’ racial discrimination experiences were negatively associated with BII-Harmony, and in turn, more internalizing problems, but only when their parents also reported low and mean levels of BII-Harmony.
