About this session

Saturday, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Coping with Stress in Latinx youth: Strategies, Processes, and Outcomes

Latinx youth (10 – 25 years old) are exposed to significant sources of stress (e.g., discrimination, cultural stressors, and financial stress). Although coping strategies are a key factor influencing the impact of stress on youths’ well-being, little is known about effective and protective strategies in Latinx youth. In this symposium, we describe the strategies used by Latinx youth to cope with stress, and the mediating processes on how coping can inform Latinx youths’ adjustment.

First, using qualitative interviews, authors describe 4 strategies that Latinx adolescents use to cope with discrimination experiences: relinquishing control (e.g., doing nothing, feeling helpless), adapting (i.e., ignoring, reinterpreting, seeking support), overcoming (i.e., maintaining ethnic pride and happiness despite racism), and resisting (e.g., confronting perpetrator, educating oneself).

Second, authors present a model of direct and indirect associations among college students’ familial intragroup marginalization (FIM), engaged and disengaged coping, and their alcohol use. Results revealed that FIM homeostatic pressure and linguistic expectations were directly associated with disengaged coping, which in turn, was directly related to greater odds of alcohol use.

Third, authors demonstrate shift and persist as mediators between individual, cultural, and family factors and Latinx college students’ depressive symptoms. Results revealed nuances in associations. For example, higher levels of familial financial strain were associated with lower persistence, which was associated with more depressive symptoms.

The presentation will conclude with the discussant addressing the implications of these findings for understanding coping strategies as sources of risk and resilience in Latinx youths’ adaptation and provide suggestions for future research.

Paper #1
Title	Relinquishing, Adapting, Overcoming, and Resisting: Latinx Minoritized Youth’s Varied Forms of Coping with Racism
Presenting author	Valerie Salcido, M.Ed., University of North Carolina, Greensboro, United States

Paper #2
Title	Latinx college students’ familial intragroup marginalization and alcohol use: The mediating role of coping
Presenting author	Kimberly L. Henriquez, University of Texas, Austin, United States

Paper #3
Title	Shift and Persist and Depressive Symptoms in Latinx College Students: Exploring Direct and Indirect Associations
Presenting author	Mayra Y. Bamaca, Ph.D., University of California, Merced, United States

View all paper details

Session chair
Mayra Y. Bamaca, Ph.D., University of California, Merced, United States

Discussant
Dr. Thania Galvan, Ph.D., University of Georgia, United States

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