About this paper symposium

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Panel information
Panel 7. Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Paper #1
Relinquishing, Adapting, Overcoming, and Resisting: Latinx Minoritized Youth’s Varied Forms of Coping with Racism
Author information	Role
Valerie Salcido, M.Ed., University of North Carolina, Greensboro, United States	Presenting author
Gabriela L. Stein, University of Texas, Austin, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Discrimination is a prevalent, chronic, and harmful stressor that Latinx youth by necessity must cope with. Yet, there are very few measurements that assess the specific and unique strategies that Latinx youth may enact in response to racism-related stress. In order to understand what coping strategies Latinx youth use and their thought process for choosing between strategies, qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 Latinx adolescents (63% female) primarily of Mexican origin living in southeastern United States. All participants were either current high schoolers or had just graduated high school (Mage = 17, SD = 1.5). Interviews were an hour-long and semi-structured. In each interview, participants were asked about various types of discrimination they may have faced, including peer discrimination, teacher discrimination, other adult discrimination, online discrimination, and vicarious discrimination. Each participant was asked about peer discrimination and teacher discrimination first. With the time left, the subsequent forms were asked about in a randomized order. If a participant did not endorse any personal experience related to the type of discrimination, then the scenario was skipped, and the next form of discrimination was queried. For each experience the participant did endorse, they were asked to describe the most recent example and then were asked the same set of questions around what they did in the moment to feel better and what they did afterwards. All transcripts were coded within a qualitative data management software, ATLAS.ti version 7.2. The interviewers and coders for the data self-identified as Latinx. Applied thematic analysis (ATA; Guest et al., 2012), a type of inductive thematic analysis, was used to identify themes and accompanying codes. Four major categories of coping were identified. First, there were coping strategies related to Relinquishing Control or passive coping. Participants espoused doing nothing, feelings of helplessness, remaining silent in the face of discrimination, pretending nothing happened, and avoiding processing of events. Another group of strategies fell under Adapting. Many coping strategies fell in this category, including ignoring, reinterpreting (e.g., minimizing, making excuses), seeking support (e.g., from peers, family members, teachers), distraction, and escaping. All these strategies serve the function of helping the participant adapt or adjust to living in a racist society. The third category was Overcoming, which encompass efforts to persist and/or maintain ethnic pride and happiness despite racism. The last category was Resisting. These are strategies that function to challenge the existence of racism. This includes confronting the perpetrator, telling an authority figure, educating oneself, and problem-solving. Adapting strategies were the most endorsed while Relinquishing Control strategies were the least endorsed. Implications for measurement of coping with racism are discussed as well as future directions for the continued study of how minoritized youth cope with racism-related stress.

Paper #2
Latinx college students’ familial intragroup marginalization and alcohol use: The mediating role of coping
Author information	Role
Kimberly L. Henriquez, University of Texas, Austin, United States	Presenting author
Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco, University of Texas, Austin, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Latinx college students who explore different cultural norms from their heritage culture may experience familial intragroup marginalization within the family (FIM), consisting of homeostatic pressure (i.e., pressure not to change one’s cultural self and values), linguistic expectations (expectations to maintain heritage language), accusations of assimilation to US culture, and discrepant values (discrepant values between students and family members). Studies have linked accusations of assimilation (but not the other three factors) to greater alcohol use among Latinx college students cross-sectionally (in the moment). However, less is known about how all four FIM experiences (and not only accusations of assimilations) influence alcohol use cross-sectionally (in the moment) and longitudinally (over time). Additionally, the processes through which FIM leads to students’ alcohol use remain unclear. One potential process that may relate FIM to alcohol use is coping (behavioral and cognitive efforts used to manage stressors). Students may use engaged (directly addressing stressor by calling family out) or disengaged (avoiding stressor and associated emotions by not calling family out) coping. Given the centrality of familism within Latinx cultures, students may maintain family harmony through disengaged coping. Accordingly (see Figure 1), we hypothesized: 1) higher FIM would relate with less engaged and more disengaged coping, 2) engaged coping would decrease odds of alcohol use whereas disengaged coping would increase odds, and 3) engaged and disengaged coping would mediate the relations between FIM and alcohol use. Latinx (N=562; Mage=18.22, SD=0.48; Female=69%; 83.8% Mexican/Mexican-American) from a Central Texas university completed surveys of above constructs at three timepoints. Structural equation modeling revealed five direct and four indirect cross-sectional paths (Table 1, Model 1a). Higher discrepant values related with lower use of engaged coping. Higher homeostatic pressure and linguistic expectations related with greater use of disengaged coping. Greater use of disengaged coping was associated with greater odds of having an alcoholic drink and 6 or more alcoholic drinks in one occasion. Higher homeostatic pressure related with greater use of disengaged coping, which, in turn, was associated with greater odds of having an alcoholic drink. Higher linguistic expectations were associated with greater use of disengaged coping, which, in turn, was associated with greater odds of having an alcoholic drink. Higher homeostatic pressure was associated with greater use of disengaged coping, which, in turn, was associated with greater odds of having 6 or more alcoholic drinks in one occasion. Higher linguistic expectations were associated with greater use of disengaged coping, which, in turn, was associated with greater odds of having 6 or more drinks containing alcohol on one occasion. Lastly, longitudinal analyses (Table 1, Model 1b) revealed two direct paths and no significant indirect paths. Higher Time 1 discrepant values were associated with lower Time 2 use of engagement coping. Higher Time 1 homeostatic pressure was associated with greater Time 2 use of disengaged coping. This study contributes to the FIM literature by identifying disengaged coping as a potential process through which FIM may relate with Latinx’s greater alcohol use in the moment rather than over time.

Paper #3
Shift and Persist and Depressive Symptoms in Latinx College Students: Exploring Direct and Indirect Associations
Author information	Role
Mayra Y. Bamaca, Ph.D., University of California, Merced, United States	Presenting author
Emely Covarrubias, University of California, Merced, United States	Non-presenting author
Melinda Gonzales-Backen, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, United States	Non-presenting author
Daniel Mello, University of California, Merced, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Latinx college students often report high rates of mental ill-health (Fernandez et al., 2022; Pichardo et al., 2021), at least partially due to the struggles of being comparatively lower-Socioeconomic Status (SES) than other peers. Past research underscores individual (i.e., biological sex, self-esteem), cultural (e.g., familism), and family stressors (financial strain) associated with mental health among Latinx young adults, underscoring the need to examine adaptive resilience factors for this community. Shift and persist (adjusting one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; ability to find meaning and optimism) is conceptualized as a psychological resilience skillset (i.e., coping strategies) that particularly helps individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., lower-SES) deal with day-to-day demands, and it is associated with better mental health (e.g., Christophe et al., 2019). As such, we examined the direct and indirect associations of individual, cultural, and family SES factors alongside shift and persist in relation to Latinx college students’ depressive symptoms. Participants attended a university in Central Valley, California (N = 323 Female = 77.4%, Mage = 20.9) and completed an online survey. A majority were first-generation college students (64.1%) and had mothers (72.2%) and fathers (81.1%) with high school-or-less education. Results (Figure 1) indicated that the model fit the data well (CFI=.99, TLI=.97, RMSEA=.005 and χ2 (2) = 3.69, p = .349), and showed that higher self-esteem and familism values predicted more shifting, whereas being female predicted less shifting. Higher self-esteem and less financial strain predicted more persistence. Lastly, higher self-esteem, less financial strain, and more persistence predicted fewer depressive symptoms, whereas being female and more shifting predicted more depressive symptoms. Significant indirect effects were as followed: shift significantly mediated the association between biological sex and depressive symptoms, such that being male was associated with more shifting, which in turn predicted more depressive symptoms. There was also a significant indirect effect between financial strain and depressive symptoms via persist, such that higher levels of financial strain were associated with lower persistence, which was subsequently linked to more depressive symptoms. Finally, shift and persist each significantly mediated the association between self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Specifically, higher levels of self-esteem were associated with both higher levels of shift, which in turn predicted more depressive symptoms, and persist, which in turn predicted fewer depressive symptoms. Overall, shift and persist were differentially related to depressive symptoms in this sample of Latinx college students, which warrants the examination of shift and persist as two distinct processes. Moreover, findings highlight the importance of concurrently examining linkages among multiple correlates of depressive symptoms: bio-sex, financial strain, self-esteem, and shift and persist among college students of Latine ethnic background who are more likely to be of lower-SES, which may result in more financial strain, and subsequent depressive symptomatology, potentially affecting their life circumstances as they navigate college.

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