About this poster

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Panel information
Panel 4. Families, Parenting, and Relationships

Abstract

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Whereas many adolescents in the US experience depressive symptoms (Blanco & Unger, 2015) Latinx adolescents experience increased risk (Cheng, 2022) due to cultural and universal risk factors (Blanco & Unger, 2015). Acculturative family distancing (AFD), a cultural risk factor defined as the distance between immigrant parents and their youth caused by communication breakdown and differences in cultural values (Hwang, 2006), has been associated with increased depressive symptoms among Latina adolescents (Toro et al., 2020). Family conflict, a universal risk factor particularly salient in adolescence (Sallinen et al., 2007), has similarly been linked to increasing depressive symptoms generally and among Latinx families (Conger et. al., 2010; Delgado et al., 2009). Much of the work on conflict however has focused on the mother-child relationship, leaving questions about role of Latinx fathers. This is particularly problematic given the relatively high number of 2 parent households present within the US Latinx population (Suro et al., 2007). A few studies that evaluated the unique role have indicated that Latinx fathers often play distinctive roles in the lives of their youth (O’Gara, Calzada, & Kim, 2020). For example, research with Mexican-origin families found that mothes reported greater involvement with their youth, as evidenced by more time spent with youth and higher levels of warmth and acceptance and knowledge of their youth’s activities compared to fathers and that these relations were further qualified by youth gender (Updegraff, Delgado & Wheeler, 2009). Cultural developmental theories such as the integrative model also highlight youth gender as an orienting feature of the parenting dynamic (Garcia-Coll et al., 1996). As such he first goal of this study was to investigate the unique effect of AFD and mothers’ and fathers’ conflict with youth function as risk factors for Latinx for boys and girls..
In the presence of risk, resilience frameworks suggest that individuals use assets to protect themselves. Family cohesion the emotional bonding and closeness between family members, is one such protective factor (Olson et al, 1983) that may be particularly relevant to the mental health of Latinx youth as it relates to the cultural value of familism (Dinh et al, 2002). One study found that higher levels of familism reduced intergenerational acculturative conflict, shielding Latinx youth from depressive symptoms (Pina-Watson et al, 2019). Drawing from these studies, our second goal was to examine whether family cohesion moderates links between the risk factors and youth depressive symptoms.
Method: Participants were 190 Latinx students (Mage= 12.39 years, SD= 1.15; 53% female; 89% U.S.-born) recruited from schools in a large Southwestern state who completed online surveys as part of a mixed methods study. Youth reported on AFD (ɑ=.75: Hwang, 2006), mother-child conflict (MCC, ɑ=.81; Jensen-Campbell & Graziano, 1996), father-child conflict (FCC, ɑ=.94) ; study), family cohesion (FC, ɑ=.80; Olson et al., 1982), and depressive symptoms (DS; ɑ=0.89; Beals et al., 1991). To address study goals, linear regressions were conducted in SPSS.
Results/Discussion:
For goal 1: MCC, FCC, and AFD were positively related to depressive symptoms with differences by gender, specifically seen in girls but not boys (see Table 2). For goal 2, family cohesion (FC) did not emerge as a significant moderator of these relations. However, FC had a direct negative relation to youth across models (See Table 2).

Author information

Author	Role
Isabella Anjali Timmons, Arizona State University	Presenting author
Jessie A. Erikson , University of Arizona, United States	Non-presenting author

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