Familism Values, Family Time, and Mexican‐Origin Young Adults' Depressive Symptoms
| Published date | 01 February 2016 |
| Date | 01 February 2016 |
| Author | Susan M. McHale,Adriana J. Umaña‐Taylor,Katharine H. Zeiders,Kimberly A. Updegraff,Jenny Padilla |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12248 |
K H. Z University of Missouri
K A. U A J. U-T Arizona State University∗
S M. MH J P Pennsylvania State University∗∗
Familism Values, Family Time, and Mexican-Origin
Young Adults’ Depressive Symptoms
Using longitudinal data across eight years, this
study examined how parents’ familism values
in early adolescence predicted youths’ depres-
sive symptoms in young adulthood via youths’
familism values and family time. We examined
these processes among 246 Mexican-origin
families using interview and phone-diary data.
Findings revealed that fathers’ familism values
predicted male and female youths’ familism
values in middle adolescence. For female youth
only, fathers’ familism values also predicted
youths’ family time in late adolescence. The link
between family time and young adults’ depres-
sive symptoms depended on parental acceptance
and adolescent gender: Among female and male
youth, family time predicted fewer depressive
symptoms, but only when paternal acceptance
was high. For female adolescents only, fam-
ily time predicted fewer depressive symptoms
when maternal acceptance was high but more
Department of Human Development and Family Science,
University of Missouri, 314 Gentry Hall, Columbia, MO
65211 (zeidersk@missouri.edu).
∗T. Denny Sanford School of Social and FamilyDynamics,
Arizona State University,951 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ
85287.
∗∗Department of Human Development and Family Studies,
Pennsylvania State University,119 Health and Human
Development Bldg., University Park, PA 16802.
This article was edited by Robert Crosnoe.
Key Words: culture, depression, family processes, Latinos,
values.
depressive symptoms when maternal acceptance
was low. Findings highlight family dynamics as
the mechanisms through which familism values
have implications for youths’ adjustment.
Familism values have attracted the attention of
family and developmental scholars who study
how cultural values, beliefs, and behaviors
inuence youths’ adjustment (Gonzales, Ger-
mán, & Fabrett, 2012; Szapocznik, Kurtines,
Sanstisteban, & Rio, 1990). Familism refers
to individuals’ identication with and attach-
ment to family, and it is characterized by a
sense of responsibility, loyalty, and solidar-
ity among family members (Sabogal, Marín,
Otero-Sabogal, Marín, & Perez-Stable, 1987).
Among Latinos, familism is a core cultural
value, with research documenting that Latino
youth and adults display higher levels of famil-
ism values than their European American
counterparts do (Hardway & Fuligni, 2006;
Sabogal et al., 1987; Telzer & Fuligni, 2009).
Familism values are theorized to promote posi-
tive development and protect Latino youth from
risk during adolescence (Gonzales et al., 2012):
Higher familism values predict lower levels
of externalizing and internalizing symptoms
among Latino youth (Gonzales et al., 2011;
Zeiders et al., 2013), and in some instances,
they protect youth from risky contexts (Germán,
Gonzales, & Dumka, 2009). We know little,
however, about the mechanisms that underlie
the protective effects of familism values.
Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (February 2016): 91–106 91
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12248
92 Journal of Marriage and Family
Guided by the developmental niche frame-
work (Super & Harkness, 1986), ethnic social-
ization theories (Knight, Bernal, Garza, Cota, &
Ocampo, 1993; Umaña-Taylor,Alfaro, Bámaca,
& Guimond, 2009), and cultural theorizing on
the behavioral aspects of familism values in
Latino families (Calzada, Tamis-LeMonda, &
Yoshikawa, 2012; Gonzales et al., 2012), the
current study examined how parents’ familism
values were linked to youths’ familism val-
ues and family time and, in turn, to youths’
adjustment in young adulthood. Specically,
we followed families across an 8-year period
to test whether mothers’ and fathers’ familism
values (and the interaction of their values), mea-
sured when offspring were in early adolescence,
predicted youths’ familism values in middle
adolescence and, in turn, the proportion of
time youth spent in shared activities with family
members in late adolescence. Family time in late
adolescence was then linked to youths’ depres-
sive symptoms in young adulthood. We focused
on the largest national-origin group within
the U.S. Latino population, Mexican-origin
youth (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014), and tested
these processes during a developmental period
in which youths’ cultural values are salient
(Knight, Jacobson, Gonzales, Roosa, & Saenz,
2009), youths’ family involvement declines
(Larson, Richards, Moneta, Holmbeck, &
Duckett, 1996), and youths’ depressive symp-
toms increase (Zahn-Waxler, Shirtcliff, &
Marceau, 2008). Further, we investigated famil-
ism values of multiple family members (i.e.,
mothers, fathers, adolescents) to understand
the unique contributions of members’ values to
family and developmental processes.
B
Parents’ Familism Values, Youths’ Familism
Values, and Family Time
Our ideas about the links among parents’ famil-
ism values, youths’ familism values, and fam-
ily members’ time are informed by Super and
Harkness’s (1986) developmental niche frame-
work and theories of family ethnic socialization
(Knight et al., 1993; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2009).
A developmental niche refers to the immedi-
ate, culturally structured environment in which
socialization plays out and includes three com-
ponents: psychology of the parent,physical and
social setting, and cultural customs and interac-
tions. The psychology of the parent encompasses
parents’ cultural orientations or belief systems
and is theorized to drive parenting strategies,
both in the immediate context and across devel-
opment. The physical and social setting includes
the larger cultural contexts of youths’ daily lives.
Along with other socialization agents, parents
provide constraints and affordances within these
settings, on the basis of their socialization goals.
Cultural customs and interactions include behav-
iors and activities that parents and others enact,
including in their socialization efforts. These
three components work in tandem and dynam-
ically to inuence youth development (Super &
Harkness, 1986).
Extending this framework to study
Mexican-origin youths’ developmental niches
in the United States requires the consideration
of family ethnic socialization, or the processes
by which children acquire ethnic-salient values,
attitudes, and behaviors in their family context
(Knight et al., 1993, 2011). Parents are key
socializing agents for their children (Knight
et al., 1993; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2009), and the
socialization of values is particularly important
in adolescence, a developmental period char-
acterized by youths’ internalization of values
(Knight et al., 2009). In line with the develop-
mental niche framework, familism values, as a
component of parents’ psychology, may drive
parents to adopt particular parenting strategies
and structure the settings of their children’s
lives in particular ways. For example, parents’
familism values may encourage and structure
adolescents’ time in daily activities with family
members. However, given the salience of family
socialization of values during adolescence,
parents’ values may also have implications for
adolescents’ own values and in turn predict
adolescents’ time allocation. That is, parents’
emphasis on family may encourage youth to
endorse greater familism values in middle ado-
lescence, with the result that youth spend more
time with family during late adolescence.
Empirical work examining the behavioral
correlates of familism values suggests that
parents’ values may relate to the structuring
of their children’s activities and daily life. For
instance, qualitative work exploring Dominican-
and Mexican-origin mothers’ familism values
suggests that these mothers emphasize shared
daily activities among family members (Calzada
et al., 2012). Specically, mothers described the
importance of and preference for family mem-
bers to spend time together and their efforts to
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