Longitudinal Effects of Latino Parent Cultural Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Family Functioning on Youth Emotional Well‐Being and Health Risk Behaviors

• Date: 01 December 2017
• Author: Daniel W. Soto,Andrea Romero,Byron L. Zamboanga,Sabrina E. Des Rosiers,Monica Pattarroyo,Lourdes Baezconde‐Garbanati,Alan Meca,Elma I. Lorenzo‐Blanco,Karina M. Lizzi,Brandy Piña‐Watson,Miguel Ángel Cano,Jennifer B. Unger,Juan A. Villamar,Seth J. Schwartz,José Szapocznik
• Published date: 01 December 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12258

Longitudinal Effects of Latino Parent Cultural Stress,

Depressive Symptoms, and Family Functioning on

Youth Emotional Well-Being and Health Risk

Behaviors

ELMA I. LORENZO-BLANCO*

ALAN MECA

†

JENNIFER B. UNGER

‡

ANDREA ROMERO

§

JOS



E SZAPOCZNIK

¶

BRANDY PI

~

NA-WATSON**

MIGUEL



ANGEL CANO

††

BYRON L. ZAMBOANGA

‡‡

LOURDES BAEZCONDE-GARBANATI

§§

SABRINA E. DES ROSIERS

¶¶

DANIEL W. SOTO

‡

JUAN A. VILLAMAR***

KARINA M. LIZZI

†††

MONICA PATTARROYO

‡

SETH J. SCHWARTZ

‡‡‡

U.S. Latino parents can face cultural stressors in the form of acculturative stress, per-

ceived discrimination, and a negative context of reception. It stands to reason that these

cultural stressors may negatively impact Latino youth’s emotional well-being and health

risk behaviors by increasing parents’ depressive symptoms and compromising the overall

functioning of the family. To test this possibility, we analyzed data from a six-wave longitu-

dinal study with 302 recently immigrated (<5 years in the United States ) Latino parents

(74% mothers, M

age

=41.09 years) and their adolescent children (47% female,

M

age

=14.51 years). Results of a cross-lagged analysis indicated that parent cultural

stress predicted greater parent depressive symptoms (and not vice versa). Both paren t

*Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

†

Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, FL.

‡

Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Keck School of Medicine, University of

Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

§

Family Studies and Human Development, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

¶

Department of Public Health Sciences, Miami Clinical & Translational Science Institute, Miami, FL.

**Counseling Psychology, Department of Psychological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.

††

Department of Epidemiology, Florida International University, Miami, FL.

‡‡

Department of Psychology, Smith College, Northampton, MA.

§§

Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los

Angeles, CA.

¶¶

Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Barry University, Miami Shores, FL.

***Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine,

Chicago, IL.

†††

InVentiv Health Clinical, Global Safety and Pharmacovigilance, Ann Arbor, MI.

‡‡‡

Department of Public Health Science, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco, Department of

Psychology, Barnwell College, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Dr., Columbia, SC 29208.

E-mail: lorenzob@mailbox.sc.edu.

981

Family Process, Vol. 56, No. 4, 2017 ©2016 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12258

cultural stress and depressive symptoms, in turn, predicted lower parent-reported family

functioning, which mediated the links from parent cultural stress and depressive symp-

toms to youth alcohol and cigarette use. Parent cultural stress also predicted lower youth-

reported family functioning, which mediated the link from parent cultural stress to youth

self-esteem. Finally, mediation analyses indicated that parent cultural stress predicted

youth alcohol use by a way of parent depressive symptoms and parent-report ed family func-

tioning. Our findings point to parent depressive symptoms and family functioning as key

mediators in the links from parent cultural stress to youth emotional well-being and health

risk behaviors. We discuss implications for research and preventive intervent ions.

Keywords: Latino Families; Cultural Stress; Family Stress; Emotional Well-Being; Health

Risk Behaviors

Fam Proc 56:981–996, 2017

Parental stress is a normative experience that requires parents to balance the demands

of their role as a parent (e.g., providing shelter and food) with their access to resources

(e.g., employment and financial resources; Deater-Deckard, 2004). Studies have docu-

mented the negative effects of parental stress on their children’s emotional and behavioral

well-being (Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010; Gassman-Pines, 2015; Leon, 2014; Tran,

2014). According to the Family Stress Model (FSM), parental stress may indirectly influ-

ence youth’s emotional and health risk behaviors by compromising the emotional well-

being of parents, their parenting behaviors, and family relationships (Conger et al., 2010).

Although many parents experience stress, Latino immigrant parents in the United

States may face additional cultural stressors caused by navigating multiple cultural con-

texts and belonging to an ethnic-minority and stigmatized group (Conger et al., 2011;

Tran, 2014). Parents’ cultural stressors may negatively affect the emotional and behav-

ioral well-being of Latino adolescents through parents’ emotional distress, which may

impact parents’ relationships with and guidance toward their adolescents (Conger et al.,

2010).

Understanding the factors that contribute to Latino youths’ emotional and behavioral

well-being is critical given that, compared with non-Latino White and Black youth, Latino

youth are at elevated risk for symptoms of depression, suicide attempts (CDC, 2014),

cigarette smoking, alcohol use (Johnston, O’Malley, Miech, Bachman, & Schu lenberg,

2015), and aggressive and delinquent behavior (Gibson & Miller, 2010). Informed by the

FSM and the cultural stress literature, we investigate the impact of Latino parents’ cul-

tural stress on youth’s emotional well-being and health risk behaviors, as mediated by

parents’ depressive symptoms and family functioning in the form of parenting and family

cohesion.

Parent Cultural Stress, Parent Depressive Symptoms, and Family Functioning

Cultural stress represents a constellation of multiple factors that contribute to the

stress experience of Latinos, including acculturative stress, perceived discriminat ion, and

a negative context of reception (Schwartz et al., 2015). Acculturative stress represents the

pressure to learn a new language, to maintain one’s native language, to balance differing

cultural values, and to broker between American and Latino ways of behaving (Torres,

Driscoll, & Voell, 2012). Discrimination refers to perceived experiences of unfair or differ-

ential treatment, such as receiving poor service in restaurants or being treated unfairly

for having an accent (P

erez, Fortuna, & Alegr

ıa, 2008). Perceived negative context of

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