The Epidemic of Internalizing Problems Among Latinx Adolescents Before and During the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

Polo, Antonio J.; Solano-Martinez, Jesus; Saldaña, Laura; Ramos, Amber D; Herrera, Miguel F.; Ullrich, Taylor; DeMario, Milena

doi:10.1080/15374416.2023.2169925

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Limited research has elucidated the impact of COVID-19 for Latine youth specifically, and especially those in rural areas. However, some researchers reported that Latine adolescents had higher depression, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety symptoms than non-Latine youth (Kuhlman et al, 2023;Polo et al, 2023;Stein et al, 2023; for an exception, see Penner et al, 2021, who found that Latine youth with existing mental health problems had reductions in symptoms across the pandemic). Specific COVID-19 family stressors in Latine families were related to youths' poor mental health (Carlos Chavez et al, 2023;Kuhlman et al, 2023;Stein et al, 2023).…”

Section: Mental Health In Latine Adolescents During the Covid-19 Pand...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID‐19 on mental health and well‐being of Latine youth from rural and agricultural families in the Midwest

Taylor,

Carrizales,

Carlo

et al. 2024

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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The COVID‐19 pandemic had significant health and socioeconomic repercussions for Latine immigrant families and their children due to long‐standing social, economic, and immigration‐related inequities, with rural families particularly vulnerable. In particular, the mental health and well‐being of Latine youth may have been detrimentally impacted due to disproportionate family stressors and burdens. In the present study, we examined the effect of parent and youth COVID‐19 pandemic stress on youth mental health, and in turn, on youth well‐being using quantitative and qualitative data. Participants were Latine youth in rural and agricultural families in the US Midwest (N = 210, Mage = 12.10 years, 52.4% male, 36.2% first‐generation immigrants) and a primary caregiver (86.5% mothers, 92.7% first‐generation immigrant, mean income = 25‐30 K) as well as n = 19 dyadic qualitative interviews. Quantitative analyses revealed that both youth and primary caregiver COVID‐19 stressors were associated with youth mental health problems, and indirectly impacted five domains of youth well‐being (engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness). Qualitative findings provided insights into how the COVID‐19 pandemic increased stress for mothers and children (e.g., job loss and economic hardship, COVID‐19 infection, online education challenges). The study demonstrates how the environmental context of the COVID‐19 pandemic shaped the individual and family‐level functioning of Latine immigrant families during this uniquely challenging time period.

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Section: Mental Health In Latine Adolescents During the Covid-19 Pand...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID‐19 on mental health and well‐being of Latine youth from rural and agricultural families in the Midwest

Taylor,

Carrizales,

Carlo

et al. 2024

Community & Applied Soc Psy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Sixth, our data were collected from families following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the pandemic youth was not explored. Notably, in the years following the pandemic Latinx youth demonstrated disproportionate increases in internalizing symptoms compared to other ethnic groups, especially among Mexicanorigin youth (Polo et al, 2023), and recent work has highlighted the promotive role of family resilience, or the belief that the family is capable of overcoming, as a salient aspect of the family that is related to familism and has been associated with fewer youth internalizing symptoms following the pandemic (Stein et al, 2023). Finally, although it is a strength of the current study that we could include father reports alongside youth and maternal reports, we could not obtain father reports from some families.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family-level moderators of daily associations between discrimination and distress among Mexican-origin youth

Valentino,

Park,

Cruz-Gonzalez

et al. 2024

Dev Psychopathol

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The current study evaluated cultural values and family processes that may moderate associations between daily racial-ethnic discrimination and distress among Mexican-origin youth. Integrating micro-time (daily diary) and macro-time (longitudinal survey) research design features, we examined familism, family cohesion, and ethnic-racial socialization from youth-, mother-, and father- reports as potential buffers of daily associations between youth racial-ethnic discrimination and youth distress (negative affect and anger). The analytic sample, drawn from the Seguimos Avanzando study, included 317 Mexican-origin adolescents (Mage = 13.5 years) and their parents, recruited from the Midwestern United States. Results indicated that youth-reported familism and family cohesion significantly buffered daily associations between youth racial-ethnic discrimination and youth distress. In contrast, parent-reported familism and family cohesion and some aspects of ethnic-racial socialization exacerbated the discrimination to distress link. The implications of these results are discussed to inform efforts supporting the healthy development of Mexican-origin youth and their families.

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Ethnic–Racial Discrimination Exposure and Anxiety in Latina Girls: Amygdala Volume as an Indirect Neurobiological Pathway

Mullins,

Díaz,

Firat

et al. 2024

Köln Z Soziol

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Ethnic–racial discrimination, the differential treatment of individuals based on ethnic or racial group membership, predicts poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety. This is supported by long-standing theories on the social determinants of health and minority stress. However, these theories are rarely expanded to neurobiological sciences, limiting our understanding of mechanisms underlying observed associations. One potential neurobiological pathway between ethnic–racial discrimination exposure and anxiety is that ongoing exposure to racially charged encounters presents imminent threats that may modify stress-sensitive neurocircuitry, like the amygdala.The current study evaluated whether amygdala volume mediated associations between ethnic–racial discrimination exposure and anxiety symptoms in Latina girls, a group exhibiting heightened levels of untreated anxiety and disproportionately subjected to ethnic–racial discrimination.Thirty predominantly Mexican-identifying Latina girls residing in Southern California (MAge = 9.76, SD = 1.11 years) completed a T1-weighted structural MRI scan. Using the Perceptions of Racism in Children and Youth, participants self-reported the prevalence and severity of various discriminatory experiences. Participants also self-reported their anxiety symptoms via the Screen for Child Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders. Controlling for total intracranial volume and annual household income, an indirect effect of ethnic–racial discrimination on anxiety symptoms via left amygdala volume was observed, β = −0.28, SE = 0.17, BC 95% CI [−0.690, −0.017]. The current findings suggest that the left amygdala is sensitive to racialized threats in childhood and that stress-related alterations may, in part, contribute to elevated anxiety in Latina girls. Our data elucidate a potential mechanism by which this form of sociocultural stress can adversely impact mental health, particularly in the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence, a period marked by a host of interlinked neurophysiological and social changes.

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The Epidemic of Internalizing Problems Among Latinx Adolescents Before and During the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

Cited by 8 publications

References 79 publications

The impact of COVID‐19 on mental health and well‐being of Latine youth from rural and agricultural families in the Midwest

The impact of COVID‐19 on mental health and well‐being of Latine youth from rural and agricultural families in the Midwest

Family-level moderators of daily associations between discrimination and distress among Mexican-origin youth

Ethnic–Racial Discrimination Exposure and Anxiety in Latina Girls: Amygdala Volume as an Indirect Neurobiological Pathway

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