Dimensions of Acculturative Stress and Mexican American Emerging Adults Prosocial Behaviors

Presentation made at Latinos in the Heartland (12th : 2014 : St. Louis, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedingStressful experiences are demanding and can weaken coping mechanisms and lead to maladjustment (Conger et al., 1993; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Mexican Americans face unique forms of stressors, including acculturative stress. Acculturative stress is defined as demands placed on the individual that result from adapting to a new culture (Alegria & Woo, 2009). Acculturative stress is multidimensional and can be conceptualized in different ways. Language is a salient component of everyday life and may contribute to acculturative stress among Mexican Americans. Specifically, language can be potentially stressful for emerging adults who speak English as a second language and have difficulty communicating with others. Additionally, emerging adults may feel that they have access to fewer opportunities than their European American peers because of their ethnicity. Emerging adults who believe that society excludes them based on their ethnicity may experience environmental stress, another dimension of acculturative stress. Acculturative stress has been linked to a variety of behavioral outcomes, including prosocial behaviors, which are positive actions intended to benefit others. Prior research has demonstrated that acculturative stress is positively associated with specific forms of prosocial behaviors but is negatively associated with other forms (McGinley et al., 2010). Furthermore, while researchers have examined different components of acculturative stress, it is unclear if these dimensions differentially impact different types of prosocial behaviors. The current study examined the relations between two dimensions of acculturative stress (language stress and environmental stress) and Mexican American emerging adults' prosocial behaviors (dire, emotional, compliant, altruistic, anonymous, and public). Data was collected from Mexican American emerging adults in California and Texas. Participants were Mexican American college students (mean age=23.05 years, range 18-30 years; 66.9% female). Participants completed measures of their acculturative stress (Social, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale; Mena, Padilla, & Maldonado, 1987). For the current study, the existing environmental stress subscale (10 items; alpha=.85) was used to assess stress associated with perceptions of limited opportunities and social exclusion. A language stress subscale (3 items; alpha=.73) was created to assess stress associated with communication. Regressions were conducted to examine the associations among language and environmental stress and six types of prosocial behaviors. The results demonstrated that language stress positively predicted anonymous prosocial behaviors and negatively predicted altruistic prosocial behaviors. Environmental stress positively predicted emotional, dire, compliant, and anonymous prosocial behaviors and negatively predicted altruistic prosocial behaviors. Discussion will focus on the differential relations among language stress, environmental stress and specific prosocial behaviors and the implications of these findings for measurement and future research

Parental Experiences of Adolescent Cancer-Related Pain:A Qualitative Study

OBJECTIVE: Despite advancing medical treatments, pain remains a significant outcome of adolescent cancer, as both a problematic and distressing symptom. With adolescents spending substantial periods of time at home during cancer treatment, parents perceive themselves as central to the experience and management of adolescents’ pain. The present study aimed to explore parental experiences of adolescent cancer-related pain during, and recently after, completing cancer treatment. METHODS: We interviewed 21 parents of adolescents (aged 12–18 years) with cancer, recruited through a hospital in South West England. Interviews were analyzed using reflexive inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Two themes were generated. The first theme, “Parental perceptions of being at the heart of pain management,” focused on the role of parents in adolescents’ pain journeys, and the vast knowledge they gained. The second, “Adapting and readjusting expectations,” captured parents’ journeys in learning to adjust their lives according to adolescents’ pain and difficulties they faced throughout this process. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlighted parents’ crucial role throughout adolescents’ pain experiences; learning how to manage adolescents’ pain, and supporting them with the detrimental impact on their lives. The findings emphasize the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to supporting families to manage pain. They also indicate a need for targeted research studies investigating parental experiences of adolescent cancer-related pain. This will help professionals understand how best to support parents and adolescents throughout the cancer journey and ultimately improve the physical and psychological outcomes of young people in the longer term

Explaining the Relations Between Acculturative Stress and Prosocial Behaviors in Latino Youth from the Midwest

Presentation made at Latinos in the Heartland (13th : 2015 : Columbia, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedings.Stressful experiences may weaken coping mechanisms, lead to maladjustment in adolescents (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), and may also influence adolescents' relationships with their peers. Latino adolescents face unique forms of stress associated with their cultural orientation. One form of cultural stress that is salient to many Latino adolescents is acculturative stress. Acculturative stress is defined as stress that results from adapting to a new culture (Alegria & Woo, 2009). One specific behavioral outcome of acculturative stress is prosocial behaviors (i.e., actions intended to benefit another; Carlo & Randall, 2002). Acculturative stress may influence psychological processes that in turn influence the adolescents' social relationships. Specifically, adolescents who are experiencing acculturative stress may begin to feel more depressive symptoms and may gravitate towards more deviant peers. In previous research, acculturative stress has been positively linked with depressive symptoms in Latino adolescents (Crockett et al., 2007). Research has also shown that Latino adolescents become more at risk for deviant peer affiliation as they become more acculturated (Samaniego & Gonzales, 1999). This may be in part due to the increased pressure adolescents experience to engage in mainstream culture and distance themselves from their traditional cultures. There is also supportive evidence for the notion that deviant peer affiliation may have detrimental consequences for adolescents' social behaviors (see Carlo et al., 1999). In an effort to extend previous research, the current study examines how acculturative stress influences Latino adolescents' prosocial behaviors directly and indirectly via depressive symptoms and deviant peer affiliation. The current study uses data from the larger NSF funded Latino Youth Care Project. Participants include 89 Latino adolescents from Nebraska (mean age = 15.24 years; range = 14-18 years; 68.4% female). Participants completed measures of their acculturative stress (Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Inventory; Rodriguez et al., 2002), depressive symptoms (CES-D; Radloff, 1977), deviant peer affiliation (Dishion et al., 1991), and their tendencies to engage in three common types of prosocial behaviors (Prosocial Tendencies Measure-Revised; Carlo et al., 2003). The results demonstrated that acculturative stress was directly, negatively associated with public and anonymous prosocial behaviors. Acculturative stress was also positively associated with depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms, in turn, were positively associated with deviant peer affiliations. Deviant peer affiliations were not significantly associated with prosocial behaviors. There were marginal, negative effects, however, between deviant peer affiliations and compliant and anonymous prosocial behaviors. The discussion focuses on the influence of acculturative stress on prosocial behaviors via depressive symptoms and deviant peer affiliation and the impact of these results on future research and practice

The Role of Mothers and Fathers in Predicting Adolescents\u27 Peer Affiliation and Behavioral Adjustment

The current study aimed to examine the associations between parental warmth and control and adolescents’ social behaviors (altruistic and public prosocial behaviors, aggression, and delinquency) in a low-income, Midwestern sample. The study also aimed to examine how peer relationships may play an indirect role in these associations. The results demonstrated complex links between parenting dimensions and adolescents\u27 peer affiliation and social behaviors. Specifically, maternal and paternal warmth were predictive of peer affiliation, which in turn predicted adolescents\u27 prosocial behaviors as well as negative social behaviors. There were also direct links between maternal and paternal parenting dimensions and social behaviors, highlighting the role of both mothers and fathers in adolescents’ socialization. The discussion focuses on the complex links between parental behaviors, peer relationships, and social behaviors. Additionally, the present study illustrates the differential role of mothers and fathers in adolescents\u27 social relationships, as well as sociobehavioral outcomes

The mental health and well-being profile of young adults using social media

The relationship between mental health and social media has received significant research and policy attention. However, there is little population-representative data about who social media users are which limits understanding of confounding factors between mental health and social media. Here we profile users of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children population cohort (N = 4083). We provide estimates of demographics and mental health and well-being outcomes by platform. We find that users of different platforms and frequencies are not homogeneous. User groups differ primarily by sex and YouTube users are the most likely to have poorer mental health outcomes. Instagram and Snapchat users tend to have higher well-being than the other social media sites considered. Relationships between use-frequency and well-being differ depending on the specific well-being construct measured. The reproducibility of future research may be improved by stratifying by sex and being specific about the well-being constructs used

What are the long-term holistic health consequences of COVID-19 among survivors? An umbrella systematic review.

Many people who have survived COVID-19 have experienced negative persistent impacts on health. Impacts on health have included persistent respiratory symptoms, decreased quality of life, fatigue, impaired functional capacity, memory deficits, psychological impacts, and difficulties in returning to paid employment. Evidence is yet to be pooled to inform future directions in research and practice, to determine the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual impacts of the illness which extend beyond the acute phase of COVID-19 survivors. This umbrella review (review of systematic reviews) critically synthesized physical (including abnormal laboratory parameters), psychological, social, and spiritual impacts which extended beyond the acute phase of COVID-19 survivors. The search strategy was based on the sample, phenomena of interest, design, evaluation, research model and all publications were double screened independently by four review authors for the eligibility criteria. Data extraction and quality assessment were conducted in parallel independently. Eighteen systematic reviews were included, which represented a total of 493 publications. Sample sizes ranged from n = 15 to n = 44 799 with a total of n = 295 455 participants. There was incomplete reporting of several significant data points including the description of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variant, COVID-19 treatments, and key clinical and demographic data. A number of physical, psychological, and social impacts were identified for individuals grappling with post-COVID condition. The long term sequalae of acute COVID-19 and size of the problem is only beginning to emerge. Further investigation is needed to ensure that those affected by post-COVID condition have their informational, spiritual, psychological, social, and physical needs met in the future