The Impact of Culture and Neighborhood Context on the Mental Health of Latino Youth

Latino youth are members of an ethnic group that shares similar values, customs, beliefs, and, often, the Spanish language, that serve as protective factors for some youth. The extent to which these factors are protective across neighborhood contexts has yet to be explored. The present study adds to the literature on contextual correlates of mental health symptomatology in Latino adolescents by examining individual cultural dimensions as protective factors, and environmental risk and protective factors through the lens of the person-environment fit theory (Caplan, 1987). Specifically, the person-environment fit theory is evaluated by proposing that the fit between a Latino youth’s cultural dimensions (affiliative obedience and Spanish language use) and their neighborhood’s Latino immigrant density influences the degree to which neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and violence are associated with Latino youths’ mental health. The present sample comprised 1,023 5th – 7th grade Latino students ranging in age from 12 to 15 years old (53.8% female) from three large metropolitan areas (Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles) in the United States. Multilevel modeling methods indicate that higher neighborhood SES and lower individual affiliative obedience are associated with higher youth externalizing and internalizing problems. Furthermore, neighborhood violence moderated the relationship between Spanish language use and internalizing problems, such that higher Spanish language use was associated with higher youth internalizing problems, but only in neighborhoods with higher levels of violence. Finally, higher individual affiliative obedience, combined with a higher neighborhood Latino immigrant density, protects against youth externalizing problems but only among those residing in higher SES neighborhoods. The results support the value of considering context beyond the individual and family levels, of applying a theoretical framework, and of including cultural variables to understand protective and ris

The role of culture in the somatic response of peer-victimized Latino youth

There is emerging evidence that Latino youth report a higher prevalence of somatic complaints than children from other ethnic groups. Although culture has been implicated to explain these somatization differences, few studies have investigated the extent to which cultural factors actually influence the way Latino youth respo0nd to stressful events. The present study employed the problem suppression-facilitation model to posit that a Latino cultural orientation plays a moderational role in the relationship between peer victimization and physical symptoms. The present sample consisted of 134 Latino youth ranging in age from 10 to 14 years old. Analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling(SEM) employing multiple indicators for cultural orientation variables and somatization, and a manifest variable for peer victimization. No evidence was found that the Latino cultural orientation variables were associated with the expression of somatic symptoms. However, additional analyses demonstrated that the Latino cultural orientation variables may have individual effects on the expression of somatic symptoms. The results demonstrate that when other components of culture, such as femilial factors, are examined, the influence of culture begins to emerge

Determination of the permeability parameters of bagasse pulp from two different sugar extraction methods

The permeability, the specific surface area and the swelling factor have been determined for Australian bagasse pulp derived from bagasse from two different sugar extraction processes. The sugar extraction process was not found to affect the permeability of the pulp. The results for bagasse pulp are compared to those of eucalypt pulp, which is widely used in Australia for paper manufacture. The fibre length distribution showed a high fraction of small fibres in all of the bagasse pulp samples. Surprisingly, the permeability properties of the bagasse pulp samples were better than that that of eucalypt. It is presumed that this is due to the relatively large fraction of longer fibres in the bagasse pulp compared to the eucalypt pulp