This proposal seeks 5 years of continued support for a longitudinal study of processes that contribute to the high levels of psychopathology experienced by Mexican American youth. Consistent with priorities in the NIMH Strategic Plan (2008), this study is designed to (1) chart mental illness trajectories of Mexican American youth, (2) increase our capacity to predict who in this population is at risk for mental illness by identifying individual, environmental, and social factors that contribute to both risk and resilience processes, (3) identify contributors to the mental health disparities experienced by Mexican Americans, and (4) provide a scientific foundation for the design of the next generation of preventive interventions for this population. Beginning with a diverse sample of 750 Mexican American families, this study tests hypotheses regarding how interactions of individuals'cultural orientations with characteristics of family, community, peer, and school contexts contribute to the mental health burden of this population. A unique aspect of this study is the assessment of cultural orientation (i.e., degree of endorsement of traditional Mexican cultural values and degree of endorsement of U.S. cultural values) of children and parents as well as the degree to which communities and schools support these cultural traditions. Children and their parents were assessed initially when children were in 5th and 7th grades. Results supported the specific aims: (1) changes in children's and parents'cultural orientations are related to greater risk for mental health disorders;(2) family characteristics, such as parent-child conflict, mediate the relation between cultural orientation mismatches and children's psychopathology;and (3) child and parent cultural orientations buffer relations between common risk factors (e.g., economic hardship) and children's mental health. The proposed continuation will assess this sample of children and their parents as youth experience the rapid developmental changes of middle adolescence (grades 10 and 12) when rates of psychopathology accelerate.
The specific aims remain: (1) cultural mismatches between children and family, community, and school contexts will be related to risk for psychopathology;(2) family and peer group processes will mediate relations between cultural mismatches and psychopathology;and (3) cultural orientations of children and their parents will moderate relations between risk factors and psychopathology. Longitudinal tests of these aims will provide a strong foundation for the next generation of prevention programs to reduce mental health disparities for Mexican Americans.

Public Health Relevance

This longitudinal study of 750 Mexican American adolescents and their parents is important from a public health standpoint because of the mental health disparities Mexican American adolescents experience, and the limited knowledge about factors that contribute to these disparities. This study is designed to (1) chart mental illness trajectories of Mexican American youth, (2) increase our capacity to predict who in this population is at risk for mental illness by identifying individual, environmental, and social factors that contribute to both risk and resilience processes, (3) identify contributors to the mental health disparities experienced by Mexican Americans, and (4) provide a firm scientific foundation for the design of the next generation of preventive interventions for this population in order to reduce the individual, family, and societal burden of psychopathology within this population.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH068920-07
Application #
7880755
Study Section
Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section (PDRP)
Program Officer
Zehr, Julia L
Project Start
2003-07-01
Project End
2014-04-30
Budget Start
2010-05-01
Budget End
2011-04-30
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$668,237
Indirect Cost
Name
Arizona State University-Tempe Campus
Department
Social Sciences
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
943360412
City
Tempe
State
AZ
Country
United States
Zip Code
85287
Safa, M Dalal; White, Rebecca M B; Mahrer, Nicole E et al. (2018) U.S. Mexican-origin adolescents' bicultural competence and mental health in context. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol :
Carlo, Gustavo; White, Rebecca M B; Streit, Cara et al. (2018) Longitudinal Relations Among Parenting Styles, Prosocial Behaviors, and Academic Outcomes in U.S. Mexican Adolescents. Child Dev 89:577-592
Knight, George P; Mazza, Gina L; Carlo, Gustavo (2018) Trajectories of familism values and the prosocial tendencies of Mexican American adolescents. Dev Psychol 54:378-384
White, Rebecca M B; Knight, George P; Jensen, Michaeline et al. (2018) Ethnic Socialization in Neighborhood Contexts: Implications for Ethnic Attitude and Identity Development Among Mexican-Origin Adolescents. Child Dev 89:1004-1021
Jenchura, Emily C; Gonzales, Nancy A; Tein, Jenn-Yun et al. (2017) Gender and the Interplay of Source of Support and Peer Social Rejection on Internalizing Among Mexican American Youth. J Youth Adolesc 46:787-800
Liu, Yu; Millsap, Roger E; West, Stephen G et al. (2017) Testing measurement invariance in longitudinal data with ordered-categorical measures. Psychol Methods 22:486-506
Knight, George P; Carlo, Gustavo; Streit, Cara et al. (2017) A Model of Maternal and Paternal Ethnic Socialization of Mexican-American Adolescents' Self-Views. Child Dev 88:1885-1896
Zeiders, Katharine H (2017) Discrimination, daily stress, sleep, and Mexican-origin adolescents' internalizing symptoms. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol 23:570-575
Gonzales, Nancy A; Liu, Yu; Jensen, Michaeline et al. (2017) Externalizing and internalizing pathways to Mexican American adolescents' risk taking. Dev Psychopathol 29:1371-1390
Carlo, Gustavo; Basilio, Camille D; Knight, George P (2016) The Associations of Biculturalism to Prosocial Tendencies and Positive Self Evaluations. J Lat Psychol 4:189-201

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