Acculturation-Related Stress and Mental Health Outcomes Among Three Generations of Hispanic Adolescents

Stress associated with acculturation and minority status among Hispanic youth is understudied. Using survey data from the Hispanic Stress Inventory–Adolescent Version (HSI-A), we examined psychosocial stress across eight domains including family economic stress and acculturation-gap stress in a nati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hispanic journal of behavioral sciences 2013-11, Vol.35 (4), p.451-468
Main Authors: Cervantes, Richard C., Padilla, Amado M., Napper, Lucy E., Goldbach, Jeremy T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acculturation
Adolescents
Children & youth
Discrimination
Financial Problems
Hispanic Americans
Hispanic people
Measures (Individuals)
Mental Disorders
Mental Health
Minority Groups
Noncitizens
Racial Discrimination
Stress
Stress Variables
Surveys
Symptoms
Symptoms (Individual Disorders)
Values
Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Stress associated with acculturation and minority status among Hispanic youth is understudied. Using survey data from the Hispanic Stress Inventory–Adolescent Version (HSI-A), we examined psychosocial stress across eight domains including family economic stress and acculturation-gap stress in a national sample of three generations (first, second, and third or higher) of Hispanic adolescents (N = 1,263). Research questions addressed generation differences in frequency of stressor events (i.e., discrimination), appraisal of these events, and mental health symptoms. Results indicated that experiences of different categories of stress were significantly related to generation status. The first generation reported more stressors and greater stress appraisal than the third-generation adolescents. Similar levels of discrimination stress were reported by participants regardless of generation. The second-generation participants reported a greater number of Acculturation Gap Stressors than the third generation, and more delinquent and aggressor behaviors than first-generation participants. An acculturation paradox was found with greater stress exposure and stress appraisals in the first-generation youth, but with lower mental health symptoms than later generations. Family integrity and more traditional family values may buffer the negative impact of greater stressor exposure among immigrants and second-generation youth when compared with third-generation adolescents.
ISSN:0739-9863
1552-6364
DOI:10.1177/0739986313500924