Anxiety Symptomatology in Mexican-American Adolescents

Mexican-American adults and adolescents in general have been reported to have high levels of anxiety symptomatology. In our study of a tri-ethnic sample of 2528 junior and senior high school students, the Youth Self Report (YSR) version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and a sociodemographic q...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child and family studies 1999-03, Vol.8 (1), p.47-57
Main Authors: Glover, Saundra H., Pumariega, Andres J., Holzer, Charles E., Wise, Brian K., Rodriguez, Moises
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders
Children & youth
Cultural differences
Ethnic minorities
Family life
Grade 6
High School Students
Hispanic Americans
Mental stress
Mexican American people
Multiple Regression Analysis
Psychology
Regression analysis
Rural Schools
Socioeconomic Status
Symptoms
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Summary:Mexican-American adults and adolescents in general have been reported to have high levels of anxiety symptomatology. In our study of a tri-ethnic sample of 2528 junior and senior high school students, the Youth Self Report (YSR) version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and a sociodemographic questionnaire was used to assess the anxiety symptoms of Hispanic youth. We compared the ratings on anxiety symptoms, using Achenbach's anxiety subscale on the YSR, between two populations. The anxiety levels of youth in coastal southeast Texas (Galveston County) were compared to the anxiety levels of youth in the lower Rio Grande Valley. We found that Mexican-Americans of the Lower Rio Grande Valley scored higher on anxiety symptoms than the tri-ethnic population of Galveston County. Other factors associated with higher anxiety scores for Mexican-American youths included being born outside the US, linguistic fluency, father absent from the home, mother's education, and household size. Multiple regression analyses showed that socio-economic status (SES), family composition, and linguistic fluency had a greater relative impact on anxiety symptomatology than all other factors, both for the total sample as well as for the Mexican-American sample. These results parallel previous findings, with Mexican-American adults, which suggest either higher risk for anxiety symptomatology or a culturally related bias in the reporting of such symptoms.
ISSN:1062-1024
1573-2843
DOI:10.1023/A:1022994510944