Disentangling the Relations between Discrimination, Cultural Orientation, Social Support, and Coping in Mexican American Adolescents Megan O’Donnell Mark Roosa Arizona State University Background Conclusions Results Participants Discriminatory experiences in Mexican American (MA) adolescents have been linked to internalizing and externalizing mental health symptoms across several studies (e.g., Greene et al., 2006).Recent studies have begun examining protective processes that may lead Latino youth to become resilient despite being faced with discrimination. For example, Spanish language preference (Umana-Taylor & Updegraff, 2007), ethnic identity affirmation (Romero & Roberts, 2003), engagement coping (Edwards & Romero, 2008) were protective factors (i.e., moderators) that buffered the relation between discrimination and mental health in Latino adolescents, while ethnic values was a risk reducer (i.e., mediator) in the relation between discrimination and mental health in MA youth (Berkel et al., 2009). Further, a study on MA college students found that active coping and social support from family and friends buffered the relation between discrimination and mental health (Crocker et al., 2007). The current study utilized the Stress Process Model (Folkman & Lazarus, 1984) as a framework for examining MA cultural values, ethnic identity, social support, and active coping as both moderators and mediators in the relation between discrimination and mental health (i.e., a moderation and mediation model were both tested). A multivariate approach was utilized to examine which of these variables were either protective factors (i.e., moderators) and/or risk reducers (i.e., mediators), above and beyond the influence of each of the other variables. Delete me & place your LOGO in this area. Delete me & place your LOGO in this area. Specifically, the strongest positive relation between discrimination and internalizing symptoms occurred at low levels (z =.36, p <.00) compared to compared to moderate (z=.23, p <.00) and high levels of MA values (z=.14, p <.05) Similarly, the strongest positive relation between discrimination and internalizing symptoms occurred at low levels (z =.33, p <.00) compared to compared to moderate (z=.22, p <.00) and high levels of MA values (z=.11, p <.05) The multi-group analyses did not indicate differences in these relations based upon gender or nativity Mediation model: Mediation was tested using bias-corrected empirical bootstrap method recommended by MacKinnon, Lockwood, and Williams (2004) Fit statistics of finalized model: [χ 2 (13) =, p>.00; CFI =.56; RMSEA =.22; SRMR =.54 The model fit the data poorly and there were no significant mediation effects Measures MA values and social support were the only moderators with significant main effects in this multivariate model, suggesting that they may be influential variables in reducing internalizing and externalizing symptoms in MA youth (above and beyond active coping and ethnic identity). Future research should continue to examine how these variables may contribute to positive psychological adjustment in this population Further, MA values emerged as the only significant protective factor in curbing the negative implications of discrimination on mental health in MA adolescents (i.e., high MA values diminished the relation between discrimination and negative mental health symptoms). These multivariate findings support previous research suggesting the importance of examining the unique contribution of a specific coping strategy beyond the variance of other coping strategies rather than examining each of them in isolation (see Sandler, Tein, & West, 1994). The current study expanded on this by including social support and cultural variables, which have been moderators or mediators in previous research on discrimination and mental health in Latino youth Future studies should examine whether cultural variables, active coping, and social support are protective factors and/or risk reducers in the relation between other sources of acculturative stress (e.g., acculturation gap distress or language conflicts) and mental health in MA adolescents. Longitudinal designs should be used in future studies to assess directional relations between these variables, as well as to assess whether discrimination predicts variation in mental health over time. Lastly, social context (e.g., neighborhood ethnic composition) should be taken into consideration in future studies as these relations may vary across different contexts The two models were tested using Mplus (Muthen & Muthen, 2007). Time 1 Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were controlled for in the analyses across both models Moderation by gender and nativity was examined using multi- group modeling Moderation model: MA values, ethnic identity, social support, & active coping were examined as moderators between discrimination and mental health Interaction terms were created by calculating the product of the two standardized variables of interest using the product as a manifest variable (Tein et al., 2004) and significant interactions were probed using simple slope analysis (Aiken & West, 1991). Fit statistics of finalized model: [χ 2 (2) =, p>.00; CFI =.99; RMSEA =.01; SRMR =.02]. Direct effects: See Figure 1 Interaction effects: MA values was the only significant moderator (see 2 figures to the right). Significant simple slopes emerged at low, average, and high levels of MA values. Perceived discrimination A total score for perceived discrimination from teachers and peers (9 items, e.g., “How often have kids called you names because you are Mexican”) MA Cultural Values - 5 subscales: supportive and emotional familism (6 items, e.g., “Parents should teacher their children that family always comes first”), obligation familism (5 items, e.g., “if a relative is having a hard time financially, one should help them out if possible”), referent family (5 items, e.g., “A person should always think about their family when making important decisions”), respect (8 items, e.g., “children should always be polite when speaking to an adult”), and religiosity (7 items, e.g., “Parents should teach their children to pray”) Ethnic identity – 2 subscales: exploration (7 items, e.g., “You have participated in activities that taught you about your background”) and resolution (4 items, e.g., “You have a clear sense of what your background means to you”) Active Coping - 12 items, e.g., “You told yourself that things would get better” Perceived Support – 3 subscales: family (4items, e.g., Your family really tries to help you”), relatives (4 items, e.g., “You can count on your relatives when things go wrong”), friends (4 items, e.g., “You have friends with whom you can share your joys and sorrows”) Internalizing & Externalizing Symptoms - Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV), using the adolescent reported total symptom count for both internalizing and externalizing behaviors Discrimination (centered) Internalizing Symptoms There were 750 families interviewed at Wave 1 and 711 at Wave 2 (only wave 2 data was used for current study since ethnic identity was not collected at Wave 1). All variables in the current study were assessed at the adolescent level, however, both adolescent and parent characteristics are provided below: Adolescent Characteristics: 711 MA adolescents 48.7% female48.7% female Mean age = 12.4Mean age = % U.S. born Parent Characteristics: 74.7% 2 parent families Average family income of $30,000-35,000 Mean age of mothers & fathers was 37.9 and 40.1 Mean years of education for mothers & fathers was 10.3 and 10.1 Most mothers (74%) and fathers (80%) were born in Mexico Perceived Discrimination Externalizing symptoms Internalizing symptoms Externalizing symptoms MA values Social support Active coping MA values.23***.22***.30***.36*** -.14** -.10* -.12* -.10* -.13* Ethnic Identity Figure 1. Standardized path coefficients for main effects and interaction terms Externalizing Symptoms