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Updated: Oct 27, 2025

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Implications of Mexican-origin youth's work experiences for relationships with fathers
Xiaoran Sun1, Susan M McHale2, Kimberly A Updegraff3
1Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Stanford University.
Objective:
To illuminate family implications of youth's work, we examined longitudinal links between the work experiences of Mexican-origin youth in late adolescence and young adulthood and father-youth relationships.
Method:
Using data from 187 Mexican-origin youth and their employed fathers, we tested youth's (52.4% female; Mage = 19.64, SD = 1.78) work hours and workplace discrimination as predictors of paternal acceptance two years later (Time 1 paternal acceptance controlled), and tested moderation by youth gender and maternal employment.
Results:
Multivariate multilevel models revealed a curvilinear association between youth workplace discrimination and father-reported acceptance. Moderation effects of youth gender and mother employment in linear links between youth work experiences and youth-reported acceptance also emerged. Work hours were stronger negative predictors of paternal acceptance for sons than daughters and youth with employed compared to nonemployed mothers. Workplace discrimination was a positive predictor of paternal acceptance of daughters but not sons.
Conclusions:
Findings highlight complex patterns in links between youth's work and family relationships, an understudied area. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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