Mental Health, Minority Stressors, and Resilience Factors Among Early Adolescent Immigrant Youth

Immigrant youth comprise a large population in the United States, yet there are limited studies characterizing mental health and unique individual-level risk and protective factors in early adolescent immigrants. Previous studies revealed variable associations between immigration and psychopathology. This study aimed to characterize minority stressors, protective factors, and mental health among adolescent immigrants.

Data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) Study (N = 10,310, mean age = 12.9 years, 52.3% boys) were analyzed, including 227 first-generation immigrant youth (G1, foreign-born), 1,033 second-generation immigrant youth (G2, US-born, both parents born outside United States), 489 third-generation immigrant youth (G3, youth and parents US-born, ≥2 grandparents born outside United States), and 8,561 nonimmigrant youth as controls. Exposure to immigration-related risk and protective factors was compared, with linear mixed-effects models used to test associations between immigration and its related risk and protective factors (independent variables) with self-reported psychopathology (dependent variable), adjusting for demographics.

Compared with nonimmigrant youth, G1 and G2 youth experienced more immigration-related stressors (discrimination against country of origin, internalized rejection by Americans) and identified less with American culture, yet showed no differences in psychopathology. G1 and G2 youth reported greater identification with their heritage culture, which was associated with less psychopathology. G3 youth were overall similar to controls in all measures. Findings were generally consistent across racial and ethnic groups and when using parent-report psychopathology.

Early adolescent first- and second-generation immigrants have resilient mental health despite greater exposure to minority stressors. Findings suggest that strong heritage and American cultural identity may be key resilience factors among US immigrant youth.

Immigrant youth make up a large and growing group in the United States. This study examined mental health, stressors, and protective factors among immigrant and nonimmigrant youth. The authors analyzed data from over ten thousand 12- to 13-year-olds across the US, including first-, second-, and third-generation immigrant youth. First- and second-generation immigrant youth experienced more discrimination and felt less accepted as Americans, but they did not report more mental health problems than nonimmigrant youth. Youth who felt more connected to their family's culture reported fewer mental health symptoms. These findings suggest that cultural identity may help protect immigrant youth's mental health and could inform future prevention and support efforts.

Immigration and Health Outcomes; https://osf.io/chy7u/?view_only=d9808095617c4302a28fb6834ddc7077.