Protective Factors of the Longitudinal Association Between Discrimination and Mental Health Among Mexican-Origin...

The negative effects of discrimination on mental health are well established. Few longitudinal studies have investigated protective factors that could mitigate these effects for youth of Mexican origin in the United States. This 3-wave longitudinal study examined individual-, family-, peer-, and neighborhood-level protective factors attenuating the effect of discrimination-related stress on youth depressive and anxiety symptoms.

A total of surveyed 344 Mexican-origin youths (ages 12-15) from 2 Midwestern counties were surveyed longitudinally over 3 annual waves. Youths completed self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and discrimination as well as 6 potential protective factors: perceived social position, parent-child relationship, peer relationships, perceived social support, school connectedness, and neighborhood collective efficacy. Multilevel models with time-varying variables were used to analyze the effect of the potential protective factors on the association between discrimination and depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Perceived social position, parent-child relationship, peer relationships, and perceived social support significantly attenuated the impact of racial discrimination on depressive symptoms at the between-youth level, but not at the within-youth level. No significant protective factors emerged for racial discrimination and anxiety symptoms at either the between-youth or the within-youth level. No cross-moderation effects were observed.

These results highlight the importance of self-perceived social position and support in combating the effects of discrimination on depressive symptoms in Mexican-origin youth. Most protective factors centered on interpersonal relationships with caregivers and peers. Findings indicate the need for a greater understanding of school connectedness and neighborhood collective efficacy as nonsignificant protective factors, taking into consideration that these perhaps continue to be discriminatory rather than supportive contexts.

Seguimos Avanzando-Latino Youth Coping With Discrimination; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04875208.

We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented sexual and/or gender groups in science. One or more of the authors of this paper received support from a program designed to increase minority representation in science. We actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our author group. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our reference list.