Child-experienced discrimination and parent mental health in Latino families

Latino children disproportionately experience racial/ethnic discrimination and parent-experienced discrimination has been shown to be related to child mental health among Latinos. However, limited research has examined the association of child-experienced racial/ethnic discrimination with parent anxiety and depression symptoms among Latino families.

We used cross-sectional data from the 2021-2023 National Health Interview Survey on 3243 dyads of Latino children (0-17 years of age) and their parents (18-65 years of age). Parents were asked whether their child had ever been treated or judged unfairly because of their race/ethnicity. Parents were also asked how frequently they felt anxious and depressed. Path analyses using maximum likelihood estimation were used to estimate associations of parent-reported child racial/ethnic discrimination with parent anxiety and depression overall and by nativity.

In adjusted models, child-experienced discrimination was associated with higher parental anxiety (b = 0.73, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (b = 0.64, p < .001). Additionally, among foreign-born parents, child-experienced discrimination was associated with higher levels of anxiety (b = 0.70, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (b = 0.62, p < .001). However, in U.S.-born parents, child-experienced discrimination was only associated with depressive symptoms (b = 0.36, p < .05).

Child-experienced racial/ethnic discrimination, reported by parents, is associated with more depressive symptoms among U.S.-born and foreign-born Latino parents, while associated with higher anxiety symptoms only among foreign-born Latino parents. Findings demonstrate the need to facilitate mental health support for Latino parents of children experiencing discrimination and their children to improve family well-being.