Citation

Gudiño OG, Nadeem E, Kataoka SH, Lau AS. J. Community Psychol. 2011; 39(3): 316-335.

Affiliation

University of California, Los Angeles.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jcop.20435

PMID

24465062

Abstract

Latino youth in a low-income urban community are at high risk of exposure to violence. Given an accumulation of factors before, during, and following migration, immigrant youth may be at increased risk of exposure to violence and other relevant stressors (e.g., acculturation stress, language proficiency, acculturation/enculturation, and parental separations). Utilizing a short-term longitudinal design, we assessed exposure to violence and immigrant stressors and examined their relative impact on psychopathology in a sample of 164 Latino youth. Immigrant youth reported greater exposure to immigrant stressors relative to native-born peers, but few differences in rates of exposure to violence emerged. When considered alongside relevant immigration stressors, exposure to violence emerged as the strongest predictor of youth psychopathology. Results suggest that some types of stressors have more consistently deleterious effects on mental health and understanding resilient outcomes may entail considering the meaning attributed to stressors and the resources available to cope with stressors.

Language: en