Ethnic Identity in Latino Adolescents: Intervention Implications for Mental Health

Adolescence is recognized as an active period for ethnic identity development.  Researchers have generally found that individuals who feel more positively about their ethnic identity (i.e., affirmation) and know what their ethnicity means to them (i.e., resolution) fare better across a host of psychological outcomes (Rivas-Drake et al., in press; Umaña-Taylor & Updegraff, 2007).  Research on exploration of one’s ethnic identity is less conclusive, with evidence suggesting that exploration is linked to both positive (Umaña-Taylor & Updegraff, 2007) and negative (Schwartz et al., 2008) outcomes.  The bulk of this research, however, has been cross-sectional, and few studies have examined the intersection of different dimensions of ethnic identity and how this interface is linked with adjustment. The current study addresses these limitations by using a rigorous longitudinal, within-person, lagged data analytic approach to examine how exploration, resolution, and affirmation directly inform, and interact to inform, future depressive symptoms among Latino youth. Gender and nativity were also examined as moderators.

The sample included 323 Latino adolescents (Female=160, M_age at W1=15.31, SD_age=.76; 77% Mexican-origin) from a four-year longitudinal study. Most youth (72%) were U.S.-born. Within-person time-lagged modeling was used to examine the relationships between ethnic identity affirmation, exploration, and resolution (W1,W2, W3) and future depressive symptoms (W2, W3, W4) in a multilevel modeling framework.

Main effects indicated that affirmation and resolution negatively predicted depressive symptoms, and exploration positively predicted depressive symptoms.  Furthermore, two significant interactions emerged: First, higher affirmation was more strongly related to decreased depressive symptoms in the context of high exploration (b = -.59, p < .001) relative to low exploration (b = -.43, p < .001).  Second, there was an interaction between exploration, resolution, and nativity status such that, for U.S.-born youth only, higher resolution was more strongly related to decreased depressive symptoms in the context of high exploration (b = -.45, p < .001) relative to low exploration (b = -.31, p < .001).

Consistent with an Eriksonian (1968) framework, ethnic identity affirmation and resolution have positive implications for mental health when youth have arrived at this identity via a process of exploration. Furthermore, these findings implicate ethnic identity as a target for intervention to promote positive mental health outcomes for Latino adolescents.  Implications for translating these findings into an intervention framework (i.e., Type I translational research) that focuses on ethnic identity components as mechanisms for change will be presented.