Profiles of School-Based Violence, Discrimination, Social Support, and School Climate: Links with Latino/a Youth Acculturation, Gender, Depressive Symptoms, and

Latino/a youth are at risk for symptoms of depression and cigarette smoking but this risk varies by acculturation and gender. To better understand why some youth are at greater risk than others for symptoms of depression and cigarette smoking, we identified four profiles of diverse community experiences (discrimination, bullying victimization, social support, school climate) and examined the association of profiles of community experience with depressive symptoms, cigarette smoking, acculturation and gender.

Data came from Project Red (Reteniendo y Entendiendo Diversidad para Salud), a school-based longitudinal study of acculturation among 1,919 Latino/a adolescents (52% female; 84% were 14 years old; 87% were U.S. born). Latent profile analysis (LPA) revealed four distinct profiles of community experience (i.e., discrimination, bullying victimization, social support, school climate), which varied by gender and acculturation. Boys were overrepresented in profile groups with high discrimination and lack of positive experiences (i.e., social support and positive school climate), while girls were overrepresented in groups with higher levels of bullying victimization experiences. Youth low on both U.S. and Latino/a cultural orientation reported high discrimination and lacking positive experiences (social support and positive school climate). Profiles characterized by high discrimination, high bullying victimization, and low social support had higher levels of depressive symptoms and showed higher risk for smoking, relative to the other groups.

Findings suggest that acculturation comes with diverse community experiences (i.e., discrimination, bullying victimization, social support, positive school climate) that vary by gender and relate to smoking and depression risk. Importantly, results pinpoint to important target areas (e.g., discrimination, bullying, social support, and school climate in the current study) for school- or community-based preventions and interventions. For example, helping Latino/a boys and girls identify ways to cope with discrimination and bullying could help protect them from depressive symptoms and smoking. Additionally, helping Latino/a youth identify and establish sources of social support could benefit their smoking and depression risk. Lastly, results indicate that Latino/a youth could also benefit from school-based policies that combat everyday discrimination and bullying victimization against Latino/a youth and that foster sources of support and a positive school climate for these youth.