Longitudinal Associations Between Negative Contextual Experiences and Adjustment Among Hispanic Immigrant Youth: The Mediating Role of Bicultural Stress

Due to negative contextual experiences such as perceived discrimination (PD) and negative context of reception (COR), Hispanic adolescents are at risk for negative psychosocial and behavioral outcomes (Gibson & Miller, 2010; Schwartz et al., 2012). Bicultural stress may be one mechanism through which PD and COR impact youth outcomes and has been shown to mediate the association between PD and psychological distress (Torres, Driscoll, & Voell, 2012). In the current study we examined bicultural stress as a mediator of the association between PD and COR and later adolescent adjustment among Hispanic immigrant adolescents.

Participants were 302 Hispanic immigrant adolescents living in Miami and Los Angeles (46.7% female; M age = 14.51, SD = .88). Participants completed surveys every six months for three years. We used data from the first (W1), third (W3), and fifth (W5) waves. We specified a path model in which W1 PD and COR predicted W3 bicultural stress which in turn predicted W5 adolescent adjustment (i.e., self-esteem, depressive symptoms, prosocial behavior, aggressive behavior, rule breaking, smoking, drunkenness, and binge drinking). We controlled for previous levels of mediating and outcome variables, gender, number of years in the U.S., and site (i.e., Miami vs. Los Angeles).

Results indicated that PD predicted more bicultural stress (β = .35, p < .001) which in turn predicted negative adolescent adjustment (i.e., prosocial behavior, β = .13, p < .05; aggressive behavior, β = .34, p < .001; rule breaking, β = .28, p < .001; smoking, β = .22, p < .01, and having been drunk, β = .24, p < .01). Moreover, bicultural stress mediated the association between PD and later prosocial behavior (indirect effect = .05, p < .05), aggressive behavior (indirect effect = .12, p < .001), rule breaking (indirect effect = .10, p < .001), smoking (indirect effect = .08, p < .01), and reports of having been drunk (indirect effect = .08, p < .05). Negative COR did not predict later bicultural stress; as such, we did not test for mediation by bicultural stress in the association between COR and adolescent adjustment. 

Results of this study highlight PD as an enduring risk factor for adolescent adjustment, and identify bicultural stress as a mechanism by which PD impacts adjustment among Hispanic youth. These findings have implications for culturally-specific prevention strategies among Hispanic adolescents.