Family Functioning Trajectories Among Latino Families: Links with Cultural Stress, Emotional Well-Being, and Behavioral Health

Latino immigrant youth often report better emotional well-being and behavioral health than their U.S.-born counterparts. However, research indicates that their emotional well-being and behavioral health worsens as they spend time in the U.S. One possible reason for this immigrant paradox might involve changes in family functioning (e.g., lower or higher family cohesion, involved parenting, and positive parenting) that might be influenced by cultural factors and can occur as Latino adolescents and their parents navigate the U.S. cultural context. To investigate this possibility and informed by ecodevelopmental theory, this study examined the separate developmental trajectories of adolescent- and parent-reported family functioning and it examined the effects of these family functioning trajectories on the emotional well-being and health risk behaviors of both recent immigrant Latino adolescents and their parents. Additionally, informed by the Family Stress Model, this study also examined the effects of adolescent and parent cultural stress on adolescent and parent emotional well-being and health behaviors via trajectories of adolescent and parent family functioning. Recent immigrant Latino adolescents and parents (N=302) completed measures of these constructs. Latent growth modeling indicated that adolescent and parent family functioning remained stable over time and early levels of family functioning predicted adolescent and parent outcomes. Baseline adolescent cultural stress predicted lower positive adolescent and parent family functioning. Latent class growth analyses produced a two-class solution for family functioning. Adolescents and parents in the low family functioning class continued to report low family functioning over time, whereas adolescents and parents in the high family functioning class experienced increases in family functioning. Our findings indicate that preventive interventions to reduce health disparities among Latino youth and their parents may be most beneficial in the early years following immigration and could benefit from fostering positive family functioning and helping adolescents manage cultural stressors. Intervention efforts could specifically target families with poor family functioning in the early years following immigration. Such efforts would result in improved emotional well-being and behavioral health for adolescents and their parents.