Journal of Youth and Adolescence

, Volume 47, Issue 2, pp 460–472 | Cite as

Longitudinal Associations between Maternal Involvement, Cultural Orientations, and Prosocial Behaviors Among Recent Immigrant Latino Adolescents

  • Alexandra N. Davis
  • Gustavo Carlo
  • Cara Streit
  • Seth J. Schwartz
  • Jennifer B. Unger
  • Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati
  • Jose Szapocznik
Empirical Research
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:
  • 285 Downloads

Abstract

Prosocial behaviors (i.e., actions that benefit others) are important markers of healthy social functioning, and understanding the factors that predict such outcomes among recent immigrant Latino adolescents is important. The current study examines the longitudinal associations between maternal involvement and prosocial behaviors via collectivism values. Data comes from a longitudinal project (Construyendo Oportunidades Para los Adolescentes Latinos) of 302 recently immigrated U.S. Latina/o adolescents (53.3% male, average age = 14.51 years old). The current study uses data from three times points across 2 years. The results demonstrated that maternal involvement was positively associated with collectivism values. Collectivism was positively associated with changes in prosocial behaviors. There was also partial support for a reverse-causal model. Discussion focuses on the links among parenting, cultural values, and prosocial behaviors among immigrant U.S. Latina/o adolescents.

Keywords

Maternal involvement Cultural values Prosocial behaviors Latina/o youth 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Maria-Rosa Velazquez, Tatiana Clavijo, Mercedes Prado, Alba Alfonso, Aleyda Marcos, Daisy Ramirez, Lissette Ramirez, and Perlita Carrillo for their hard work conducting assessments and tracking families. We would also like to thank Dr. Judy Arroyo for her guidance and wisdom. Finally, we would like to thank the study families for sharing their experiences with us.

Authors’ Contributions

A. N. D. conceived the study, conducted the analyses, and was primarily responsible for writing the manuscript. G. C. helped with study development and assisted with writing and revising the manuscript. C. S. assisted with manuscript development and provided feedback throughout the process. S. J. S. and J. B. U. were the principal investigators on the COPAL project and provided extensive feedback on the data analyses and manuscript drafts. L. B. and J. S. are members of the COPAL research team and provided feedback on the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of this manuscript.

Funding

The research presented here was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse grant DA026594 (Seth J. Schwartz and Jennifer B. Unger, Principal Investigators).

Data Sharing Declaration

This manuscript’s data will not be deposited.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

The Institutional Review Board at the University of Miami and the University of Southern California approved the current study.

Informed Consent

Parents and adolescents provided informed consent prior to data collection.

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Copyright information

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.University of New MexicoAlbuquerqueUSA
  2. 2.University of MissouriColumbiaUSA
  3. 3.University of MiamiCoral GablesUSA
  4. 4.University of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesUSA

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