Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Battling Discrimination and Social Isolation: Psychological Distress Among Latino Day Laborers

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
American Journal of Community Psychology

An Erratum to this article was published on 05 September 2012

Abstract

Day labor is comprised of predominately male and recent Latino immigrants, mainly from Mexico and Central America who work in an unregulated and informal market. Three-quarters of the day labor force is undocumented and live under the federal poverty threshold as work is seasonal and highly contingent on the weather and the local economy. However, in spite of their exposure to significant health risks, little is known about the impact of Latino day laborers’ (LDLs) work and life conditions on their mental health. This mixed methods study extends the literature by using the minority stress theoretical model to examine the relationship between discrimination and social isolation as well as participant identified protective factors such as religiosity and sending remittances with psychological distress. A quantitative survey with 150 LDLs was conducted and was followed by a qualitative member checking focus group to extend upon the quantitative results as well as the minority stress model with the lived experiences of these immigrant workers. Results reveal implications for prevention efforts with this hard-to-reach and marginalized population.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aborna, C., Olvera, N., Rodriguez, N., Hagan, J., Linares, A., & Weisner, M. (2010). Acculturative stress among documented and undocumented Latino immigrants in the United States. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 32(3), 362–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah: L. Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derogatis, L. (2001). Brief symptom inventory 18 (BSI-18) manual. Minnetonka, Minn: NCS Assessments.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, R. M., Ayala, G., Bein, E., Henne, J., & Marin, B. V. (2001). The impact of homophobia, poverty, and racism on the mental health of gay and bisexual Latino men: Findings from three US cities. American Journal of Public Health, 91(6), 927–932.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Enders, C. K. (2001). A primer on maximum likelihood algorithms available for use with missing data. Structural Equation Modeling, 8, 128–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furman, R., Negi, N. J., & Schatz, M. C. S. (2008). Positing the transnational social work agency: Using a wrap-around model. Global Networks, 8(4), 496–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grzywacz, J. G., Quandt, S. A., Early, J., Tapia, J., Graham, C. N., & Arcury, T. A. (2006). Leaving family for work: Ambivalence and mental health among Mexican migrant farmworker men. Journal of Immigrant Health, 8(1), 85–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, J., Rodriguez, N., Capps, R., & Kabiri, N. (2003). Effects of immigration reform on immigrants’ access to health care. International Migration Review, 37, 444–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hovey, J. D., & Magana, C. G. (2000). Acculturative stress, anxiety, and depression among Mexican immigrant farmworkers in the Midwest United States. Journal of Immigrant Health, 2(3), 119–131.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hovey, J. D., & Magana, C. G. (2002). Cognitive, affective, and physiological expressions of anxiety symptomatology among Mexican migrant farmworkers: Predictors and generational differences. Community Mental Health Journal, 38(3), 223–237.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iwamoto, D. K., Corbin, W., & Fromme, K. (2010). Trajectory classes of heavy episodic drinking among Asian American college students. Addiction, 105, 1912–1920.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Little, R. J. A. (1988). A test of completely missing at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 1198–1202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magana, C. G., & Hovey, J. D. (2003). Psychosocial stressors associated with Mexican migrant farmworkers in the Midwest United States. Journal of Immigrant Health, 5(2), 75–86.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marin, G., Sabogal, F., Marin, B. V., Otero-Sabogal, R., & Perez-Stable, E. (1987). Development of short acculturation scale for Hispanics. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9, 183–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mena, F. J., Padilla, A. M., & Maldonado, M. (1987). Acculturative stress and specific coping strategies among immigrant and later generation college students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9, 207–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, I. H. (1995). Minority stress and mental health in gay men. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36(1), 38–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice as stress: Conceptual problems for measurement. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 262–265.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Negi, N. J., & Furman, R. (2009). Providing social services to Mexico-USA transmigrants. Journal of Poverty, 13(3), 293–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Organista, K. C. (2007). Towards a structural-environmental model of risk for HIV and problem drinking in Latino labor Migrants: The case of day laborers.

  • Organista, K. C., Alvarado, N. J., Balblutin-Burnham, A., Worby, P., Martinez, S. R., Organista, K. C. D. B. E., et al. (2006). An exploratory study of HIV prevention with Mexican/Latino migrant day laborers. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services, 5(2), 89–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Organista, K. C., & Kubo, A. (2005). Pilot survey of HIV risk and contextual problems and issues in Mexican/Latino migrant day laborers. Journal of Immigrant Health, 7(4), 269–281.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Papadopoulos, I., & Lees, S. (2002). Developing culturally competent researchers. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37, 258–264.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pew Hispanic Center (2010). Unauthorized immigrant population: National and state trends. Retrieved from http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=133.

  • Pinto, R., McKay, M., & Escobar, C. (2008). “You’ve gotta know the community”: Minority women make recommendations about community-focused health research. Women and Health, 48, 84–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prelow, H. M., Weaver, S. R., Swenson, R. R., & Bowman, M. A. (2005). A preliminary investigation of the validity and reliability of the brief-symptom inventory 18 in economically disadvantaged Latina American mothers. Journal of Community Psychology, 33(2), 139–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quesada, J. (1999). From Central American warriors to San Francisco Latino day laborers: Suffering and exhaustion in a transnational context. Transforming Anthropology, 8(1&2), 162–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sifaneck, S. J., & Neaigus, A. (2001). The ethnographic accessing, sampling, and screening of hidden populations: Heroin Sniffers in New York City. Addiction Research and Theory, 9(6), 519–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szymanski, D. M., & Sung, M. R. (2010). Minority stress and psychological distress among Asian American sexual minority persons. The Counseling Psychologist published online 21 May 2010. doi: 10.1177/0011000010366167.

  • Taran, P. A. (2000). Human rights of migrants: Challenges of the new decade. International Migration, 38, 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tashakkori, A., & Creswell, J. W. (2007). Editorial: The new era of mixed methods. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(3), 3–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tovar, J. J. (2003). Mania: Is religiosity a protective factor for Mexican Americans from self-reported psychological symptomatology. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta Hilton Hotel, Atlanta, GA.

  • Turnovsky, C. P. (2004). Making the queue: Latino day laborers in New York’s street corner labor markets (pp. 1–29). San Diego: University of California.

  • Turnovsky, C. P. (2006). A La Parada: The social practices of men on a street corner. Social Text, 24(3), 55–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valdez, A., & Kaplan, C. D. (1999). Reducing selection bias in the use of focus groups to investigate hidden populations: The case of Mexican American gang members from South Texas. Drugs and Society, 14(1/2), 209–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valenzuela, J. A. (2000). Working on the margins: Immigrant day labor characteristics and prospects for employment. Working Paper 22.

  • Valenzuela, J. A. (2003). Day labor work. Annual Review Sociology, 29, 307–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vega, W., Warheit, G., & Palacio, R. (1985). Psychiatric symptomatology among Mexican American farmworkers. Social Science and Medicine, 20(1), 39–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walter, N., Bourgois, P., & Loinaz, H. M. (2004). Masculinity and undocumented labor migration: Injured Latino day laborers in San Francisco. Social Science and Medicine, 59(6), 1159–1168.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walter, N., Bourgois, P., Loinaz, H. M., & Schillinger, D. (2002). Social context of work injury among undocumented day laborers in San Francisco. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 17, 221–229.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 525 West Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Nalini Junko Negi

Authors
  1. Nalini Junko Negi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nalini Junko Negi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Negi, N.J. Battling Discrimination and Social Isolation: Psychological Distress Among Latino Day Laborers. Am J Community Psychol 51, 164–174 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-012-9548-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-012-9548-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation