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Cultural Stressors and the Hopelessness Model of Depressive Symptoms in Latino Adolescents

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Abstract

Depressive symptoms in Latino youth have been related to both culturally-universal and culturally-based stressors. However, few studies have examined the unique contributions of culturally-based stressors above and beyond other types of stressors. Moreover, no past studies with Latinos have examined the role of culturally-based stressors within a hopelessness model of depressive symptoms, a cognitive model with the strongest empirical support in adolescence. The current study examined these issues in a sample of 171 Latino adolescents (7th–10th grades; mean age = 14; 46 % male). The Latino adolescents were primarily Mexican–American (78 %) and born in the United States (60 %). Students completed measures during a school period on their experiences of parent–child conflict, economic stress, discrimination from peers, and acculturative stress as well as depressive symptoms and attributional style. The results indicated that culturally-based stressors (e.g., acculturative stress and discrimination) predicted greater depressive symptoms even when controlling for culturally-universal stressors (e.g., parent–child conflict, economic stress). Moreover, a negative attributional style moderated the relationship between culturally-universal stressors and depressive symptoms, but this was not the case for culturally-based stressors. Culturally-based stressors play an important role in depressive symptoms among Latino youth. These stressors predicted greater symptomatology even when controlling for other types of stressors and a negative attributional style. These findings suggest that there may be other cognitive risk factors associated with culturally-based stressors.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a New Faculty Grant from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to Drs. Stein and Gonzalez. The authors also acknowledge the school district where this data was collected for their continued support of Latino students and this research project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 296 Eberhart Building, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC, 27402-6170, USA

    Gabriela L. Stein & Nadia Huq

  2. Department of Counseling and Educational Development, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 209 Ferguson, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC, 27402, USA

    Laura M. Gonzalez

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  1. Gabriela L. Stein
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  2. Laura M. Gonzalez
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  3. Nadia Huq
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Correspondence to Gabriela L. Stein.

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Stein, G.L., Gonzalez, L.M. & Huq, N. Cultural Stressors and the Hopelessness Model of Depressive Symptoms in Latino Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 41, 1339–1349 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9765-8

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