Discrimination and Mental Health in Latino Families: Mediators and Moderators

描述（由申请人提供）：遭受种族/民族歧视一直与精神和身体健康状况不佳有关。然而，歧视与健康之间联系的潜在机制仍不清楚。此外，暴露于歧视对心理健康的压力影响的潜在调节因素尚未明确确定，特别是在研究不足的群体中，如拉丁裔青少年。拟议的研究将通过调查12-17岁的墨西哥裔青少年所感受到的种族/民族歧视来解决这些文献中的空白。本研究有三个具体目的：(1)测试有助于解释墨西哥裔青少年种族/民族歧视与心理健康之间联系的中介机制（重点是愤怒调节）；(2)确定影响墨西哥裔青少年种族/族裔歧视与心理健康之间联系的应对策略（如族裔认同；社会支持）。(3)评估家庭环境和社会文化背景因素（如性别、出生状况、族群社会化）对种族/族群歧视对青少年心理健康不利影响的增减程度。为了实现这些研究目标，我们将在印第安纳州北部地区对N = 270个墨西哥裔家庭进行纵向社区调查。数据收集将使用音频计算机管理的自我访谈（ACASI）方法与青少年和家长面对面访谈。青少年将以6个月为间隔在三个测量场合进行调查，而父母将在第一个时间点进行调查。我们将评估种族/民族歧视、情绪调节、愤怒表达/抑制、文化适应/文化适应水平、非文化压力、民族认同发展、文化取向和价值观、种族/民族/文化社会化实践和心理健康。群体内方法将使我们能够仔细研究精神障碍的复原力和脆弱性来源的文化影响和变化，纵向设计将使我们能够测试跨时间的中介和调节效应，以更好地确定效应的顺序。这项研究具有重要意义，因为它促进了我们对以下方面的理解：(1)有助于解释歧视与精神障碍之间联系的关键中介机制；(2)潜在的调节因素，可以缓冲或加剧歧视对心理健康的影响。这个项目与公众息息相关

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Exposure to racial/ethnic discrimination has been consistently associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying the link between discrimination and health are still unclear. In addition, potential moderators of the stressful impact of exposure to discrimination on mental health have yet to be clearly identified, particularly within underresearched groups such as Latino adolescents. The proposed study will address these gaps in the literature by investigating perceived racial/ethnic discrimination among Mexican-origin adolescents 12-17 years old. The proposed study has three specific aims: (1) To test mediating mechanisms (focusing on anger regulation) that help explain the link between racial/ethnic discrimination and mental health in Mexican-origin adolescents; (2) To identify coping strategies (e.g., ethnic identity; social support) that influence the link between racial/ethnic discrimination and mental health in Mexican-origin adolescents. (3) To assess the degree to which the family environment and sociocultural context factors (e.g., gender, nativity status, ethnic socialization) increase or decrease the adverse effect of racial/ethnic discrimination on adolescents' mental health. To achieve these study aims, we will conduct a longitudinal community-based survey of N = 270 Mexican- origin families in the northern Indiana region. Data will be collected using an audio computer administered self- interview (ACASI) approach with adolescents and face-to-face interviews with parents. Adolescents will be surveyed across three measurement occasions at 6-month intervals, whereas parents will be surveyed at the first time point. We will assess racial/ethnic discrimination, emotion regulation, anger expression/suppression, acculturation/enculturation levels, acculturative stress, ethnic identity development, cultural orientation and values, racial/ethnic/cultural socialization practices, and mental health. The within-group approach will allow us to carefully study cultural influences and variations in sources of resilience and vulnerability vis-¿-vis mental disorders, and the longitudinal design wil enable us to test mediation and moderation effects across time to better determine sequence of effects. The proposed study is significant because it advances our understanding of: (1) key mediating mechanisms that help explain the link between discrimination and mental disorder; and, (2) potential moderating factors that can either buffer or exacerbate the impact of discrimination on mental health in this understudied population. This project is relevant to public health as it has the potential to identify explanatory mechanisms, as well as malleable risk and resilience factors, in the discrimination-mental health link. This will aid in the development of more targeted and culturally-sensitive interventions that can mitigate the detrimental impact of racism on the mental health of Latino youth and thus, help reduce health disparities.