Mental and Physical Health in Children of Latino Migrant Farm Workers: A Multi-Level Longitudinal Examination of Risk and Resilience Factors

摘要 拉丁裔移民农场工人(LMFW)的子女是一个独特的弱势群体，他们在 社会和健康差距的重大风险，可能会产生持久的发展和社会经济差异 后果。每年有300多万移民和季节性农场工人在美国各地收获食物 在各州，几乎60%的人有未成年子女，他们经常陪伴着他们。移动性产生独特的 儿童面临的挑战，包括教育中断和不稳定、歧视、孤立和贫穷 这可能会导致心理和身体健康状况不佳，以及早期使用药物。这些挑战可能 尤其是在青春期，当高危行为和健康差距变得更大时 很明显。由于这些家庭的高流动性，很少有研究人员用 考虑到移徙的纵向性质，因此无法确定长期的 移民状况对青年健康结果的影响。此外，研究人员很少评估弹性因素 这可能会缓解LMFW年轻人经历的压力源。我们的目标是纵向研究如何 背景迁徙应激源会导致近端脆弱性，从而导致 LMFW青年在青春期。我们还评估了有可能缓冲的特定保护因素 保护儿童免受移徙风险，并促进健康和福祉。研究参与者包括400名LMFW 10-15岁的儿童在印第安纳州移民教育计划的所有三个地区招募。我们用 定性半结构化访谈与定量访谈相结合的纵向混合方法 从多个记者、生物标记物和行为任务收集的调查，以解决3个具体目标：(1) 评估宏观风险和近期风险如何与LMFW青年的显著健康结果相关联，并确定 流动状况如何调节这些关系；(2)考察宏观层面的压力源和流动状况如何 影响LMFW青少年整个青春期的健康轨迹，并评估这种联系是如何通过 最近的风险因素；以及(3)确定保护因素，以抵消或缓冲不利的健康轨迹 LMFW青年。该项目使用动态的多学科方法来评估长期发展 流动性对健康的影响，同时利用基于强度的框架来阐明有意义的 LMFW儿童的环境中存在个人、家庭和社区的复原力因素。这些结果 预计将对与LMFW儿童有关的公共卫生问题产生重大积极影响 为政策提供信息并指导未来旨在减少弱势群体健康差距的干预努力 青年人口处于关键发展时期。通过把重点放在农民工的子女身上， 他们构成了经济上最贫困和服务最少的拉丁裔亚群之一，我们的 这项研究为未来旨在开发干预措施以改善生活机会的研究奠定了基础， 农民工家庭中第二代移民子女的健康和适应。

Abstract Children of Latino migrant farm workers (LMFW) are a unique and vulnerable population whom are at significant risk for social and health disparities that can have lasting developmental and socioeconomic consequences. Every year over 3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers harvest food across the United States, and almost 60% have minor children whom often accompany them. Mobility produces unique challenges for children including educational interruptions and instability, discrimination, isolation, and poverty which can contribute to poor mental and physical health as well as early substance use. These challenges may be especially salient during adolescence when high-risk behaviors and health disparities become more evident. Due to the high mobility of these families, few researchers have studied this population with consideration of the longitudinal nature of migration, and thus, have been unable to identify the long-term effects of migration status on youth health outcomes. Also, researchers have rarely assessed resilience factors that may mitigate stressors that LMFW youth experience. Our objectives are to longitudinally examine how contextual migratory stressors contribute to proximal vulnerabilities that result in poor health outcomes for LMFW youth during adolescence. We also assess specific protective factors that have potential to buffer children from migratory risks, as well as promote health and well-being. Study participants include 400 LMFW children aged 10-15 recruited in all three regions of the Migrant Education Program in Indiana. We use a longitudinal mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative semi-structured interviews with quantitative surveys collected from multiple reporters, biomarkers, and behavioral tasks to address 3 specific aims: (1) Assess how macro and proximal risks are associated with salient health outcomes in LMFW youth, and identify how mobility status moderates these relations; (2) Examine how macro level stressors and mobility status affect LMFW youths’ health trajectories across adolescence, and assess how such links are mediated by proximal risk factors; and (3) Identify protective factors that counteract or buffer negative health trajectories in LMFW youth. This project uses a dynamic multi-disciplinary approach to assess the long-term developmental consequences of mobility on health, while utilizing a strength-based framework to elucidate meaningful individual, familial, and community resilience factors present in LMFW children’s environment. These outcomes are expected to have a significant positive impact on public health issues relating to LMFW children by informing policy and directing future intervention efforts targeted at reducing health disparities in a vulnerable youth population during a critical developmental period. By focusing on the children of migrant farmworkers, whom constitute one of the most economically disadvantaged and underserved Latino subpopulations, our study lays the groundwork for future studies that aim to develop interventions to improve the life chances, health, and adjustment of second-generation immigrant children in farmworker families.