Collaborative Research: Puberty and Sociocultural Experiences among Mexican-American Boys

青春期是一个生理、社会和认知变化的时期，对青少年的发展和长期幸福有着直接的影响。尽管有关青春期的科学知识正在增长，但关于青春期如何影响美国拉美裔男孩的社会和文化经历的信息仍然很少。该项目的目标是了解青春期的生物和身体标志如何与墨西哥裔美国家庭男孩的日常经历相关。在美国，这是一个庞大且迅速增长的群体，他们高中辍学、吸毒和青少年犯罪的风险增加。这项研究将包括对400个墨西哥裔美国家庭的采访，这些家庭的男性青少年年龄在12-16岁之间。该项目将调查男孩的青春期发育如何影响他们与父母、老师和朋友的社会互动，并研究这些生物和社会因素如何共同影响他们的心理健康和幸福。这项研究将为家庭、社区成员和医疗保健提供者提供有关青春期如何塑造拉美裔男孩的背景和发展的关键信息。青少年和他们的父母将完成面对面的访谈，评估青春期、日常压力、亲子关系因素以及关键的发育结果：心理健康、危险行为、学习功能和种族认同。青少年还将提供唾液样本，以获取通过青春期激素水平衡量的发育生物标记物。青少年将在一年后接受追踪，以评估这些相同结果的长期变化。该项目的目标是研究青春期发展与墨西哥裔美国男孩在学校和社区环境中的经历之间的联系；测试青春期与亲子关系因素之间的联系；并研究青春期与青少年的心理健康、危险行为、学业成就和种族认同之间的联系如何通过积极和消极的社会经验来解释。美国的拉美裔人口正在增长，社会和经济福利方面的种族差异仍在继续。了解墨西哥裔美国男孩发展的生物、社会和文化决定因素将有助于提供基本知识，为解决这一关键的社会挑战提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Puberty is a time of physical, social, and cognitive changes with direct implications for adolescents' development and long-term well-being. Although scientific knowledge of puberty is growing, there remains little information about how puberty impacts the social and cultural experiences of Latino boys in the U.S. The goal of this project is to understand how biological and physical markers of puberty relate to everyday experiences of boys from Mexican-American families. This is a large and rapidly growing group in the U.S. who are at increased risk for high school drop-out, substance use, and delinquency. The study will include interviews with 400 Mexican-American families who have a male adolescent between the ages of 12-16 years old. The project will investigate how boys' pubertal development influences social interactions with their parents, teachers, and friends, and examine how these biological and social factors together impact their mental health and well-being. The research will provide critical information to families, community members, and health care providers about the ways in which puberty shapes the context and development of Latino boys.Adolescents and their parents will complete in-person interviews that assess puberty, daily stressors, parent-child relationship factors, and key developmental outcomes: mental health, risky behaviors, academic functioning, and ethnic identity. Adolescents will also provide saliva samples to capture biological markers of development measured by levels of puberty hormones. Adolescents will be followed up one year later to assess long-term changes in these same outcomes. The goals of the project are to study the connection between pubertal development and Mexican-American boys' experiences in school and community contexts; test the association between puberty and parent-child relationship factors; and examine how the link between puberty and youths' mental health, risky behaviors, academic achievement, and ethnic identity is explained by both positive and negative social experiences. The Latino population of the U.S. is growing, and ethnic-racial disparities in social and economic well-being continue. Understanding biological, social, and cultural determinants of Mexican-American boys' development will contribute to basic knowledge that informs approaches to addressing this critical societal challenge.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.