Bilingualism and Resilience in Latino Youth

描述（由申请人提供）：拉丁裔青少年出现功能损害性抑郁症状的比例最高，包括自杀行为的比例最高。拉丁裔青年生活贫困的比例越来越大，这进一步增加了他们出现抑郁症状的风险。尽管应对技能项目已被证明对预防或减少抑郁症状的风险有益，但低社会经济地位（low-SES）的拉丁裔青年是传统心理健康服务使用率最低的群体之一，这极大地限制了这些应对项目对这一人群的有效性。因此，这些青年可以从预防和干预的其他方法中受益。改善预防工作的关键第一步是确定土著的、可获得的和文化上可接受的方法，以支持应对和减少抑郁症状的风险。双语发展就是其中一个非常普遍的因素，但在低经济地位的拉丁裔青年中，其接触、使用和熟练程度各不相同。双语能力支持执行功能（EF）的发展，较高的EF与更强的适应性应对和更低的抑郁症状水平有关。然而，没有研究调查双语和拉丁裔青年抑郁症状之间的联系。因此，本R03的目的是在低社会经济地位的拉丁裔青少年样本中检验双语程度与抑郁症状发展之间的联系，以及这种联系的潜在中介（EF和应对）。我们将评估80名10-13岁的双语拉丁裔青少年在基线和12个月后的双语程度、EF、应对和抑郁症状。我们之所以关注这个年龄段，是因为抑郁症状在青春期中期达到高峰，这使得青春期早期成为预防和早期干预的关键时期。评估将包括所有变量的青少年和家长报告，以及青少年语言能力和EF测试。拟建项目的具体目的是：1)确定双语程度与低经济地位拉丁裔青年一年内抑郁症状发展之间的前瞻性关联；2)评估执行功能和应对能力作为双语与一年内抑郁症状发展之间关联的潜在中介。这个项目的成功完成将导致一个多波、多地点的R01建议，以确定从双语语言发展到不同青年群体的心理健康结果的途径。这一研究的长期目标是减少影响低社会经济地位的拉丁裔青少年和类似的高风险、服务不足的青少年群体的抑郁症状及其健康后果的差异。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Latino adolescents have among the highest rates of functionally impairing depressive symptoms, including the highest rates of suicidal behavior. A significant and growing percentage of Latino youth live in poverty, which further increases their risk for depressive symptoms. Although coping skills programs have proven beneficial for preventing or reducing risk for depressive symptoms, low-socioeconomic status (low-SES) Latino youth have among the lowest rates of utilization of conventional mental health services, greatly limiting the effectiveness of these coping programs for this population. Thus, these youth could benefit from alternative approaches to prevention and intervention. A key first step in improving prevention efforts involves the identification of indigenous, accessible, and culturally acceptable processes that support coping and reduce risk for depressive symptoms. Bilingual language development is one such factor that is highly prevalent, but occurs at varying levels of exposure, usage, and proficiency, in low-SES Latino youth. Bilingualism supports the development of executive function (EF), and higher EF has been linked to more adaptive coping and lower levels of depressive symptoms. However, no research has examined associations between bilingualism and depressive symptoms in Latino youth. Therefore, the purpose of the current R03 is to examine the link between degree of bilingualism and the development of depressive symptoms, as well as the potential mediators (EF and coping) of this link, in a sample of low-SES Latino adolescents. We will assess degree of bilingualism, EF, coping and depressive symptoms at baseline and 12 months later in 80 bilingual Latino youth ages 10-13 years old. We focus on this age range because levels of depressive symptoms spike by middle adolescence, making early adolescence a crucial period for prevention and early intervention. Assessments will include youth and parent reports of all variables as well as testing of youth language proficiency and EF. The Specific Aims of the proposed project are to 1) determine the prospective association between degree of bilingualism and development of depressive symptoms over one year in low-SES Latino youth, and 2) assess executive function and coping as potential mediators of the association between bilingualism and development of depressive symptoms over one year. The successful completion of this project will lead to a multi-wave, multi-site R01 proposal to identify pathways from bilingual language development to mental health outcomes in a diverse population of youth. The long-term goal of this line of research is to reduce disparities in depressive symptoms and their health consequences affecting low-SES Latino adolescents and similar high-risk, underserved youth populations.