Trauma Exposure and Mental Health Symptoms in Rural Latinx Adolescents: The Role of Family Processes
- PDF / 717,869 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 87 Downloads / 182 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Trauma Exposure and Mental Health Symptoms in Rural Latinx Adolescents: The Role of Family Processes Louise E. Dixon De Silva1 · Carolyn Ponting1 · Amy M. Rapp1,2 · Emily Escovar1,3 · Denise A. Chavira1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Previous research suggests that rural Latinx youth are more likely to experience traumatic events and are at higher risk for developing subsequent psychopathology compared to non-Latinx white youth. The aim of this study is to understand how family processes and values affect risk for internalizing and externalizing symptoms among rural Latinx youth (N = 648, mage = 15.7 (SD = 1.2)) who are exposed to trauma. Multiple mediation analyses were performed to understand if family variables such as familism and family conflict explain the relationship between trauma exposure and psychopathology. Results suggest that familism partially mediates the relationship between trauma exposure and internalizing and externalizing symptoms, whereas family conflict partially mediates the relationship between trauma exposure and externalizing symptoms. These findings show that family variables are differentially impacted by trauma and have a separate and unique impact on mental health outcomes among rural Latinx youth. Specifically, our findings suggest that familial support or closeness may constitute a nonspecific protective factor for psychopathology among Latinx youth, whereas family conflict creates a stressful home environment that may deter adolescent trauma recovery and lead specifically to externalizing symptoms. Keywords Latinx · Adolescent · Psychopathology · Family conflict · Familism
Introduction It is well-established that exposure to trauma in childhood greatly increases risk for internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescence [1–4], and findings from community and epidemiological studies suggest differential rates of trauma exposure across racial and ethnic groups [5–7]. Latinx youth are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States [8], particularly in rural settings, and are at high risk for trauma exposure. Compared to non-Latinx White youth, Latinx youth are more likely to experience community violence [9] and polyvictimization—where multiple traumatic exposures are encountered [10]. Immigrant Latinx youth are at an even higher risk than US-born Latinx * Louise E. Dixon De Silva [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
2
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
3
Deapartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
youth for trauma exposure due to pre-migration, migration, and post-migration stressors (e.g., acculturative stress) [11, 12]. In addition to being at higher risk for experiencing trauma, Latinx youth are more likely to endorse symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and m
Data Loading...
