This is part of our Mental Health & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Cultural identify affects Latino youth self-esteem
Umaña-Taylor and Updegraff used data from a longitudinal study on Latino adolescents’ ethnic identity to determine whether self-esteem, cultural orientation, and ethnic identity had a mediating or moderating effect on the relationship between discrimination and depression. The study included 273 Latino adolescents, 84 percent of whom identified as Mexican-American, and 72 percent of whom were born in the U.S. Participants completed a questionnaire that included questions related to self-esteem, depressive symptoms, cultural orientation, ethnic identity, and perceived discrimination. Acculturation, the process by which recent immigrants adopt cultural ...
This is part of our Mental Health & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Introduction
Currently, over 56 million Latinos live in the United States, making up almost 18 percent of the total U.S. population. By 2060, it’s projected that there will be 119 million Latinos in the U.S.1 In addition to being the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the country, Latinos are also the youngest: 17.9 million Latinos, or roughly one third of the U.S. Latino population, are under the age of 18. Even more striking, almost half of U.S.-born Latinos are younger than 18.2 Latino youth are more likely to have mental health issues than their peers, a concern that should be taken even more seriously considering the growing population of young Latinos in the U.S. Twenty-two percent ...
This is part of our Mental Health & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Latino kids have unmet mental health care service needs
Latino children and other racial/ethnic minority youth are less likely to receive the necessary mental health care compared with their white peers.8,9 A cross-sectional study of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW) addressed mental health issues among Latino children ages 2-14 who were living with at least one biological parent (31% were preschool aged 2-5 years, 45.9% were school-aged 6-10 years, and 23.3% were adolescent 11-14 years). Of the three groups, adolescents had the highest rate of clinical need for mental health services at 60.9 percent, followed by school-aged children (38.3%) and preschool children ...
This is part of our Mental Health & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Impact of immigration on the Latino kids' mental health
Ko and Perreira conducted a cross-sectional study of interview data from the Latino Adolescent, Migration, Health, and Adaptation (LAMHA) project to understand the impact of immigration on the mental health of Latino children. The study included 283 pairs of first-generation Latino immigrant youth ages 12-19 and their caregivers. Participants were subjected to a survey with questions about mental health and experiences related to migration and acculturation (the process by which recent immigrants adopt cultural norms of their new country). Of these participants, 20 Latino adolescents ages 14-18, most of whom had emigrated from Mexico with their parents ...
This is part of our Mental Health & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Physical activity is linked to mental health
Several studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between physical activity and mental health among Latino children. The converse is also true. Jernigan, et al., in a study of preadolescents (46.8% Latino), found that greater negative emotional symptoms at the baseline interview predicted a significantly increased BMI at a 2-year follow-up for Latino students (p=.03).45 In a cross-sectional review of data from the Healthy Youth/Healthy Adults study, which included 1,870 Latino and non-Latino white adolescents (77% were Latino) ages 14-18 from Nueces County, Tex., Brosnahan et al. investigated whether there was a relationship between physical activity ...
This is part of our Mental Health & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Latina youth have a very high rate of thinking about suicide
Latino females in grades 9-12 had the highest rate of suicidal ideation, at 25.6 percent, compared to 22.8 percent among their white peers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health’s assessment of Latino mental health based on results from the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), a self-report survey of high school students. The rate for Latino males of the same age group was much lower (12%), but it was still higher than that of white peers (11.5%). Latino females also reported the highest rate of suicide attempt (15.1% versus 9.8%), and Latino males reported a higher rate than their ...
Health equity can be a hard-to-understand concept. A new report has a clear, simple definition: "Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthier." Achieving health equity means removing obstacles to health. Obstacles like "poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care," according to the report. The report is by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of California, San Francisco. Unfortunately, health equity sometimes doesn't exist. Latinos and other minority and low-income groups suffer health inequities and disparities. These are deeply rooted in socio-economic ...
More Americans than ever before are stressed, depressed, and coping with anxiety on a regular basis. According to a new study, an estimated 8.3 million adults in the U.S. (close to 3.5%) suffer from serious psychological distress. What’s worse, many are unable to get the help they need to either treat there conditions or even get a diagnosis. In a separate report, the American Psychological Association (APA) found disparities in their recent Stress in America survey, noting that Latinos in particular suffer from the highest levels of stress. “Latinos reported the highest stress across four major sources of stress including money, employment, family responsibilities and health concerns,” the survey said. From the survey, 1 in 5 Latinos report never having engaged in any ...
This is part of our Sugary Drinks & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Future research needs
Further research could focus on differences in SSB consumption and the effect on obesity and health among Latino subgroups, as most studies that tease out results by racial/ethnic group focus on Mexican Americans. More research is also needed on the beverages available and promoted in early child care settings and how new federal, state, and (where they have regulatory authority) local regulations impact this in both licensed and unlicensed child care settings. Further research on the potential impact of SSB prices and taxes on Latinos, particularly youths, could be conducted. It will be important to evaluate the taxes implemented in Philadelphia, Cook County, Ill., and the ...
