Latin American immigrant women and intergenerational sex education

People of Latin American descent make up the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the USA. Rates of pregnancy, childbirth, and sexually transmitted infections among people of Latin American descent are higher than among other ethnic groups. This paper builds on research that suggests that among families of Latin American descent, mothers have a particularly strong influence on the sexual attitudes and behaviours of their children, yet that parents of Latin American descent communicate less with their children about sex than parents of other ethnic groups. It examines the messages about sex women received as children in their countries of origin, and how these messages and their views of the USA influence the sexual education women provide for their children. On the basis of data from focus groups, we suggest that, in spite of the persistence of sexual silence, some women's self-reflective analyses of their own sexual education as well as their views of the USA as a sexually more open society contribute to their views of silence as dangerous and trigger more open communication with sons and daughters. Mothers hope to break the cycle of unwanted pregnancy by speaking with daughters about the consequences of menstruation and with sons about contraception.     

Attitudes toward Family Obligations among American Adolescents with Asian, Latin American, and European Backgrounds

This study was designed to examine the attitudes toward family obligations among over 800 American tenth ( M age = 15.7 years) and twelfth ( M age = 17.7 years) grade students from Filipino, Chinese, Mexican, Central and South American, and European backgrounds. Asian and Latin American adolescents possessed stronger values and greater expectations regarding their duty to assist, respect, and support their families than their peers with European backgrounds. These differences tended to be large and were consistent across the youths' generation, gender, family composition, and socioeconomic background. Whereas an emphasis on family obligations tended to be associated with more positive family and peer relationships and academic motivation, adolescents who indicated the strongest endorsement of their obligations tended to receive school grades just as low as or even lower than those with the weakest endorsement. There was no evidence, however, that the ethnic variations in attitudes produced meaningful group differences in the adolescents' development. These findings suggest that even within a society that emphasizes adolescent autonomy and independence, youths from families with collectivistic traditions retain their parents' familistic values and that these values do not have a negative impact upon their development.     

Daily variation in ethnic identity,ethnic behaviors,and psychological well-being among American adolescents of Chinese descent

This study examined the links among Chinese American adolescents' (N = 96) global ethnic identity and their ethnic behaviors, ethnic identity salience, and psychological well-being based on daily diaries collected over a 2-week period. The daily association between engagement in ethnic behaviors and ethnic salience was positive regardless of overall ethnic identity. The daily-level association between ethnic identity salience and well-being, however, was dependent on adolescents' global ethnic identity. Among adolescents who were moderate or high in global ethnic identity, ethnic identity salience was consistently associated with positive well-being at the daily level. In contrast, the daily association between ethnic identity salience and well-being was less strong for youths who were low in ethnic identity. Additionally, a higher level of salience and a weaker association between salience and negative symptoms was found for girls than for boys, and older youths reported a weaker association between salience and positive symptoms than did younger youths.     

Ego development and ethnic identity formation in rural American Indian adolescents

Ethnic identity development was assessed in the context of ego development in 12- to 15-year-old students from a Southeastern American Indian community. Self-protective was the modal level and was characterized by awareness of ethnic group membership but little exploration or self-reflection. Impulsive adolescents had the least developed ethnic identities and highest levels of interpersonal vulnerability. Conformist adolescents expressed positive feelings about ethnic group affiliation, described relationships as harmonious, but demonstrated moderate social anxiety. Postconformist adolescents had the highest levels of agency, social competence, and identity achievement, but also had high levels of psychological distress and family conflict. Adolescent identity strivings may be understood in context with the level and timing of psychosocial maturity, for which ego development appears a useful marker.     

Promoting cultural competence in counseling Asian American children and adolescents

Asian Americans are commonly perceived as the diligent and high‐achieving “model minority.” This positive stereotype has negative consequences for this ethnic minority group because it trivializes their social and mental health problems. This image of success has made many overlook the true nature of the struggles many Asian American families have to face in the United States. Scientific literature suggests that Asian American children experience major adjustment problems in school including loneliness, isolation, withdrawal, rejection, anxiety, low self‐esteem, and interpersonal distress. Cultural barriers exist between the Asian and the dominant society and influence Asian Americans' cognitive appraisal and coping choices when personal and emotional problems arise. These barriers also prevent clinicians from identifying and subsequently providing effective mental health services for Asian American children and their families. In this article, the authors examine the Asian cultural conceptions of mental health and various cultural barriers in an attempt to promote cultural understanding and competence among clinicians working with Asian American children and their families. Recommendations for clinical practice and future research directions are provided. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

研究型大学建设:拉美与亚洲国家高等教育政策取向

通过高等教育全面提高国家的综合国力和国际竞争力是目前许多发达国家和经济发展速度较快的发展中国家的既定国策。因此最近十几年来,建设研究型大学的热潮在世界范围内兴起。亚洲和拉美的许多国家也纷纷对本国的高等教育进行反思和改革,试图在新一轮的国际秩序整合中打破美国研究型大学在知识创新的主导地位。本文试图对韩国、日本、印度、阿根廷、巴西和墨西哥等国的研究型大学建设状况和改革思路进行分析,发现他们在建设研究型大学过程中遇到的问题,通过对比,发现他们在研究型大学建设中采取的策略与措施。     

Longitudinal trajectories of ethnic identity among urban Black and Latino adolescents

The current study modeled developmental trajectories of ethnic identity exploration and affirmation and belonging from middle to late adolescence (ages 15-18) and examined how these trajectories varied according to ethnicity, gender, immigrant status, and perceived level of discrimination. The sample consisted of 135 urban low-income Black and Latino adolescents (42% male, 34% Black, 66% Latino). Consistent with developmental theory, individual growth modeling identified an average quadratic trajectory of ethnic identity exploration characterized by decelerating levels of exploration after 10th grade. However, ethnicity and perceived discrimination by peers moderated this pattern. No uniform growth pattern in affirmation was found and Black and Latino adolescents displayed equally high levels of affirmation over time.     

Racial identity and academic attainment among African American adolescents

In this study, the relationships between racial identity and academic outcomes for African American adolescents were explored. In examining race beliefs, the study differentiated among (a) importance of race (centrality), (b) group affect (private regard), and (c) perceptions of societal beliefs (public regard) among 606 African American 17-year-old adolescents. Using cluster analysis, profiles of racial identity variables were created, and these profile groups were related to educational beliefs, performance, and later attainment (high school completion and college attendance). Results indicated cluster differences across study outcomes. Also, the relationships between academic attitudes and academic attainment differed across groups. Finally, the paper includes a discussion on the need to consider variation in how minority youth think about group membership in better understanding their academic development.     

School ethnic composition and aspirations of immigrant students in Belgium

This article examines the association between school ethnic composition and immigrant students’ intentions to finish high school and to move on to higher education. We used data from 1324 immigrant and 10,546 native students gathered in the school year 2004–2005 in a sample of 85 Flemish (Belgian) secondary schools. Logistic multilevel analyses (HLM6) show that students attending schools with a majority of native students (enrolling less than 20% immigrant students) were twice as likely to plan to finish high school and to plan for higher education than those attending high concentration schools (more than 50% immigrant students). These associations were due to students’ socio‐economic status (SES) and there was no difference in aspirations between high and low concentration schools after controlling for students’ SES and the SES context of the school. All else being equal, immigrant students in high concentration schools tended to aspire to finish high school and move on to higher education slightly more than those attending medium concentration schools (20–50% immigrant students). The analyses further show that these differences between high and medium concentration schools can be explained by the more optimistic culture in high concentration schools. The main conclusion is that high concentration schools are not necessarily detrimental for students’ educational aspirations.     

Help-Seeking Experiences and Attitudes among African American, Asian American, and European American College Students

The study examined African American, Asian American, and European American college students’ previous direct and indirect experiences of seeking professional psychological services and related attitudes. Survey data were collected from 254 European American, 182 African American and 82 Asian American college students. Results revealed that fewer African American and Asian American college students had sought professional psychological services, knew someone who had sought psychological services, and knew a close person who was diagnosed with a psychological disorder, relative to European American students. Furthermore, African American and Asian American participants showed less favorable attitudes on a variety of help-seeking attitudes, compared to the European American group.     

Framing climate change communication to prompt individual and collective action among adolescents from agricultural communities

Climate communication research suggests strategic message framing may help build public consensus on climate change causes, risks and solutions. However, few have investigated how framing applies to adolescents. Similarly, little research has focused on agricultural audiences, who are among the most vulnerable to and least accepting of climate change. Among 950 high school agriculture students in North Carolina, we found agriculture and environment framing of climate change, but not community and health frames, elicited feelings of worry, and these together with community frames elicited hope. Further, students feeling more worry were more supportive of individual and collective action. Those accepting climate change and females had more emotive responses and higher support for all action measures, and acceptance of human causes predicted more worry and support for collective action. We find these results encouraging as agriculture teachers likely employ agriculture and environment frames when following best teaching practices.     

Cultural values and intergenerational value discrepancies in immigrant and non-immigrant families

The goal of this research was to explore the generality of developmental processes related to intergenerational value discrepancies across 701 families from immigrant and non-immigrant groups. In a study involving 471 immigrant families (197 Armenian, 103 Vietnamese, and 171 Mexican) and 230 non-immigrant families (95 African American and 135 European American), adolescents and parents reported their endorsement of values pertaining to family obligations. We examined similarities and differences at three levels of analysis, from the general to the group-specific. Results provide evidence for general developmental processes (family obligations were endorsed more by parents than by adolescents in all groups), processes associated with immigration (the intergenerational value discrepancy generally increased with time in the United States), and processes that are unique to each ethnic group.     

A longitudinal investigation of personality and social adjustment among Chinese American and European American adolescents

A 2-wave longitudinal study of personality in adolescence was conducted with data obtained at ages 12 and 17 years from approximately 60 European American and 60 second-generation Chinese American youth. At Time 1 they completed the Children's Personality Questionnaire and at Time 2 they completed the High School Personality Questionnaire and self-report measures of high school grades, depression, and self-esteem. Chinese American and European American adolescents became more similar to each other over time through developmental and acculturative processes. Adolescents of both ethnicities increased in Extraversion and Independence. Despite this general trend, the Chinese American youth continued to report lower levels of Extraversion than European American youth. Extraversion and Anxiety predicted school grades for European Americans and psychological adjustment for Chinese Americans.     

Developmental trajectories of personal and collective self-concept among American Indian adolescents

Developmental trajectories of personal and collective self-concept were examined among American Indian adolescents. Personal self-concept (self-esteem) and collective self-concept (American Indian identity, Euro-American identity, community-mindedness) were assessed 6 times over 3 years in 4 cohorts of adolescents from 3 American Indian cultural groups (N=1,252). An accelerated longitudinal design was used to estimate developmental trajectories from 14 to 19 years; parallel-process and covariate models were used to examine variation in trajectories. Both personal and collective self-concepts were generally positive and showed small gains; they were moderately related to one another and differentially related to cultural group, gender, and perceived social support. The findings highlight the complexity of self-concept for American Indian youth and the significance of both personal and collective identity.     

Life circumstances and public policies for young children in immigrant families

Young children, birth through eight, are more diverse than other age groups in the United States. They are more likely to be first- or second-generation immigrants and, as a consequence, more likely to belong to racial-ethnic groups originating outside European nations. Many also live with parents whose heritage language is not English. For these reasons, children in immigrant families merit special attention by policy-makers, program administrators, and others who have responsibility for assuring that the young children of today become competent students, workers, citizens, and parents in the years ahead. The development of effective policies and programs for all children and families depends on having information about their life circumstances, including their family composition, education, work, income, and housing, and for immigrants, also their country of origin, citizenship, and language skills. This article presents new results from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2005, 2006, and 2007, reflecting important life circumstances of young children in immigrant families, compared to those in native-born families. We present new population projections from the U.S. Census Bureau, which highlight the increasingly important role that children of immigrants will play in the economy and civil society during the coming decades. We then discuss implications for the design and implementation of effective policies and programs.     

Length of Residence,Cultural Adjustment Difficulties,and Psychological Distress Symptoms in Asian and Latin American International College Students

The authors examined cultural adjustment and psychological distress issues in 190 Asian and Latin American international college students. Findings revealed that Latin American students reported higher levels of psychological distress than did their Asian peers. Moreover, length of residence in the U.S. was negatively associated with psychological distress symptoms, and acculturative distress and intercultural competence concerns were positively related to psychological distress in both groups. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Meeting in school: Cultural diversity approaches of teachers and intergroup contact among ethnic minority and majority adolescents

This study investigated the associations between cultural diversity approaches endorsed by teachers and adolescents' positive and negative intergroup contact in schools. Participants were 984 adolescents (M_age = 14.66; 62.7% female; 24.8% ethnic minority) involved in a three-wave longitudinal study between 2019 and 2020. Results highlighted that perceived equal treatment by teachers was related to higher positive and lower negative contact over time. However, perceived support for contact and cooperation and interest of teachers in children's cultural background were not related to either positive or negative contact over time. Importantly, the results were replicated across ethnic minority and majority adolescents. This study provides novel insights into the key role that teachers can play in promoting cultural diversity approaches to facilitate harmonious intergroup interactions in schools.     

Parental involvement,children's aspirations,and achievement in new immigrant families

The authors investigated the relationships among multiple aspects of parental involvement (English proficiency, school involvement, control and monitoring of children), children's aspirations, and achievement in new immigrant families in the United States. They used data on immigrant parents and school-age children (N = 1,255) from the New Immigrant Survey to examine immigrant families from diverse backgrounds. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that parental English proficiency and involvement in school education are related to children's academic achievement, cognitive development, and English language ability, directly as well as indirectly, through children's educational aspirations. Parental control and monitoring is not beneficial to immigrant children's cognitive development, although variations were found across different groups. They also observed intriguing findings regarding gender and racial or ethnic diversity. Based on their findings, they provide recommendations for the fostering of academic success and the design and implementation of educational programs and practices for immigrant children.