Systems of Oppression: The Impact of Discrimination on Latinx Immigrant Adolescents' Well-Being and Development

"We're all about being together as a family": Community sports program fosters newcomer immigrant girls' academic achievement, resilience, and coping

Drawing from a liberation psychology framework, this paper describes a community soccer program designed to address inequalities in education, health, and social inclusion among newcomer immigrant girls. The mixed-methods study drew upon youth voices to explore how the program fostered resilience, effective coping, and academic achievement. The study included a quantitative sample (n = 20) and a qualitative sub-sample (n = 13), as well as school-wide comparison data (n = 431). Participants were from 13 countries of origin and spoke ten languages. Data collection involved community-based participatory methods and a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Quantitative data included a demographic questionnaire, school records of grade point average (GPA), and program participation; qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. A one-sample t-test determined that academic achievement (GPA) among program participants (M = 3.12; SD = 0.86) was significantly higher (p = .003; t [18] = 3.462) than the school's average (M = 2.44; SD = 1.42). Directed content analyses of qualitative data explored mechanisms for promoting achievement and empowerment through three distinct forms of resilience: academic, psychological, and social, and problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies. This study offers a unique, sports-based pathway to address inequalities among an understudied population of immigrant girls.

Location of Self: More Than A Decade Later

This article explores the use of location of self (LOS) in the years since the initial publication in 2010 and represents a collaboration of five family therapists. The initial part of the paper underscores LOS as both a clinical dialogic tool and conceptual framework, reviews the relevant literature during the time interval, and reflects on the core tenets of LOS, as well as emergent ideas, practices, and questions. The second part of the article presents the clinical work of four co-authors, illustrating their unique and creative use of LOS. Specifically, it discusses dialogue about the interplay of social locations in therapy, a form of use of self, a social location-self of the therapist awareness, and a conceptual frame for recognizing supremacy as an in-here phenomenon. That is, one embedded in social locations, which all people occupy, thus directing our attention to supremacy systems inside of us. LOS also underscores supremacy as a clinical issue, heightens attunement to the ways it can appear among the privileged and the subjugated, and increases attention to expanded ways of addressing it in therapy. We suggest that LOS dialogue tends to be most generative and easeful among therapists and clients who share multiple or similar subjugated locations, but it can also occur in the multi-privileged therapy relationship, depending on the awareness and comfort with such material. The reviewed literature suggests that LOS is used more often with multi-subjugated clients than those who are multi-privileged. We pose the question as to whether the power of the latter is a driving factor in this, given the challenges of addressing supremacy. We present the multiple perspectives within a single paper based on the unitary process of internal reviews and discussions of all co-author sections.

"Together we are stronger": YPAR and Latinx immigrant youth resilience and resistance to oppressive immigration policies

Latinx adolescents, representing 25% of the U.S. child population, face significant mental health challenges due to aggressive immigration enforcement and policies rooted in racism, nativism, and ethnocentrism. These systemic issues contribute to increased rates of sadness, hopelessness, and suicidal behaviors among Latinx adolescents. Addressing this crisis requires interventions that mitigate the harms of these policies and promote youth voice and agency to foster resilience and resistance and, ultimately, liberation from oppression. This study explores how Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) can empower Latinx immigrant youth to build resilience and resist oppressive systems threatening their well-being. Using a grounded theory qualitative approach, we examined the PARA Jóvenes YPAR project, which engaged 10 Latinx immigrant youth from a community with a history of aggressive immigration enforcement. Through triangulating in-depth interviews, facilitator reflections, and photovoice transcripts, we identified key YPAR components-near-peer mentorship, community building, cultural affirmation, creative expression, and critical inquiry-that promoted and supported youth in developing critical consciousness, cultural authenticity, self-knowledge, and connectedness. This study highlights the transformative potential of YPAR to promote mental health and liberation for Latinx immigrant youth impacted by immigration policies. It underscores the need for further research on its efficacy as an intervention.

Exploring the Links Between Immigration and Birth Outcomes Among Latine Birthing Persons in the USA

BACKGROUND

Birth outcomes are worse for birthing people and infants in the USA than other high-income economies and worse still for underprivileged communities. Historically, the Latine community has experienced positive birth outcomes, despite low socioeconomic status and other socio-political disadvantages, leading to what has been termed as the Hispanic birth paradox. However, this perinatal advantage and protective effect appears to have been shattered by unfavorable policies, structural conditions, societal attitudes, and traumatic events impacting Latine immigrants, leading to negative effects on the health and well-being of birthing Latines-regardless of citizenship status and increasing rates of preterm birth and low birth weight infants.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We conducted a comprehensive literature review and identified two pathways through which birth outcomes among Latine birthing persons may be compromised regardless of citizenship status: (1) a biological pathway as toxic levels of fear and anxiety created by racialized stressors accumulate in the bodies of Latines and (2) a social pathway as Latines disconnect from formal and informal sources of support including family, friends, health care, public health programs, and social services during the course of the pregnancy.

CONCLUSION

Future research needs to examine the impact of immigration climate and policies on health and racial equity in birth outcomes among Latines regardless of citizenship status. Attaining health and racial equity necessitates increased awareness among health providers, public health practitioners, and policy makers of the impact of larger socio-political pressures on the health of Latine birthing persons.

A conceptual model for co-developing a culturally tailored intervention for Latina immigrant caregivers of children with disabilities

The growing diversity of the U.S. population, partly due to immigration, has called attention to scholars and practitioners to attend to immigrants' cultural beliefs, values, and ways of doing when designing interventions to promote health and wellbeing. In this paper, we propose a contextual and dynamic model for co-developing a culturally tailored intervention with the community to advance equity and empowerment of Latinx immigrant caregivers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Grounded in the literature and voices of the community, the proposed model includes six interactive dimensions (LARREDS) that guided the development of the PODER Familiar intervention described here. These include language and linguistic preferences; accessibility factors; reflecting the group's values, ways of thinking and doing; reflecting generational differences; dimensions of delivery and learning style; and the social, ecological, and cultural environment. Informed by principles of family engagement, the model also includes eight strategies for engaging caregivers throughout the intervention. The conceptual model was co-developed with promotoras who also provided input on the PODER Familiar intervention. While describing the model in action, we highlight the voices of the promotoras. The implications of culturally tailored interventions and the application of the model to designing interventions for other migrant populations are discussed.

Systematic Literature Review of the Impact of Islamic Psychotherapy on Adolescent Spiritual Well-Being

Islamic psychotherapy has been widely utilized in various fields, particularly in psychology, focusing on aspects of aqidah, worship, and morality, which can significantly contribute to individuals' spiritual well-being. Despite the abundance of studies on Islamic psychotherapy, systematic literature reviews on this topic remain scarce. This article aims to review the literature on the impact of Islamic psychotherapy on adolescent spiritual well-being. A qualitative research methodology was employed, involving the collection of documentary data from past studies and the inductive analysis of findings. This systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Articles and related resources were identified through three primary databases: Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The thematic analysis revealed three main themes: mental health, therapeutic approaches and interventions, and well-being. The findings indicate that mental health significantly influences both psychological and physical health issues, necessitating appropriate therapeutic interventions to enhance adolescents' spiritual well-being. This review emphasizes the importance of Islamic psychotherapy in addressing mental health challenges among Muslim  adolescents. Future researchers are encouraged to conduct more comprehensive SLRs with broader scopes, including more significant research questions and diverse databases.

Internalized oppression and deaf people's mental health

Deaf people experience ableism (able-bodied oppression), audism (hearing-ability oppression), and linguicism (sign language-use oppression) and this study investigated if internalizing these oppressive experiences predicts their mental health. Deaf participants (N = 134) completed a 54-item Deaf Oppression Scale, developed for this study with Ableism, Audism, and Linguicism Subtests, along with the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory. The Deaf Oppression Scale and its Ableism, Audism, and Linguicism Subscales carry good reliability and the model fit indices for a confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit. Sixteen (16%) percent (n = 22) of the sample had depression, 36% (n = 48) had state anxiety, and 64% (n = 86) had trait anxiety. Internalized ableism predicted greater characteristics and symptoms of depression, internalized ableism and linguicism predicted greater state anxiety, and internalized audism predicted greater trait anxiety. This is the first empirical evidence dissociating three types of oppression that deaf people experience and their separate and different effects on their psychological well-being.

Internalized Racism and Mental Health: The Moderating Role of Collective Racial Self-Esteem

Internalized racism is the internalization of beliefs about racism and colonization that contribute to the acceptance of negative messaging or stereotypical misrepresentations that inform perceptions about worth and ability. Internalized racism is associated with psychological distress in racially diverse people. Collective racial self-esteem is a potential protective factor that can serve as a moderator in reducing distress and facilitating psychological well-being. The sample for the present study consisted of 526 participants who self-identified as African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Latinx American, or American of Arab or Middle Eastern descent. The researchers used regression with the Process macro to investigate the potential moderating properties of collective racial self-esteem on the relationship between internalized racism and psychological distress in the sample. The findings indicated that specific domains of collective racial self-esteem moderated the internalized racism-psychological distress relationship.

Structural risks and family adjustment in midwestern Latine immigrant families: Extending the family stress model

OBJECTIVES

We tested an extended family stress model of economic hardship (FSM; Conger et al., 2010) incorporating structural risks (discrimination, immigration, and COVID-19 experiences) and qualitative data, to better understand the impact of culturally relevant experiences on family stress processes in rural, immigrant Latine families in the U.S. Midwest.

METHOD

Participants were Latine families (N = 307) with a child aged 10-15 (Mage = 12.21 years, 51.0% boys; 71.5% two parent; 93.1% of caregivers and 29% of youth born outside the United States) Mean household income was 25-30K and 65% of caregivers had less than a high school education. We tested a cross-sectional structural equation model in Mplus and analyzed qualitative interviews with a subsample of mother-youth dyads (n = 19).

RESULTS

COVID-19 experiences predicted economic pressure, and both COVID-19 and discrimination experiences were linked to caregiver psychological distress. Consistent with the FSM, economic pressure predicted psychological distress, which was associated with interparental relationship problems and parenting. Parenting was associated with youth global health. Unexpectedly, interparental relationship problems to parenting were not significant. The indirect association linking COVID-19 experiences to youth global health via psychological distress and parenting was significant. Qualitative data revealed five themes demonstrating how structural and economic risks contributed to distress, conflict, and maladjustment within the family system.

CONCLUSIONS

Culturally relevant structural risks exert a negative influence on family processes in rural Latine immigrant families through contributing to economic pressures and parental distress. The additional impact of these experiences should be considered when addressing the FSM in Latine populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring Sibling Relationship Quality among Latinx Siblings: A Systematic Review

This systematic review addresses the gap in the literature regarding sibling relationship quality among Latinx families, a topic that has not been comprehensively examined to date. This study aimed to synthesize current research on sibling relationship quality in Latinx families, focusing on the influence of cultural factors, identifying key variables associated with sibling relationship quality, and evaluating the methodological approaches used. This paper is a systematic review based on a recently published evidence and gap map (EGM) that identified and visually presented all published studies investigating sibling relationship quality. Additional inclusion criteria were applied to select articles that specifically examined sibling relationship quality in the United States samples with at least 50% Latinx participants. The review included 12 articles representing 6 distinct studies, revealing significant findings on the roles of familism, simpatía, and gender in shaping sibling dynamics. Results indicated that cultural values such as familism and simpatía positively influence sibling intimacy and warmth, while gender dynamics further moderate these relationships. Methodologically, the articles employed longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, utilizing various quantitative measures. The findings underscore the importance of culturally sensitive approaches in studying sibling relationships and highlight the need for further research to explore these dynamics in diverse Latinx subgroups.

"I Can Never Feel Safe": Latinx Youth Voices on Psychosocial Impacts of 287(g) in Georgia

Increasingly, immigration policies are understood as structural determinants, rooted in racism, nativism, and ethnocentrism, which raise serious public health concerns for Latinx adolescents' mental health. Our objective was to examine how immigration policy enforcement affects mental health of Latinx youth raised in a county with an aggressive interior immigration enforcement program. From 2009 to 2021, Gwinnett County, GA, led the nation in deportations under the 287(g) program as a "universal enforcement model," where local law enforcement were deputized to detain undocumented immigrants, primarily through traffic violations. From June to July 2022, we followed a participatory action research approach with two groups of Latinx youth who grew up in Gwinnett County. In total, 10 youth took photos related to the research question, and engaged in facilitated dialogue using photovoice guide SHOWED/VENCER for four, 2-hour sessions that were audio-recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed following grounded theory principles to arrive at a conceptual model codeveloped and validated by youth. Youth described how 287(g) led to policing and deportation in their communities, fueling stereotypes, and discrimination that criminalized Latinx immigrants. Youth linked immigration enforcement policies like 287(g) to exclusionary systems that contributed to fear, marginalization, and loss in their communities, bringing experiences of sadness, grief, isolation, hopelessness, and low self-worth. From youth-driven research, we identified mental health implications of the 287(g) program among Latinx youth. The cascading harms of immigration enforcement policies highlight the need to address these policies and identify immediate strategies to promote Latinx youth mental health.

Dismantling systems of racism and oppression during adolescence: An agenda for anti-racist research

In reflecting on the collection of work in the recent Journal of Research on Adolescence special series and what it means for research to dismantle systems of racism and oppression, we call for adolescent development researchers to embrace anti-racist research. We describe a set of strategies for conceptualizing, conducting, and disseminating research with adolescents using an anti-racist lens. These strategies flow from tenets of anti-racist research that include recognizing racism as systemic and being critically self-reflective on power and privilege, committed to doing no harm to adolescents, action-oriented, and community-centered. Despite obstacles to anti-racist research in academic and public ecosystems, anti-racist research is essential if we are interested in equity in adolescent' development and the well-being of all adolescents.

Dismantling Systems and Improving Contexts to Support the Development of BIPOC Youth

The issue's collection of 17 papers apply a wide range of developmental, contextual, intersectional, and critical perspectives (and their combinations) to promote understanding on how oppressive systems intersect and overlap in detrimental ways for BIPOC youth development. Innovative conceptual models and a variety of methodological techniques advance our understanding of the lived experiences of BIPOC youth who interact daily in contexts such as neighborhoods and educational settings in which racism and anti-immigrant sentiment pervades. Together, the papers in this issue examine the systemic forces at the root of experiences of oppression and advance the field toward improving short and long-term developmental outcomes for BIPOC adolescents.