Studies of Multiracial and Hispanic youth

Today, I address two studies, the first of multiracial youth, the second of Hispanic youth. Christophe, Atkin, Williams, Quick, Wu & LOVING Study Collaborative (2023) published “Family-Based and External Discrimination Experienced by Multiracial Individuals: Links to internalizing symptoms and familial support” in Journal of Family Psychology.  Here’s the edited abstract and impact statement:

Multiracial individuals are exposed to many forms of interpersonal racial discrimination, including general discrimination against their monoracial groups and discrimination against being multiracial. Because their families include members of different racial groups, multiracial people may also be exposed to various forms of discrimination from within the family. In the present study, we leverage recent advances in latent profile analysis to identify distinct patterns of family-based and external (i.e., from outside the family unit) discrimination experienced by multiracial college students, the differential impacts of these discrimination patterns on depressive and anxiety symptoms, and whether parental support of participants’ multiracial experiences and identity impacts their exposure to different forms of discrimination. In a sample of 635 diverse multiracial college students (Mage = 21.2, SD = 5.3, range = 18–57, 74.0% female) from three U.S. universities, we identified three distinct discrimination profiles: High External and Familial Discrimination (43.2%), Average External Low Familial Discrimination (32.1%), and Low External and Familial Discrimination (24.7%). Profiles differed in depressive and anxiety symptomatology, with those in the High External and Familial Discrimination profile displaying the worst outcomes. Parental support of multiracial experiences was associated with lower levels of family-based discrimination. The complex relations between parental support, family-based discrimination, and multiracial participants’ internalizing symptomology are discussed. 

Multiracial individuals are already a large population (~10%) and will be the fastest growing racial group in the United States over the next 30+ years. Because these people have membership in multiple racial groups, they have the potential to be the targets of many different types of racial discrimination, including discrimination from family members who do not share their racial background. Understanding the mental health implications of these different patterns of exposures to discrimination, as well as factors that may provide resilience for Multiracial youth, like parents supporting their Multiracial experiences and identities, is crucial to better understand risks that Multiracial people face and how we can intervene and protect them from the negative impacts of these risks.

This is a large college-age sample, though mostly female. I was most disturbed by the finding that more than 42% of these students report high levels of both external and familial discrimination and those students report higher levels of both depression and anxiety. It also makes perfect sense that, when parents support multiracial experiences, kids fare better. The next study looks at Hispanic youth and is published in the same journal. Simpson, Córdova, Lincoln & Ohannessian (2023) published “Hispanic Adolescents’ Internalizing Symptoms and Positive Family Functioning: A bidirectional examination of associations over time” in Journal of Family Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract:

Open communication with parents, defined as perceived ease of adolescent–parent disclosure, and family support are components of positive family functioning linked with fewer adolescent internalizing symptoms. However, relatively little is known about bidirectional pathways over time. Even less is known about bidirectional pathways for Hispanic adolescents or about the role of adolescent and parent gender. Therefore, this study examined bidirectional pathways between positive family functioning and adolescent internalizing symptoms over time in a sample of Hispanic middle school adolescents (N = 340; 51% female, Mage = 13.27 years, SD = .77), who completed surveys in the fall of 2016 (Time 1) and the spring of 2017 (Time 2; N = 284; 52% female). Results indicated that positive family functioning, including open communication with mothers and fathers, predicted fewer depressive symptoms for girls, but not for boys. Open communication with fathers predicted fewer anxiety symptoms for girls and boys. Girls’ depressive symptoms, but not boys’, predicted decreases in open communication with fathers. Boys’ depressive symptoms predicted less family support. Unexpectedly, boys’ anxiety symptoms predicted increased family support. These findings highlight gendered pathways linking family functioning and internalizing symptoms in Hispanic adolescents over time, including the relative importance of open communication with fathers. Gendered findings emphasize the utility of family-based prevention and early intervention programs targeting internalizing symptoms, especially for Hispanic girls. 

This is a fairly large sample, balanced by gender. This study merits replication, due to the complexity of its findings, but it makes very clear that fathers matter. I tend to assume that it is traditional masculine values that lead families to be less supportive of boys who present depressive symptoms. It is intriguing that this is not the case for anxiety symptoms. As we continue to move toward a majority minority population nationwide, it is important that professionals be sensitive to the unique experiences of multiracial and Hispanic youth.