ABSTRACT
Two studies of Puerto Rican youths' development on the U.S. mainland examined the consequences of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination on mental health. In Study I, children were found to have a low likelihood of perceiving discrimination, whereas in Study 2, nearly half of the adolescent sample reported perceiving racial/ethnic discrimination. Although both groups scored high on multiple indicators of mental health, perceiving discrimination and worrying about discrimination were negatively associated with some dimensions of self-esteem and positively associated with depression and stress. Adolescents were aware of negative stereotypes about Puerto Ricans, and nearly half of them related discriminatory instances. Results suggest that both perceiving discrimination and anxiety regarding discrimination can serve as risk factors for the mental health of this population.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior Disorders/ethnology , Depression/ethnology , Hispanic or Latino/psychology , Prejudice , Self Concept , Stress, Psychological/complications , Acculturation , Adolescent , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Depression/diagnosis , Depression/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Personality Assessment , Social Perception , Stereotyping , Stress, Psychological/psychologyABSTRACT
This study examines self-esteem as a multidimensional construct in 1 Latino subgroup, Puerto Rican girls and boys during early adolescence, using Harter's (1985b) Self-Perception Profile for Children. The results show that in its English and Spanish versions-the latter developed by the present research team-the Self-Perception Profile for Children has adequate reliability for use with 13- to 14-year-old Puerto Rican youth living on the mainland. Results obtained in this study of Puerto Rican early adolescents, which contrasts with the results from the combined data of "Hispanics" in the American Association of University Women (1991) survey of 3,000 youth, strongly suggests that Latino subgroups need to be studied separately. The mean levels of self-esteem found among Puerto Rican girls and boys were generally similar to those found among Harter's sample of predominantly Anglo middle school students from the suburbs of Denver except that Puerto Rican youth did not show gender differences in overall self-esteem. Gender differences in mean levels of self-esteem in different domains were similar to those of Anglo youth, regardless of the Puerto Rican youth's individual level of psychological or behavioral acculturation. When differences by acculturation emerged, psychological acculturation appeared to play a more protective role for girls (Hispanic- or Latino-oriented girls reported being better behaved and having greater confidence in their scholastic abilities) and behavioral acculturation operated as a risk factor for boys (boys with preference for English reported low Behavioral Conduct and Scholastic Competence scores). On the other hand, greater acculturation (both psychological and behavioral) was associated with girls' lower confidence in their physical attractiveness. Finally, the structure of self-esteem varied by gender, and psychological and behavioral acculturation.
ABSTRACT
Most instruments designed to measure acculturation have relied on specific cultural behaviors and preferences as primary indicators of acculturation. In contrast, feelings of belonging and emotional attachment to cultural communities have not been widely used. The Psychological Acculturation Scale (PAS) was developed to assess acculturation from a phenomenological perspective, with items pertaining to the individual's sense of psychological attachment to and belonging within the Anglo-American and Latino/Hispanic cultures. Responses from samples of bilingual individuals and Puerto Rican adolescents and adults are used to establish a high degree of measurement equivalence across the Spanish and English versions of the scale along with high levels of internal consistency and construct validity. The usefulness of the PAS and the importance of studying acculturation from a phenomenological perspective are discussed.
ABSTRACT
The dual-focus approach to creating bilingual research protocols requires a bilingual/bicultural research team, including indigenous researchers from the cultures being studied. The presence of indigenous researchers as full and equal members of the research team can guard against an unexamined exportation of ideas and methods developed in one culture to other cultural/linguistic communities. The team develops the research plan and a research protocol that express a given concept with equal clarity, affect, and level of usage simultaneously in two languages. The dual-focus method employs a concept-driven rather than a translation-driven approach to attain conceptual and linguistic equivalence. Examples of the application of this approach to creating new measures in Spanish and English, adapting existing measures, revising instructions to research participants, and correcting official translations are provided.
