Perceived discrimination and Latina college students' depressive symptoms: The roles of dyadic coping with sisters and familism values.

Latinx young adults' experiences of discrimination are associated with high levels of depressive symptoms and examining protective factors that buffer the negative consequences of discrimination is important. In a sample of 195 Latina college students, predominately of Mexican origin, we examined associations between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms, and how sisters' dyadic coping behaviors and familism values moderated this association. We conducted hierarchical regression analyses to test our study hypotheses. We found that Latina college students who were older sisters reported more conflictual and antagonistic sibling relationships, or who perceived higher levels of discrimination also reported the most depressive symptoms, which supports prior research. Importantly, Latina college students who strongly endorsed supportive, obligatory, and referent familism values reported fewer depressive symptoms. Supportive familism values weakened the association between perceived discrimination and Latina college students' depressive symptoms but strengthened associations between sisters' negative dyadic coping behaviors and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, sisters' negative dyadic coping behaviors strengthened the positive association between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of familism values for Latinx young adults' well-being, as well as the harmful effects of perceived discrimination, particularly in the context of sisters' negative dyadic coping behaviors.

Adolescents' Beliefs about Math Ability and Their Relations to STEM Career Attainment: Joint Consideration of Race/ethnicity and Gender.

Much of the workforce demand in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the United States goes unmet, and females and racial/ethnic minorities are vastly underrepresented in these fields. To understand the psychological antecedents for STEM career attainment, this study took an intersectional approach and examined racial/ethnic and gender differences in youth's math-related ability beliefs-growth mindset, self-concept, and career expectancy-and their longitudinal relations to STEM career attainment. Specifically, the study utilized nationally representative data of 10th graders over 10 years (n ~ = 14,320, Mage = 16.46, 50.4% female; 60.6% White, 15.5% Latinx, 14.1% Black, 9.8% Asian). The results indicated that youth's math-related ability beliefs positively predicted their later STEM career outcomes. Furthermore, female adolescents' math self-concept was more negative than male adolescents among Whites and Latinxs but not among Blacks and Asians. Black adolescents did not fully garner the advantage of having positive self-concept. Finally, high school math achievement did not predict Latina and Black youth's STEM career expectancy. The current findings inform future interventions that different ability beliefs may need to be targeted for each race/ethnicity and gender.

Perceived parental psychological control, familism values, and Mexican American college students' adjustment.

OBJECTIVES: Drawing from cultural ecological and risk and resilience perspectives, we investigated associations among Mexican American college students' perceptions of mothers' and fathers' psychological control and familism values, and college students' adjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms and self-esteem). Additionally, we examined how familism values moderated the relations between perceived psychological control and college students' adjustment. METHODS: Participants were 186 Mexican American college students (78.5% women; Mage = 21.56 years), and data were collected using self-report online surveys. RESULTS: Using path analyses, we found that perceived maternal psychological control was positively associated and familism values were negatively associated with college students' depressive symptoms. Additionally, perceived paternal psychological control was negatively associated with college students' self-esteem when college students reported low, but not high, familism values. CONCLUSION: Findings highlight the importance of family relationships for Mexican American college students and the significance of examining these relationships within this cultural context. (PsycINFO Database Record

Latino adolescents' academic success: the role of discrimination, academic motivation, and gender.

Guided by the academic resilience perspective, the current longitudinal study examined whether academic motivation mediated the relation between Latino adolescents' (N=221) experiences with discrimination and their academic success. The potential moderating role of gender was also examined. Using multiple group analysis in structural equation modeling, findings indicated that perceived discrimination at Wave 2 significantly predicted academic motivation at Waves 2 and 3 for boys but not girls. Additionally, for boys, academic motivation significantly mediated the relation between perceived discrimination and academic success. Findings underscore the importance of considering the long-term implications of discrimination for Latino boys' academic success. Furthermore, findings encourage moving beyond the examination of gender differences in specific academic outcomes (e.g., academic success) and focusing on how the processes leading to academic success vary by gender.