Stress and Coping: Latino Youth Coming of Age in a New Latino Destination

Abstract

Previous research has linked stress to adverse mental health outcomes among Latino adolescents living in the United States. The mechanism through which this process operates continues to be explored, especially in regions of the country where Latin American immigrants and their children have only recently begun to migrate. Our study aimed to contextualize the processes of stress and coping among Latino adolescents growing up in an emerging Latino destination in the US—North Carolina (NC). All adolescents in our study were either the first or second generation children of immigrants from Latin American countries including Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. We employed a longitudinal qualitative design, conducting in-depth interviews with 12 parent-adolescent dyads during each adolescent’s first year of high school (2006–2007) and four years later (2009–2010). We identified four stress-coping trajectories that varied on the following dimensions: primary sources of stress, buffers countering these stressors, coping approaches and the effects of these processes on adolescents’ striving for socioeconomic mobility. Our findings underscore the interplay between family, school, and community environments within an emerging Latino destination.

Introduction

Latino adolescents, defined in this study as children of Latin American immigrants to the U.S., are exposed to numerous factors that place strains on their mental wellbeing (Brown, Meadows, & Elder, 2007; Gonzales, Suárez-Orozco, & Dedios-Sanguineti, 2013). Multiple studies of Latino adolescents have confirmed a link between stress and poor mental health (Brown et al., 2007). Moreover, one longitudinal study by Adkins and colleagues (2009) found that Latino youth are more sensitive to the long-term mental health effects of stress than their white non-Latino counterparts.

In part, as a result of stress, Latino adolescents often report more prevalent and severe depression rates than other U.S. race/ethnic groups (Brown et al., 2007). However, these rates vary by gender, immigrant generation, legal status, and U.S. region. First, Latino women, referred to as Latinas, experience depressive symptoms and attempt suicide at higher rates than men (Zayas, 2013). Second, second- (i.e. US-born children with at least one foreign-born parent) and third-generation (i.e. US-born children with US-born parents) Latino children report poorer mental health outcomes than their first-generation, foreign-born counterparts (Harker, 2001). Third, among first-generation Latino youth, undocumented youth and youth with undocumented parents have higher risk of depressive symptoms than youth legally residing in the United States (Dreby, 2010; Landale, Hardie, Oropesa, & Hillemeier, 2015; Potochnick & Perreira 2010). Finally, recent evidence suggests that youth growing up in new Latino destinations (i.e. places where few Latinos have previously settled) suffer from worse mental health outcomes than their counterparts in more established Latino destinations (Potochnick, Perreira, & Fuligni, 2012).

Focusing on one new Latino destination state in the Southeast (i.e. North Carolina), this study sought to understand Latino adolescents’ exposures and behavioral responses to stressors during a four-year period. For some, this period marked the duration of their secondary education. For others, it marked their entry into the workforce, separation from parents, the birth of children, and other milestones of early adulthood. Specifically, we aimed to: (1) describe the stressors experienced by Latino children of immigrants as they entered and exited high school, (2) identify the family, school, and community resources that they utilized as buffers against these stressors, and (3) understand the coping strategies that they employed to adapt to stressors in their environments. We then demonstrate how stressors, buffers, and coping strategies combine to allow some Latino adolescents to overcome stress, build resiliency and achieve upward socioeconomic mobility while others succumb to their burdens and risk downward socioeconomic mobility.

This study contributes to the literature on migration from Latin America and the adaptation of children of immigrants in three important ways. First, we contribute to a small but growing literature on the adaptation of Latino children of immigrants residing in new Latino destinations. Most research on this topic has been set in established Latino destinations such as California, Illinois, and Boston (Landale et al., 2015; Sánchez, Esparza, Colón, & Davis, 2010; Suárez-Orozco et al., 2010). Second, we contribute to the literature on understanding the transition from adolescence to adulthood among Latino children of immigrants (e.g., Abrego & Gonzales, 2010; Ko & Perreira, 2010). In particular, we study a group of Latino adolescents coming of age in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession. Our study sheds light on ecological factors and individual responses in this developmental stage, which influence identity development (Arnett, 2000), health behavior (Ojeda & Liang, 2014), and socioeconomic mobility (Basáñez, et al., 2014). Third, we contribute to the literature on stress and coping. Previous research among Latino youth has studied the effects of stress on well-being and educational attainment using cross-sectional and/or quantitative approaches (Choo, 2012; DeGarmo & Martinez, 2006). In contrast, our study’s longitudinal and qualitative approach uses participants’ own words to highlight the ways that stress and coping affect their lives during high school.

Theoretical Considerations

This study integrates an Ecological Model of Child Development with a Stress Process Model to understand how family, school, and community environments in which Latino youth grow-up shape the stresses they experience, the resources available to them to counter these stresses, and the coping strategies that they adopt. The ecological model argues that Latino youth’s adaptation and development is influenced by multiple contextual factors (e.g., how supportive their families are, the resources available at their schools, and their communities’ attitudes towards Latinos) (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Thus, our analysis of stress processes in Latino adolescents considers how these processes unfold in families, schools, and communities within a new Latino destination.

New Latino destinations such as North Carolina (NC) are marked by low historical populations of Latinos and a rapid growth in these populations. Between 1990 and 2010 NC’s Latino population grew by 944% to nearly 800,000 (Perreira, 2011). In comparison to established destinations, new Latino destinations are also marked by an absence of co-ethnic enclaves and limited infrastructure to support the adaptation of Latino immigrants and their children (Potochnick, Perreira & Fuligni, 2012). Though many communities in NC welcomed their new Latino residents, previous research also suggests that youth settling in NC, especially rural areas of NC, perceived and experienced a greater likelihood of discrimination due to their race/ethnicity than those in established destinations such as Los Angeles, California (Potochnick, Perreira & Fuligni, 2012). Additionally, undocumented youth in NC are prohibited from receiving in-state tuition to attend public university and community colleges in the state, a fact that makes many of these youth feel unwelcome and unable to improve their socioeconomic circumstances (Gill, 2010). Consequently, adolescents in new destinations such as NC may experience greater stress while at the same time having access to fewer resources to protect them from its harmful effects.

During the duration of this study (2006–2010), Latino youth in NC were also exposed to heighted stress associated with a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment and the implementation of new immigration enforcement activities. Section 287g of the Immigration and Nationality Act extended immigration enforcement and surveillance powers to local police (Gill, 2010; Jones-Correa & Fennelly, 2009). Additionally, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) began to conduct workplace raids and residential “sweeps” to identify, detain, and ultimately deport undocumented immigrants. In NC, these immigration enforcement actions had a negative effect on the well-being of Latino families living in both the rural and urban areas at the time of our study (Gill, 2010; Jones-Correa & Fennelly, 2009). In the children of Latino immigrants, these activities have been associated with stress, poorer school functioning, and mental health problems (Brabeck & Xu, 2010).

Useful in understanding how mental health disparities arise in society, the Stress Process Model posits that stress arises as Latino youth grapple with the values and rules espoused by the social institutions (i.e. family, school, and community) in which they are embedded (Pearlin, 1989). In Latino families, stress can stem from family obligations associated with collectivist values (Fuligni, 2001), gender norms circumscribing appropriate roles for adolescent males and females (Suárez-Orozco & Qin, 2006), discrimination in their schools and communities (Gonzales et al., 2013; Viruell-Fuentes, 2007), and concerns about their or their parents’ legal status (Dreby, 2010). Stressors unique to Latino youth can be further compounded by normative sources of stress (e.g., romantic relationships) that form part of the transition to adulthood (Arnett, 2000).

Stress, however, does not necessarily result in poor mental health. First, individuals can use internal or personal (e.g. self-esteem or ethnic identity), family, peer, school, and community resources to buffer the harmful effects of stress (Thoits, 1999). Second, individuals can develop cognitive and behavioral coping strategies to reduce stress’ harmful effects (Pearlin, 1989). These coping strategies can be either adaptive or maladaptive (Thompson et al., 2010). For example, adaptive coping in adolescents can involve actively utilizing social support and resources in their communities; whereas maladaptive coping might involve self-medication through alcohol or drug use. Ultimately, the combinations of stressors, buffers, and coping strategies that adolescents adopt can affect their socioeconomic mobility, especially their graduation from high school and entry into college or the labor market (Basáñez et al., 2014; DeGarmo & Martinez, 2006).

Methods

Data

We used qualitative interview data collected for the Southern Immigrant Academic Adaptation (SIAA) study, a multi-site, mixed-methods study designed to understand the high school experiences of the first- and second-generation Latino children of immigrants who settled in NC in the early 1990s. The SIAA study collected survey data from 239 first-year students enrolled in high school in 2006–07 and 219 students in 2009–10. While efforts were made to track students who had moved or dropped out, of the students surveyed in 2006–07 (Wave 1), only 92 remained in their same schools and were surveyed again in 2009–2010.

Survey participants were chosen from 5 rural and 4 urban high schools selected using a random sample stratified by urban-rural school district. From each high school, the research team recruited all interested first-year students who had at least one parent born in Latin America. From among those surveyed, two mother-adolescent dyads were randomly selected per school to participate in an open-ended interview, one with a female adolescent and the other with a male adolescent. This yielded a total of 18 dyads at baseline (T1). In 2009–10 (T2), an effort was made to contact all 18 youth and their mothers for a second interview. Of the 18 mother-adolescent dyads interviewed in 2006–07, we were able to contact and re-interview 12 adolescents and 11 mothers. One female adolescent was estranged from her family and living with a male romantic partner at T2. Six T1 participants (2 girls and 4 boys) had moved away and could not be found. This analysis focuses on the 24 interviews we conducted with 12 of our adolescents in both 2006–07 and 2009–10. Data from maternal interviews were not the focus of this study.

Procedures

At both T1 and T2, parent and adolescent in-depth interviews were conducted simultaneously, in separate rooms of participants’ homes by one of two bilingual interviewers. Interviews were conducted in Spanish, English, and mixtures of both languages, as desired by the respondent. Interviews of adolescents included open-ended questions regarding their school experiences, work experiences, relationships with peers and family, stressors in their life, strategies for coping with these stressors, and their aspirations and expectations for their own future. Parents were asked a similar set of open-ended questions about their adolescent’s school experiences, work experiences, relationships with peers and family, stressors in their life, strategies for coping with these stressors, and their aspirations and expectations for their child’s future. Sample interview questions are provided in an online supplement. All interviews lasted between 1–2 hours and were digitally recorded and transcribed in their original language. Participants received a gift card valued at $15 for their participation in the study. All procedures were approved by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institutional Review Board.

Participants

While participants in our sample were from low-income backgrounds, our sample was heterogeneous along other demographic dimensions (Table 1). Five were U.S-born second generation immigrants, and seven were foreign-born with 2–9 years residing in the U.S. Foreign-born youth had migrated to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. One half of the adolescents spoke English fluently and chose to conduct their interviews in English, and the other half chose to conduct their interviews in Spanish or a mixture of Spanish and English. Most of the adolescents’ parents had a high school education or less and chose to complete the qualitative interview in Spanish. Though not asked directly about their legal immigration status, seven youth indicated that either they or their mother was undocumented. The majority (8 of 12) lived in two-parent families.

Table 1.

Description of Adolescents and Parents.

Teen’s Pseudonym	Mother’s Pseudonym	Setting	Mother’s Age at US Entry	Parents’ Country of Origin	Parents’ Marital Status	Parent’s Education	Teen’s Sex	Teen’s Years in US	Teen’s Age at T1	Teen’s Country of Birth	Trajectory
José	Maria*	Rural	< 18	Mexico	Married	Elementary	Male	14	14	US	Protected
Diego	Gloria*	Rural	Over 18	Mexico	Single	Graduated HS	Male	15	15	US	Protected
Joséfina	Sobrina	Rural	Over 18	Guatemala & Chile	Married	None	Female	9	16	Guatemala	Americanized
Alaia	Sandra	Urban	Over 18	Colombia & US	Married	Graduated College	Female	14	14	US	Americanized
Jessica*	Flor*	Rural	Over 18	Mexico	Married	Elementary	Female	2	14	Mexico	Americanized
Kelsey	Kristie	Rural	N/A	US & El Salvador	Single	Some HS	Female	15	15	US	Americanized
Maria*	Ruth*	Rural	Over 18	Honduras	Single	Some HS	Female	5	14	Honduras	Resilient
Juan*	Ana Maria*	Rural	Over 18	Honduras	Married	Some HS	Male	3	15	Honduras	Resilient
Kent*	Gloria*	Urban	Over 18	Mexico	Married	None	Male	8	16	Mexico	Consumed
Jennifer	Raquel	Urban	< 18	El Salvador	Married	Elementary	Female	9	16	El Salvador	Consumed
Susy*	Yesenia*	Urban	Over 18	Mexico	Married	Some HS	Female	4	14	Mexico	Consumed
Poncho	Maria	Rural	Over 18	Honduras & Mexico	Single	Graduated HS	Male	14	14	US	Consumed

Notes: Student/parent indicated they were undocumented during interview (*)

Analysis

Following Miles and Huberman (1994), preliminary analyses took place concurrently with data collection, and the research team simultaneously coded both parent and adolescent interviews. The research team met after each interview to discuss what they learned and develop thematic codes. Codes were developed collectively by the team, and interviews were then coded individually using Atlas.ti Version 6.0. Through this process, tentative disagreements could be resolved as the coding scheme was created.

After the completion of the initial round of coding, the research team then worked together to evaluate relationships between codes using a “connecting” approach that explored contiguity within cases (Maxwell & Miller, 2008). For each adolescent, we wrote a detailed life history and summarized key events, stressors, and buffers in these life histories with a timeline. This helped us consider the timing and sequencing of major events throughout childhood and adolescence. Though data from their mothers’ interviews were not the focus of this study, they were utilized to help fill in these life histories and timelines when key pieces of information were missing from the adolescent’s interview. Finally, we compared across participants (Maxwell & Miller, 2008) to identify common patterns of stress and coping. Throughout our analysis we considered gender differences and looked for negative examples and contradictions, all of which added nuance to our findings.

Though SIAA survey data were not utilized in developing the qualitative analysis, the data do provide information on certain types of stressors youth experienced and of the buffers available to them. Thus, we have summarized relevant data from the 239 students who participated in the 2006–07 survey (Wave 1) and the 219 students who participated in the 2009–10 survey (Wave 2). These data help provide some insight into how the experiences of Latino adolescent youth in our qualitative, longitudinal sample were reflected in the broader sample completing surveys at the start and end of high school. Descriptions of the survey measures, their means, and their standard deviations are available in an on-line supplement.

Results

We identified four stress-coping trajectories labeled as follows: (1) Protected, (2) Americanized, (3) Resilient, and (4) Consumed. Following our theoretical frameworks, each stress-coping trajectory was characterized by a set of stressors (individual, family and school/community), buffers (individual, family and school/community), coping strategies, and socioeconomic expectations (Figure 1). We viewed graduation from high school and/or having immediate plans to attend college as markers for upward socioeconomic mobility, while dropping out of high school and having no immediate plans to attend college signaled the possibility of flat or downward socioeconomic mobility. Figure 2 provides examples of timelines for each trajectory. Events depicted include stressors (light gray), buffers (dark gray) and milestones (white). Events on the timeline between 1990 and 2006 come from adolescents’ first interviews (T1); events between 2006 and 2010 come from the second interviews (T2). As we discuss each of these trajectories below, we discuss, in turn, stressors, buffers, coping strategies, and youth’s expected socioeconomic mobility.

Figure 1.

Summary of Stress Trajectory Parameters

Figure 2.

Adolescents’ Life Histories

Note: Events depicted include stressors (light gray), buffers (dark gray), and key milestones (white).

The Protected Trajectory: “We help each other out…it’s basically the whole team”

At T1, parents expected that their children would graduate, enjoy all of the opportunities they had lacked growing up, and maintain close ties to their culture. Maria, the mother of José, summarized this expectation well saying,

I want him to have a job and a future [so] that he’s not like us, where we work all the time earning the minimum…That’s what I ask of him: a nice family, educated, and like I have raised him and have taught him, the customs and the roots. That’s what I expect of him. (Maria, José’s mother, T1)

For two US-born, males in rural NC, José and Diego, this expectation was fulfilled. They fell into what we labeled the “Protected Trajectory”—referencing the fact that parents, teachers, coaches, and peers protected them from the harmful effects of stress (Figure 1).

José’s life history (Figure 2, panel A) serves as an example of this trajectory. His primary source of stress at the start of high school (T1) stemmed from the realization that his parents were undocumented. Although he was a U.S. citizen, he worried about his parents and their potential deportation:

You hear the news that there might be an amnesty. [My parents] get really happy. And when they hear that they decided not to, they [parents] get really, just sort of depressed and stuff…Sometimes, I feel the same way as they do. (José, T1)

In contrast to José, Diego described racial/ethnic tensions in school as his primary source of stress:

Well in middle school, we was like all cool n’ stuff, but then some dudes, white dudes, just started talking stuff about Mexicans n’ stuff. And we get mad, you know, when we hear people talking crazy stuff. (Diego, T1)

Diego’s account of racial/ethnic tensions in school was not rare. In fact, 21% of adolescents (N=219) reported having experienced race/ethnicity-based discrimination from peers or adults during high school.

For both José and Diego, stress also arose from their family obligations. José, for instance, began working his 8^th grade year. In an earnest tone, he described how these obligations were part of his responsibility to his parents:

I like to help them [my parents] out so they don’t have to work…They’ve worked their whole lives for me and for my brothers. I wanna help them. Buy them what they need, what they want. (José, T1)

His sentiments were reflected among our survey participants. Forty-three percent of SIAA Wave 1 youth (N=239) said that they should be contributing to their families frequently or almost always, and 83% said that it was somewhat to very important that they help support their families in the future. As Diego described, these obligations were sometimes taxing:

I used to get home tired, and I didn’t want to do nothing. So, I just took a bath and fell asleep. It’s hard work! My parents just tell me to stop and rest. (Diego, T2)

At the same time, José and Diego noted that their sense of obligation stemmed from a deep empathy and respect for their parents. Thus, their family obligations were not just stressful; they were also motivating in ways that helped these youth buffer the stress they faced.

In addition to the buffering effects of family, youth in the Protected trajectory had access to buffers stemming from their participation in high school soccer teams. Soccer helped them cope with stress by actively engendering support from teachers, coaches, and peers. For José, soccer became a source of self-esteem (as his team succeeded regionally), a way to connect with his father (as his father invested countless hours helping him train), and a safe place to explore independence (as the team travelled for tournaments). For Diego, soccer endeared him to coaches and teachers who developed a vested interest in his success. Even among classmates, positive stereotypes about his Latino ethnicity and soccer skills built confidence and a strong positive sense of ethnic identity. José summed up the buffering effects of soccer saying,

We [the soccer team] just talk about school… We help each other out. If somebody did bad, we tell them what they could do to get better and stuff. That’s basically it. And he [the coach] gets on us sometimes for stuff we do that he don’t like…It’s basically the whole team. We’re all Hispanics. (José, T1)

As shown in our timeline of José’s life (Figure 2, panel A), José achieved significant milestones at expected ages (e.g., graduating near age 18), and he gradually transitioned into independence and autonomy from his parents. Though their parents were undocumented, both José and Diego were U.S. citizens by birth and received encouragement from adults in their schools to develop their career interests in graphic design and computer science, respectively. By T2, José had graduated high school and been accepted to two universities. Diego was in his last semester and anticipated entering college. In T2, José’s mother reflected on her unwavering support for her son. She became emotional and noted:

From the moment you come to this country, you struggle so much…but you say to yourself, ‘I do this for my sons, so they don’t suffer like I did.’ I have my whole life invested in him [José]. I imagine him being a big, attractive, intelligent man, with his suit and his tie. (Maria, José’s mother, T2)

The Americanized Trajectory: “Her thoughts are about becoming American”

Four females—Josefina, Jessica, Alaia, and Kelsey—defined our second trajectory (Figure 1). These young women experienced many of the same stressors as the young men in the Protected trajectory, but they emphasized their parents’ high educational expectations as a primary source of support buffering them against these stressors. Moreover, faced with discrimination and negative stereotypes about Latinas, these young women coped by aiming to fit in and selectively embracing American identities.

Josefina’s life history (Figure 2, panel B) presents a vivid example of how stress-coping played out in this trajectory. At T1, she described disappointment at the number of Latina peers who dropped out of school to get married or have children and the stress she felt as she tried to counter this negative stereotype. She said,

Honestly, I don’t think I’ll finish high school…you hear that girls do crazy stuff. Go with boyfriends whatever, and I’m afraid que [that] I’m gonn’a do the same thing… It’s like, I quit mis esperanzas de ir a [my hopes of going to] college. (Josefina, T1)

Josefina and the other three women in this trajectory also described high levels of stress associated with race/ethnic tensions in school and with family conflicts at home.

People say a lot of racist things. Like if it’s a Mexican and they drop their stuff, they’ll be like ‘wetback, can you please get it?’…And they don’t understand my mama. She’s like, I was about to say crazy [laughs] but…she don’t let things go…she’s more strict. (Alaia, T1)

While participants in the Americanized Trajectory faced high levels of stress, they also identified many supportive resources to buffer them from stress’ harmful effects. Their parents not only set high academic expectations for them but also provided high levels of academic encouragement and support despite, in some cases, significant language barriers. Flor, Jessica’s mother, described going to every parent-teacher meeting:

I sit there listening. Sometimes I tell my nephew to go because he understands what they’re saying. I’d like to be able to understand them! (Flor, Jessica’s mother, T1)

From Jessica’s perspective, these meetings reinforced the value her parents placed on her education and her need to achieve academically. Describing one such meeting, Jessica noted:

They [my parents] just talked to the teachers. They said I was a good student, and that I should keep studying hard, that they’re expecting the best. (Jessica, T1)

Like Jessica and her peers, 21% of Wave 1 SIAA survey respondents indicated that parents frequently to almost always expected them to do well academically.

Unlike the young men in the Protected Trajectory, however, women in this Americanized Trajectory did not always find strength in their Latino ethnic identities. This loss of a strong sense of ethnic belonging occurred among other SIAA participants. At Wave 1 (N=239), 15 % had low to very low sense of ethnic affirmation and belonging. At T1, Josefina had a large network of Latino peers and spoke mostly Spanish. By T2, she spoke English only and had developed an accent characteristic of the rural South. Her junior year, she decided to socialize with white peers at her school, as she believed that they, not her Latina peers, would best support her aspirations to attend college. She told us,

I don’t talk to many Hispanics no more. I’m more to white people, you can say. They [Latinos] don’t focus on school, and I guess they were a bad influence for me…They party every weekend. Their grades are real bad, so I just didn’t like that. So I guess I just got away from it. (Josefina, T2)

Having fully embraced an American identity, she accepted the pejorative characterization by one teacher calling her a “coconut,”

They call me a coconut because I’m brown from the outside and white from the inside…My drama teacher, she was like, ‘You’re a coconut.’ I’m like, ‘oh.’…I mean, I guess it’s true. (Josefina, T2)

While Josefina vehemently embraced her new American identity, the other young women in this trajectory simply aimed to fit-in through their language use, friendships, and dress. For example, over the course of the study, Jessica learned English and developed a racially diverse group of friends. As she was about to graduate high school, her mother noted,

Well, she’s Mexican, but her thoughts are about becoming American…But she hasn’t changed her way of being. (Flor, Jessica’s mother, at T2)

Jessica, in fact, noted that being Mexican was important to her but “becoming an American” would create opportunities for her future. Thus, she was trying to balance maintaining Latino ethnic identity while also selectively adopting aspects of Americanization.

By T2, the women in this trajectory were finishing high school and exploring local colleges. Americanization reinforced their connections to their schools, peers, and teachers. By Americanizing (in part or in full), they managed the stress of discrimination and stereotyping. They viewed fitting in as a way to pursue upward socioeconomic mobility.

The Resilient Trajectory: “We have to work now, to have the rewards in the future”

Youth in the Resilient Trajectory (Figure 1), Maria and Juan, faced the same discrimination, negative stereotypes, and concerns about their and their parents’ legal status that youth in the previous two trajectories faced. In addition, they faced unique traumas (e.g., physical abuse) that had the potential to derail their academic goals. We call this pair, “resilient” to highlight their ability to overcome challenging circumstances and complete high school. However, as undocumented youth, their resilience was not sufficient to set them on a course for upward socioeconomic mobility.

We use Maria’s life history (Figure 2, panel C) as an example of this trajectory. Maria was born in Honduras. Her mother, Ruth, was a victim of domestic violence and divorced Maria’s father in Honduras. After the divorce, Ruth migrated to the U.S. in 1996 without documentation. When Maria migrated to the U.S. at the age of 9, she was undocumented and had lived apart from her mother for 6 years, with her grandmother as her primary caregiver.

After arriving in the U.S., Maria, like other teens we interviewed, experienced discrimination and felt marginalized. In her own words,

When I came to North Carolina, there were only Mexicans…, and I was Honduran. I was crying in the office because I wanted to go home…My friends told me that I shouldn’t say I was Honduran because people would do I don’t know what to me… I don’t know, for some reason [whites] got something against me…because I’m Hispanic. (Maria, T1)

At the same time, she endured trauma beyond that of other teens. In 2002, she was raped and physically abused by her stepfather in the US. Reflecting on this experience, her mother said:

My daughter lived through hell. He [stepfather] abused her, hit her … [Maria] says he raped her. She told the school, the counselor (Ruth, Maria’s mother, T1)

A year later, her stepfather and mother separated, and her stepfather was imprisoned at the time of the study. Additionally, Maria experienced stress associated with her and her mother’s undocumented status. According to Maria, police in her town would park in predominantly Latino neighborhoods, waiting to pull over members of the community. She chose not to drive out of fear of deportation, but this added to her daily stress as she faced challenges getting around town.

Juan echoed Maria’s frustrations with discrimination by commenting,

They [African-American classmates] told me that I can’t be in this country, that me and my family have to leave here because this isn’t our country…If I was in Honduras, it would be different! (Juan, T1)

His frustrations were further accentuated by workplace raids that occurred in his community at the time of his second interview. Like Maria and her mother, both he and his mother were undocumented. Describing the fear he felt, he said:

They’re picking up Hispanics who don’t have papers and deporting them to their countries. I would like them to stop doing the [immigration] raids. You’re just driving, and they stop you and take you in!…A friend of mine went out on Saturday, and they took him in. Just like that, he was deported. (Juan, T2)

Like Maria, Juan described a traumatic experience that marked his life. At age seven, a hurricane and largescale flood in Honduras devastated his family. He recounted:

To see all that and say, ‘I had everything and now because of this, we’re back where we started.’…Everything it [the river] touched, it carried away. I was on a mattress. They put a mattress up high for the children, and the adults tried to do something so the water wouldn’t fill the house, but it was useless. (Juan, T1)

Juan described how painful this experience had been for his mother. He described how the experience motivated her to migrate to the U.S. and leave him behind with his grandmother.

Despite these challenges, both Maria and Juan kept a positive outlook on life and found strength by finding community in their churches. Church was a resource for many Latino youth. Fifty-one percent of participants in the Wave 1 SIAA survey (N=239) attended church at least once per week. Describing his place of worship, Juan looks serene as he says,

It’s beautiful because they teach you to be disciplined. They teach you all you need to do to be a good person…Luckily, there are a lot of people from there [Honduras] who have come here, and we all go to church together. (Juan, T1)

Additionally, they found strength in the understanding and support of teachers at school. As stated by Maria,

If I feel that I need a lot of help, I go to the English teachers who have English III or IV or AP, to the most advanced. And I go see them, and they help me. (Maria, T1)

Among Wave 1 SIAA survey participants, 70% indicated that adults in their school encouraged their education frequently to almost always. Without this type of encouragement, adolescents like Maria and Juan might have dropped out.

Finally, they found strength in the understanding and support of their mothers, their strong sense of ethnic identity, and their high self-esteem. Juan comments,

She [mother] supports me in everything I do. She tries to help me with my homework, and when I’m doing well she congratulates me… They say family is the best thing there is, and they’ve showed me it’s true. (Juan, T1)

Juan further reflects,

A better future is waiting for me as long as I keep up with school. That makes me more motivated in my life I think. (Juan, T1)

Overall, Juan and Maria coped by finding meaning and purpose in their lives. This strong sense of purpose was shared by a minority (11%) of other Latino adolescents at Wave 2 (N=219), but it was a potentially important buffer for those who developed it. Juan’s sense of meaning and purpose came in part from his desire to support his mother. He commented,

I don’t like watching my mother work so hard. I want to work for her, but at school…But to go to the university I have to have papers. (Juan, T1)

He was also motivated by feelings of constant police surveillance to become politically active by joining a Latino organization advocating for changes in U.S. immigration tactics. In addition, he envisioned one day going back to Honduras with the goal of starting a soccer club to keep young men out of gangs.

Maria’s sense of meaning and purpose stemmed from a desire to help other Latinos in her community. In thinking about her future and the future of Latinos in her community more generally, Maria thought that education was essential. At T1, she noted:

If we [Latinos] don’t try to learn, there’s no way we’ll make it out of here…If we want to work like field hands in farms, be all ugly and wrinkled when we’re old, then quit studying. But if we want to be comfortable, we have to work now to have the rewards in the future. (Maria, T1)

Asked about her aspirations at T2, Maria focused on being able to help others:

I’ll see how it goes, but I wanna help people. I go to my mom, and I’m like, ‘Why am I like that, that I wanna help people and don’t really have anything myself?’ And she’s like, ‘Well because maybe if you did have a lot of stuff, you would want more for you and not for others.’(Maria, T2)

Despite their positive outlook, both Juan and Maria were beginning to slide into a path leading to downward socioeconomic mobility in T2. Though she remained enrolled in school, was a straight-A student, and was on-track to graduate, Maria had a baby at age 15 (after T1), moved in with her partner at age 16, and had no immediate plans to enroll in college. Meanwhile, citing his mother’s job loss due to the 2008 Great Recession, Juan had decided to drop out of high school and had begun working full-time to support his family. Nevertheless, he was completing a GED preparation course in night school and receiving vocational training in mechanics. He too had no plans to enroll in college, believing, erroneously, that colleges in NC did not admit undocumented immigrants.

The Consumed Trajectory: “If he [my dad] was involved with me, I think I would have kept going, but he never told me nothing”

In stark contrast to adolescents in all of the other trajectories, those in the final trajectory—Kent, Poncho, Suzy, and Jennifer—felt a lack of support from their families. Consumed by coping with the stress of daily life, these young men and women had no energy left to consider the future. Thus, we label this trajectory the Consumed Trajectory (Figure 1).

Using Kent’s life history as an example (Figure 2, panel D), youth in this trajectory experienced greater stress than those in the Protected or Americanized trajectories. Like youth in the Resilient trajectory, many of them also had traumatic experiences that defined them. Kent refused to talk about witnessing his sister drown, but his mother said:

[holding back tears] He [Kent] thinks we don’t love him because we left him in Mexico when it [the drowning] happened. He says, ‘You’re not my mom! You have no right to tell me what to do!’… I know it hurts him. (Gloria, Kent’s mother, T2)

Unlike the youth in the Resilient trajectory, these Consumed youth lacked the family resources and support system to buffer them from stressors and help them to cope. They felt isolated from their families. This sense of isolation from one’s family was rare among other Latino youth. Only 11% of Wave 1 SIAA survey respondents (N=239) reported a low or very low sense of family belonging. Kent talked about how his parents rarely spoke to him, though he felt that they cared about him:

Nothing changes, though…I mean we [parents and I] still love each other and stuff, but we don’t talk. (Kent, T2)

Suzy described what she perceived to be more deliberate parental neglect:

It’s really hard! Sometimes I do my math homework, and I tell my dad that I need his help. But he comes home really tired from work, and he doesn’t want to help me. My mom, I don’t ask anything. (Suzy, T1)

Their parents worked full-time and sometimes multiple jobs, having to leave their children to spend most of their days, after school or in the summer, at home, unsupervised and alone.

Isolated from their families, they turned to their peers for support. The women in this trajectory turned towards boyfriends and aspired to establish their own families. For instance, when asked about her plans after graduation, Jennifer responded:

I’ll probably just go live with my boyfriend, if I have one [smiles shyly]…I don’t really know what kinds of things my family will be doing. I don’t tell them nothin’ ‘cause I don’t have nothin’ to tell them. (Jennifer, T1)

The men in this trajectory, turned towards delinquent peers, engaged in substance use, and sometimes had violent conflicts with teachers or peers at their schools. For example, Poncho described multiple conflicts with peers. Recalling one such conflict, he said,

One day, he [peer] wanted to hit me, and my girl got in the way, and he almost hit her. That got me pissed off, so I fought him…[whispers]The police got me, so now I’m on record with the police.(Poncho, T1)

By T2, all of the youth in this trajectory had dropped out of high school. Kent and Poncho were arrested and were expelled from school—Kent, due to a drug-related charge and Poncho, for fighting with a teacher. Meanwhile, Suzy and Jennifer were mothers and lived with their romantic partners.

Though none of the youth were pursuing alternative educational pathways such as the GED or vocational training, they did share some regrets. Attributing his current situation to his parents’ lack of support, Kent reflected:

I’ve been taking for granted, like, education and stuff. I should have kept going… If he [my dad] was involved with me, I think I would have kept going, but he never told me nothing. He never told me, ‘you have homework to do!’ (Kent, T2)

Believing his expulsion was beyond his control, Poncho commented:

Well, I don’t ever get stressed out about it. I’m not a stressed out kind of person. I mostly just go to sleep [laughs]…I get really sleepy, and I just forget about it. You can’t do nothing about it. (Poncho, T2)

Frustrated with her inability to find a job in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession, Jessica summarized her economic situation saying,

Right now, its’ kind of hard because nobody is kind of hiring right now… [Boyfriend] already applied for a lot of jobs, and nobody, like, calls him. (Jennifer, T2)

Overall, these youth coped with the stress in their lives, and the lack of support systems to buffer them from that stress, by escaping. Moving out, dropping out, and banding together with delinquent peers were all forms of escape. Consequently, among all the youth in our study, they were at highest risk of downward socioeconomic mobility.

Discussion and Conclusions

Grounded in an Ecological Perspective of Child Development and the Stress Process Model, we examined stress, coping, and socioeconomic mobility during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Overall, our study demonstrates how the Stress Process Model can be combined with an Ecological Perspective of Child Developed to illuminate how stressors and buffers within families, schools, and the broader community shape the adaptation of immigrant youth. Those who coped by seeking support, fitting in, and finding purpose were better positioned to pursue upward socioeconomic mobility than those who coped by attempting to escape stressful circumstances. Our analysis supports three main conclusions.

First, youth in new destinations like NC faced stressors similar to those faced by youth in established destinations—undocumented legal status, discrimination, negative stereotypes, and family obligations. As argued by Portes and Fernandez-Kelley (2008) and others (e.g., Abrego & Gonzales, 2010; Stone & Han, 2005), the low socioeconomic status of their families, their exposure to discrimination at school, and the lack of legal status for some, threatened their capacity to achieve the upward socioeconomic mobility that they desired.

Second, many Latino youth developed strategies to overcome these stressors and strive toward upward socioeconomic mobility. As those in the Protected trajectory revealed, they did this by finding islands of support within their families and communities, including committed coaches or mentors, and embracing a positive ethnic identity. As those in the Americanized trajectory revealed, they also did this by embracing an American identity while sometimes maintaining and sometimes rejecting their own Latino heritage. As those in the Resilient trajectory revealed, even in the face of extreme hardship, they found strength in their own sense of purpose and meaning in life. This sense of purpose and meaning came from the obligation they felt to help their families, their fellow Latinos, and those, who like them, had suffered and survived. Nevertheless, because both of these resilient youth were undocumented, their educational opportunities remained blocked and upward socioeconomic mobility remained elusive. These results are consistent with previous literature. Mentorship and support from parents and other adults, including coaches and teachers, have been found to promote academic achievement in Latino adolescents (Cuadros, 2006; Roffman, Suárez-Orozco, & Rhodes, 2003). Research also suggests that, for Latino youth, a sense of purpose, ethnic identity, and self-esteem promote healthy development and adjustment (Kiang & Fuligni, 2010; Umaña-Taylor, Diversi, & Fine, 2002). In addition, family obligation, while potentially stressful, has also been found to be a strong motivator for academic achievement among Latino youth (Fuligni, 2001).

Third, not all Latino youth found the supportive resources they needed to overcome the stressors in their daily lives. Like the adolescents in our Consumed trajectory, they found themselves not only excluded from fully participating in their communities, but also isolated from their families. In the absence of protective buffers, they drifted into drug use, banded together with delinquent peers for support, or established independent families with their romantic partners at a young age. These strategies for escaping the stress they felt hindered their upward socioeconomic mobility. These results are consistent with previous literature showing that acculturation strategies such as separation and marginalization can hinder Latino adolescents’ adaptation and impede their efforts to attain upward socioeconomic mobility (Portes & Fernandez-Kelley, 2008; Sam & Berry, 2010). Furthermore, studies of Latino adolescents have linked social exclusion to negative outcomes such as drug use (Choo, 2012), poor mental health (Gonzales et al., 2013), and low academic achievement (Basáñez et al., 2014). While Latino families often provide social support and resources to resist social exclusion (Yosso, 2005), youth who lack family support are particularly vulnerable to exclusion’s negative outcomes (DeGarmo & Martinez, 2006).

Strengths and limitations

As with all studies, ours has important limitations. First, we focus on a cohort of Latino youth in one region of the country. Stress-coping trajectories in Latino youth may differ in regions of the U.S. with more established Latino communities and more resources to support the adaptation of children of immigrants. Second, our study took place during a unique historical moment, as these Latino youth integrated into a new receiving community and went through high school in the wake of 9/11 and the Great Recession. Third, our sample consisted entirely of adolescents who enrolled in the ninth grade at baseline. The stress-coping trajectories of youth who never entered U.S. high schools may differ substantially from those in this study. Finally, the stories of the adolescents we interviewed may not fully reflect the potential importance of traumas associated with migration, exposure to violence, living in a single-parent home, or the challenges of living in rural environments (Rubens et al., 2013). Adolescents interviewed may have chosen not to share certain aspects of their family histories.

Some of these weaknesses could also be considered strengths. Most importantly, we followed a cohort of Latino children of immigrants coming of age in a new receiving community during the Great Recession. Our longitudinal design allowed us to explore adolescents’ struggles to grow-up and fit in as the recession unfolded. Through our research we were able to provide a rich, detailed description of the stressors experienced by Latino adolescents and the individual, family, and school/community resources that they used to buffer themselves from these stressors. In the future, theory-driven research should continue to unpack the mechanisms through which stress-derived mental health disparities have arisen in this population and how these factors shape entry into adulthood.

Biographies

Maria Brietzke is a doctoral student in health behavior and public health. Her work centers on understanding and reducing health disparities in Latino communities throughout the United States. She focuses on mental health, adolescent health, and the role of stress in shaping health behavior and well-being throughout the life course.

Krista Perreira is a demographer who studies disparities in health, education, and economic well-being and inter-relationships between family, health and social policy. Focusing on children in immigrant families, her work combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies to study migration from Latin America and the health and educational consequences of migration. Through her research, she aims to develop programs and policies to improve the well-being of immigrant families and their children.