Importance of context in understanding mental health outcomes among Mexican American adolescents

BACKGROUND: Mexican Americans (MAs) are a large population that demonstrates high rates of adolescent mental illness. Additionally, a large portion of this population is poor and living in neighborhoods characterized as disadvantaged. Though prior research shows that (a) prosocial peer relationships relate negatively to mental illness and (b) harsh parenting relates positively, such associations may operate differently, or be more/less important in various living contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine neighborhood disadvantage as a moderator the association between family/peer processes and MA adolescent mental health. METHODS: Data come from the first wave of an investigation of MA families (n=750 families; 1,996 individuals). Multilevel models (run separately for boys and girls) were used to examine the moderating role of neighborhood disadvantage. PRELIMINARY RESULTS: For girls, prosocial relationships were negatively related to symptomatology, but only in moderately and highly disadvantaged contexts. For boys, harsh parenting was negatively related to symptomatology, but only in moderately and highly disadvantaged contexts. IMPLICATIONS: Many community-based prevention programs are based on research with European Americans living in relatively stable neighborhoods and often highlight ways to decrease harsh parenting and increase prosocial relationships in efforts to promote adolescent mental health. The current work suggests that such parenting programs may not be appropriate for MA adolescent boys living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where harsh parenting appears to operate in a protective manner. Implications for prevention programming are discussed.