Research has shown that social support-seeking behaviors can help buffer against the negative effects of immigration-related stressors. However, this coping strategy is not always efficacious as evidenced by the recurring rates of depression found within various immigrationaffected populations. The current study tested the hypothesis that greater immigration-related family stress is associated with lower levels of support seeking coping and that, together, these two risk factors interact to predict greater depressive symptomatology among young adults who have at least one undocumented family member. Participants included young adults (N=283) attending a public university who reported having documented legal status and at least one family member with undocumented legal status. Participants completed several validated measures of support-seeking coping behaviors and depressive symptomatology and a novel instrument to assess exposure to immigration-related family stress. There was a small positive correlation between immigration-related family stressors and depression symptoms (r = .124, p < .05) and a slight negative association between higher utilization of social support systems and lower depression symptoms (r = -.189, p < .01). The interactions hypothesized were nonsignificant. However, there was a robust negative association between perceived interpersonal support and depressive symptomatology, statistically adjusting for support-seeking coping and immigration-related family stress (B = -.20, p < .01). Findings suggest that although young adults from mixed legal status families are vulnerable to the effects of immigration-related family stressors, perceiving social support systems as being reliable may reduce negative mental health outcomes for this immigration-affected population. vi Preface and/or AcknowledgementsIn writing this Thesis Dissertation, I would like to formally thank Dr. Melissa Hagan for all her help and cooperation, as well as Dr. Juliana Karras for providing me with additional feedback. It was through their dedicated support that helped make this project possible.
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