The high rates of depressive symptoms among Latino families caring for a relative with schizophrenia suggest that interventions should include attention to the mental health and recovery of family caregivers in addition to the patient's recovery. Younger Latino caregivers and those with lower levels of education are particularly at risk of depression.

Objective-Little research has focused on the mental health of Latino caregivers with a relative with schizophrenia, despite data showing that up to three-quarters of Latino persons with schizophrenia live with their families. This study examined the relation between caregivers' mental health and perceived burden and stigma and characteristics of the patient and caregiver.Methods-Interviews were conducted in the language of preference (Spanish or English) in Wisconsin, California, and Texas with 85 Latinos caring for an adult with schizophrenia. Measures included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, the Zarit Burden Scale, and the Greenley Stigma Scale.Results-General population studies of Mexican Americans have found that between 12% and 18% meet the cutoff for being at risk of depression; however, 40% of the sample met this criterion. Younger caregiver age, lower levels of caregivers' education, and higher levels of the patients' mental illness symptoms were predictive of higher levels of caregivers' depressive symptoms. Caregivers' perceived burden mediated the relation between patients' psychiatric symptoms and caregivers' depression. Caregivers' perceived stigma was significantly related to caregivers' depressive symptoms, even when the analyses statistically adjusted for psychiatric symptoms and demographic variables.Conclusions-The high rates of depressive symptoms among Latino families caring for a relative with schizophrenia suggest that interventions should include attention to the mental health and recovery of family caregivers in addition to the patient's recovery. Younger Latino caregivers and those with lower levels of education are particularly at risk of depression.Research on Latino families who have a relative with mental illness (that is, the patient) has largely focused on how the family relates to the patient and how family attitudes and interactions may impact the patient (1-5). Data suggest that Latino family caregivers are more likely to live with the patient, be more accepting and more hopeful for a cure (6-9), and exhibit fewer critical comments toward the patient, compared with European-American families (1-3). These key cross-ethnic differences in caregiver involvement and affect may also reflect differences in the way that caregiving is linked with the course of schizophrenia. For example, low levels of caregiver warmth were a significant predictor of relapse among Latino patients but not among European-American patients (5). Researchers continue to investigate how family caregiving among Latinos may affect patients' outcomes; however, it is equally important to attend to the well-being of family caregivers. A substantial body of research on families and mental illness has examined how caregiving processes are linked to the emotional health of family caregivers (10-13). A consistent pattern of findings underscores that more psychiatric symptoms of the patient, more behavior problems of the patient, and more caregiving demands are associated with higher levels...

We examined parenting of adolescents with Consensual Qualitative Research analyses of five 90-minute focus groups with 45 Mexican immigrant parents residing in a high-crime and low-income neighborhood. Parents identified gangs as their major challenge in parenting. Relatedly, they endorsed control-oriented practices to ensure the safety of their adolescents. In addition, parents used practices that aimed to build strong, trusting relationships with their adolescents. The co-occurrence of parenting strategies that promote strong parent-adolescent bonds along with strict monitoring highlights the need to conceptualize parenting with both controlling as well as supportive dimensions. Moreover, the parents' narratives pertaining to the dangers in their neighborhood suggest that interventions for Latino families should be not only consistent with their cultural heritage, but also grounded in the families' local neighborhood contexts.

Interest is growing in community psychology to look more closely at culture. Culture has resided in community psychology in its emphasis on context, ecology, and diversity, however we believe that the field will benefit from a more explicit focus on culture. We suggest a cultural approach that values the community's points of view and an understanding of shared and divergent meanings, goals, and norms within a theory of empowerment. Furthermore, we posit the importance of pluralistic, multi-method programs of research and action encompassing both idiographic and nomothetic approaches, and critical reflexivity of our roles and agendas. Culture can be further incorporated into all the branches and fibers of community psychology.

Although parent-child discord is a predictor of distress among emerging adults, little is known about this important link among Mexican-descent populations. This is an important gap, given Mexican Americans' high risk for psychological distress and their expected high value placed on close family ties. This topic was studied in a sample of 392 college students from El Paso, TX (n = 193) and from Ciudad Juárez, México (n = 199). The authors tested a stress-appraisal model with self-report measures of familism, parent-child discord, threat appraisals of parent-child discord, and psychological distress. As predicted, threat appraisals partially mediated the relation between parent-child discord and psychological distress. Moreover, the relation between parent-child discord and threat appraisals was stronger at higher than at lower levels of familism. Study findings highlight the need to consider that, under certain conditions, familism may increase risk of distress among emerging adults.

We examined the distribution of expressed emotion (EE) and its indices in a sample of 224 family caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia pooled from 5 studies, 3 reflecting a contemporary sample of Mexican Americans (MA 2000, N ¼ 126), 1 of an earlier study of Mexican Americans (MA 1980, N ¼ 44), and the other of an earlier study of Anglo Americans (AA, N ¼ 54). Chi-square and path analyses revealed no significant differences between the 2 MA samples in rates of high EE, critical comments, hostility, and emotional over-involvement (EOI). Only caregiver warmth differed for the 2 MA samples; MA 1980 had higher warmth than MA 2000. Significant differences were consistently found between the combined MA samples and the AA sample; AAs had higher rates of high EE, more critical comments, less warmth, less EOI, and a high EE profile comprised more of criticism/hostility. We also examined the relationship of proxy measures of acculturation among the MA 2000 sample. The findings support and extend Jenkins' earlier observations regarding the cultural variability of EE for Mexican Americans. Implications are discussed regarding the cross-cultural measurement of EE and the focus of family interventions.

OBJECTIVES. Our objectives were to (a) estimate the prevalence of children's mental health problems, (b) assess family functioning, and (c) investigate the relationship between children's mental health and family functioning in Rhode Island. METHODS. From the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health, Rhode Island data for children 6 to 17 years of age were used for the analyses (N = 1326). Two aspects of family functioning measures, parental stress and parental involvement, were constructed and were examined by children's mental health problems, as well as other child and family characteristics (child's age, gender, race/ethnicity, special needs, parent's education, income, employment, family structure, number of children, and mother's general and mental health). Bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression were used to investigate the relationship. RESULTS. Among Rhode Island children, nearly 1 (19.0%) in 5 had mental health problems, 1 (15.6%) in 6 lived with a highly stressed parent, and one third (32.7%) had parents with low involvement. Bivariate analyses showed that high parental stress and low parental involvement were higher among parents of children with mental health problems than parents of children without those problems (33.2% vs 11.0% and 41.0% vs 30.3%, respectively). In multivariate logistic regression, parents of children with mental health problems had nearly 4 times the odds of high stress compared with parents of children without those problems. When children's mental health problems were severe, the odds of high parental stress were elevated. However, children's mental health was not associated with parental involvement. CONCLUSIONS. Children's mental health was strongly associated with parental stress, but it was not associated with parental involvement. The findings indicate that when examining the mental health issues of children, parental mental health and stress must be considered.

Findings suggest that efforts to improve medication usage among Mexican American individuals with schizophrenia should take into account social supportive factors such as instrumental or directive, hands-on assistance from family caregivers.