Immigrant-origin adolescents represent the fastest growing segment of youth population in the United States, and in many urban schools they represent the majority of students. In this 3-wave longitudinal study, we explored trajectories of internalizing mental health symptoms (depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms). The participants included 332 urban-residing first-and second-generation immigrant adolescents (44% male). Participants were recruited in 10th grade (M age ϭ 16.20 years, SD ϭ 1.19), and 2 additional waves of data were gathered in 12-month intervals. Both generational and racial/ethnic background of the participants reflected the general demographics of urban centers in the United States. With individual growth curve modeling, the results show significant decline in internalizing mental health problems during the high school years. At the same time, greater exposure to acculturative stress predicted significantly more withdrawn, somatic, and anxious/depressed symptoms. Gender and generation status differences in internalizing mental health problems were also identified.

Because of the scarcity of knowledge about middle-class African American adolescents, the present study explored psychological and parental factors in relation to academic performance. The participants were 336 middle-class African American students and their biological mothers. The findings suggest that for African American middle-class adolescents, educational expectations and school engagement have the strongest relation to academic performance. Self-esteem was not related to academic performance. The results also indicate that positive parent-adolescent relationships, not parents’educational values, were related to better academic performance. Implications for school counselors are discussed.

No abstract

This three-wave longitudinal study of 173 Latino adolescents (M = 16.16 years, SD = 0.65) is designed to understand the role of discrimination-related stress in mental health trajectories during middle to late adolescence with attention to differences due to immigration status. The results of the growth curve analysis showed that anxious-depressed, withdrawn-depressed, and somatic complaints significantly decreased over time. Furthermore, although discrimination-related stress was found to be significantly related to the trajectories of three types of mental health symptoms, the results revealed that immigration status moderated these relations such that discrimination-related stress was significantly related to these outcomes for Latino youth whose parents were born in the United States, while this relation was not significant for Latino children of immigrants.

No abstract