Effects of Mexican Immigrant Parents’ Daily Workplace Discrimination on Child Behavior and Family Functioning

Abstract

This study investigated Mexican immigrant parents' reports of perceived workplace discrimination and their children's behavior, parents' moods, and parent-child interactions. Parents of one hundred and thirty-eight 3- to 5-year-old children were asked to complete one survey daily for 2 weeks (N = 1,592 days). On days when fathers perceived discrimination, fathers and mothers reported more externalizing child behaviors, and mothers reported fewer positive child behaviors. When mothers perceived discrimination, they reported more externalizing child behaviors; fathers reported more internalizing child behaviors. Parents reported worse mood on days with perceived discrimination. Perceived discrimination was not strongly related to parent-child interactions. For fathers, but less so for mothers, those whose psychological acculturation indicated separation had more negative relations between daily perceived workplace discrimination and child and family outcomes.

Parents' Perceived Discrimination and Adolescent Adjustment in Chinese American Families: Mediating Family Processes

“…Several studies have demonstrated a link between parental perceived discrimination and child adjustment (Anderson et al., ; Ford et al., ; Gassman‐Pines, ; Gibbons et al., ). For example, Ford et al.…”

Longitudinal Effects of Latino Parent Cultural Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Family Functioning on Youth Emotional Well‐Being and Health Risk Behaviors

“…Keywords: Latino Families;Cultural Stress;Family Stress;Emotional Well-Being;Health Risk Behaviors Fam Proc 56:981-996, 2017 P arental stress is a normative experience that requires parents to balance the demands of their role as a parent (e.g., providing shelter and food) with their access to resources (e.g., employment and financial resources; Deater-Deckard, 2004). Studies have documented the negative effects of parental stress on their children's emotional and behavioral well-being (Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010;Gassman-Pines, 2015;Leon, 2014;Tran, 2014). According to the Family Stress Model (FSM), parental stress may indirectly influence youth's emotional and health risk behaviors by compromising the emotional wellbeing of parents, their parenting behaviors, and family relationships (Conger et al, 2010).…”

“…Once in the United States, parents may feel disillusioned and hopeless about their future (and that of their children) when they find themselves embedded in a social structure that they cannot change and experience cultural stressors (Perreira et al, 2006). Among Latino adults, acculturative stress (Hovey, 2000), discrimination (Lorenzo-Blanco & Cortina, 2013), and a negative context of reception (Schwartz et al, 2014) have been associated with elevated symptoms of depression and with compromised family functioning (Gassman-Pines, 2015;Trail, Goff, Bradbury, & Karney, 2012). Moreover, cross-sectional studies with ethnically diverse families have found parents' experiences with discrimination and acculturative stress to be directly associated with their children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Leon, 2014;Tran, 2014).…”

Longitudinal Trajectories of Family Functioning Among Recent Immigrant Adolescents and Parents: Links With Adolescent and Parent Cultural Stress, Emotional Well‐Being, and Behavioral Health

“…Cultural stress may affect family functioning, and, in turn, the health of Latino youth and parents (e.g., Gassman-Pines, 2015;Lorenzo-Blanco, Meca, Unger, Romero, Gonzales-Backen, et al, 2016). Cultural stress refers to a constellation of interrelated but distinct factors that can contribute to the stress experience among Latino immigrant families, including discrimination, a negative context of reception, and acculturative or bicultural stress (Cano, Schwartz, Castillo, Romero, et al, 2015;Lorenzo-Blanco, Meca, Unger, Romero, Gonzales-Backen, et al, 2016).…”

“…In the United States, Latino immigrant adolescents and their parents can experience cultural stressors that result from navigating multiple cultural contexts, a negative context of reception, and experiencing discrimination (Cano, Schwartz, Castillo, Romero, et al, 2015;Gassman-Pines, 2015;Lorenzo-Blanco, Meca, Unger, Romero, Gonzales-Backen, et al, 2016;Schwartz et al, 2014Schwartz et al, , 2015, and these cultural stressors can negatively influence family functioning, emotional well-being, and health-risk behaviors among adolescents and parents. For example, in a daily diary study (Gassman-Pines, 2015), Mexican immigrant parents reported that, on days when they experienced workplace discrimination, they interacted less warmly and more aversely with their children, experienced lower emotional well-being, and reported more child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. In a longitudinal study with recent immigrant Latino families (Cano, Schwartz, Castillo, Unger, et al, 2015), positive family functioning predicted lower adolescent depressive symptoms and health-risk behaviors 6 months later, and family functioning was compromised in the presence of parent-child acculturation discrepancies.…”