Latino/a freshman struggles: Effects of locus of control and social support on intragroup marginalization and distress.

Abstract

The transition to college can be difficult for many students; however, Latina/o students can face unique cultural stressors, impacting psychological health. Intragroup marginalization, or feeling marginalized by members within one's cultural community, is one such stressor that can impact Latina/o students' college experiences. Despite the challenges many Latina/o students face, Latina/os also demonstrate resilience and the ability to succeed. This study expands existing research on intragroup marginalization, using a cross-sectional design to test a mediational model of intragroup marginalization from friends and psychological distress, with locus of control and peer social support in a sample of 137 Latina/o college freshmen from a large public university in the western United States. Intragroup marginalization from friends predicted psychological distress. In addition, locus of control and social support from friends were identified as mediating variables. This research demonstrates the negative impact of intragroup marginalization from friends for Latina/o students, as well as the protective role of having an internal locus of control and peer social support on experiences of psychological distress. Results also highlight unique factors related to Latina/o freshmen college experiences as a means for improving Latina/o students' success in college.

Social Support Among Male Undergraduates: A Systematic Review

“…A total of 30 studies were found that adhered to the inclusion criteria set for the systematic review. Of these, 16 focused on social support and psychological outcomes (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018;Adamczyk, 2015;Bíró, Veres-Balajti, & Kósa, 2016;Ceglarek & Ward, 2016;Frison & Eggermont, 2015;Kim, Kim, & Lee, 2016;Llamas, Morgan Consoli, Hendricks, & Nguyen, 2018;Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016;Ng, Wang, & Chan, 2017;Roohafza et al, 2016;Tang & Dai, 2018;Vungkhanching, Tonsing, & Tonsing, 2016;Wang, Sun, & Wang, 2016;Wongtongkam, 2019;Yıldırım, Karaca, Cangur, Acıkgoz, & Akkus, 2017;You, Lim, & Kim, 2017); 3 focused on social support and academic achievement (Bai et al, al., 2018; Rodríguez et al, 2017); 4 focused on social support and technology use (Deechuay, Koul, Maneewan & Lerdpornkulrat, 2016;Gökçearslan, Uluyol & Şahin, 2018;Shah, Siddiqui & Ansari, 2016;; 4 focused on sources of social support (Bhochhibhoya et al, 2017;Chuah & Singh, 2016;Lee & Goldstein, 2016;Rios & Eaton, 2016); and 3 focused exclusively on gender differences in social support (Lin, 2016;Zamani-Alavijeh, Raeesi Dehkordi, & Shahry, 2017;Zhang, Zhapng, Zhang, Zhang, & Feng, 2018). All studies except one were quantitative.…”

“…Overall, the impact of social support on all variables related to psychological outcomes was found to be positive, with findings showing negative correlation between social support and depression (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018;Roohafza et al, 2016;Tang & Dai, 2018;Vungkhanching et al, 2016), anxiety (Roohafza et al, 2016;Vungkhanching et al, 2016), stress (Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016;Vungkhanching et al, 2016), neuroticism (Roohafza et al, 2016), negative effects (Wang et al, 2016) and positive correlation between social support and sense of coherence (Bíró et al, 2016), relationship status (Adamczyk, 2015), positive effects (Wang et al, 2016), workplace engagement (Kim et al, 2016), emotional regulation (You et al, 2017), fewer mental health symptoms (Ceglarek & Ward, 2016) and cultural adaptation (Ng et al, 2017). Social support emerged as a predictor of emotional distress (Llamas et al, 2018;Wongtongkam, 2019), stress (Yıldırım et al, 2017), marginalization (Llamas et al, 2018) and cultural adaptation (Ng et al, 2017). These findings were reported from diverse range of regions and cultures, representing male undergraduates from countries such as Australia (Wongtongkam, 2019), Belgium (Frison & Eggermont, 2015), China (Tang & Dai, 2018;Wang et al, 2016), Hong Kong (Ng et al, 2017), Hungary (Bíró et al, 2016), Indonesia (Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016), Iran (Roohafza et al, 2016), Israel (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018, Korea (Kim et al, 2016;...…”

“…Social support emerged as a predictor of emotional distress (Llamas et al, 2018;Wongtongkam, 2019), stress (Yıldırım et al, 2017), marginalization (Llamas et al, 2018) and cultural adaptation (Ng et al, 2017). These findings were reported from diverse range of regions and cultures, representing male undergraduates from countries such as Australia (Wongtongkam, 2019), Belgium (Frison & Eggermont, 2015), China (Tang & Dai, 2018;Wang et al, 2016), Hong Kong (Ng et al, 2017), Hungary (Bíró et al, 2016), Indonesia (Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016), Iran (Roohafza et al, 2016), Israel (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018, Korea (Kim et al, 2016;You et al, 2017), Poland (Adamczyk, 2015), Turkey (Yıldırım et al, 2017), and United States (Ceglarek & Ward, 2016;Llamas et al, 2018;Vungkhanching et al, 2016). Additionally the studies were also diverse in terms of the size of male undergraduates represented in the sample, ranging from 9 (Bíró et al, 2016) to 40 (Vungkhanching et al, 2016), 41 (Ceglarek & Ward, 2016), 69 (Wongtongkam, 2019), 75 (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018, 80 (Kim et al, 2016), 97 (Ng et al, 2017), 99 (Yıldırım et al, 2017), 137 (Llamas et al, 2018), 148 (Adamczyk, 2015), 149 (Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016), 438 (Frison & Eggermont, 2015), 622 (You et al, 2017), 883 (Tang & Dai, 2018), 958…”

“…However, in the presence of high (B = .50, p = .126) or medium (B = −.21, p = .215) social support from friends, marginalization was found to be not significantly associated with adaptation. In another study, Llamas et al (2018) found that, among Latina/o undergraduates in the United States, social support obtained from friends served as a protective factor in psychological distress and marginalization. Among sexual minorities, Ceglarek and Ward (2016) reported that high perceived social support was correlated with low number of mental health symptoms.…”

Relational‐Cultural Theory–Based Interventions With LGBTQ College Students

“…When counseling LGBTQ college students, counselors may find it beneficial to explore how these students' connections can serve as tools of resiliency. Social support has been found to mediate effects of marginalization on psychological distress (Farrell & Langrehr, ; Llamas, Morgan Consoli, Hendricks, & Nguyen, ; Llamas & Ramos‐Sánchez, ). The college setting can provide unique opportunities of support (e.g., offices of diversity and inclusion) for LGBTQ clients to help strengthen relational ties, maximize power derived from these supportive relationships in the face of adversity, and develop a stronger connection to the campus environment.…”