Matching Items (4)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Developmental Psychology
Description
Low-income Mexican American women face significant risk for poor health during the postpartum period. Chronic stressors are theorized to negatively impact mental and physical health outcomes. However, physiological factors associated with increased self-regulatory capacity, such as resting heart rate variability, may buffer the impact of stress. In a sample of 322 low-income Mexican American women (mother age 18-42; 84% Spanish-speaking; modal family income $10,000-$15,000), the interactive influence of resting heart rate variability and three chronic prenatal stressors (daily hassles, negative life events, economic stress) on maternal cortisol output, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health at 12 weeks postpartum was assessed. The hypothesized interactive effects between resting heart rate variability and the chronic prenatal stressors on the health outcomes were not supported by the data. However, results showed that a higher number of prenatal daily hassles was associated with increased postpartum depressive symptoms, and a higher number of prenatal negative life events was associated with lower postpartum cortisol output. These results suggest that elevated chronic stress during the prenatal period may increase risk for poor health during the postpartum period.
ContributorsJewell, Shannon Linda (Author) / Luecken, Linda J. (Thesis advisor) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Latino children are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than their non-Latino, White peers (Kids Count Data Center, 2017), yet limited work has aimed to understand neighborhood influences on pathways of mental health among Latino children. Substantial work documents the deleterious effects of living in a disadvantaged neighborhood on mental health outcomes throughout the lifespan (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Parental and familial variables may explain neighborhood influences on children’s mental health during the first few years of life (May, Azar, & Matthews, 2018). The current study evaluated the influence of three neighborhood indicators (concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and the percentage of residents identifying as Hispanic/Latino) on maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at 3 and 4.5 years via mediation and moderated mediation models among a sample of 322 low-income, Mexican American mother-child dyads. Contrary to hypotheses and existing literature, concentrated disadvantage and residential instability were not predictive of maternal or child mental health outcomes. The percentage of residents identifying as Hispanic/Latino emerged as a protective neighborhood factor for both mothers and children. The neighborhood ethnocultural context may be especially relevant to understanding pathways of mental health specific to Mexican American families. More research is needed to understand specific parental and familial mechanisms underlying this protective effect.
ContributorsCurci, Sarah (Author) / Luecken, Linda J. (Thesis advisor) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / White, Rebecca MB (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Pediatric obesity is a public health concern due to its elevated prevalence rates and its relation to concurrent and long-term physical and psychosocial consequences. Pediatric obesity has been found to be associated with problem behaviors, albeit with inconsistent findings. The mechanism of this relation is unclear. It is possible that they have a shared etiology. Self-regulation and parenting practices are two factors that have been implicated in the development of problem behaviors and are garnering evidence for their relation with pediatric obesity. The goal of the present study was to examine whether self-regulation (SREC), positive behavior support (PBSEC), and coercive limit-setting (CLSEC) in early childhood are shared etiological factors of pediatric obesity and problem behaviors. Using multinomial logistic regression the likelihood of belonging to four outcome groups (Comorbid, Problem behavior only, Overweight only, and Typically developing) at age 10 based on these factors was assessed. Analyses controlled for intervention group assignment, child gender, child African-American or Bi-racial, child Hispanic, cumulative risk, child body size impression at age 2, and parent body size impression at baseline. In the models examining SREC alone, for every 1 standard deviation increase in SREC, there was a reliable reduction in the odds of the child belonging to the comorbid and problem behavior only groups at age 10, compared to the typically developing group (OR = 0.386, 95% CI [0.237, 0.628], OR = 0.281, 95% CI [0.157, 0.503], respectively). This relation was maintained when SREC was in the same model as PBSEC and CLSEC. PBSEC and CLSEC alone did not impact the likelihood of belonging to any of the outcome groups. A significant interaction was found between SREC and CLSEC, such that at high levels of both SREC and CLSEC the odds of a child belonging to the overweight only group at age 10 increased, compared to the typically developing group. Results highlight CLSEC as a parenting practice that may place a highly regulated child at risk for becoming overweight. Overall, the findings suggest that problem behaviors and pediatric obesity do not have a shared etiology.
ContributorsMontano, Zorash (Author) / Dishion, Thomas J (Thesis advisor) / Gonzales, Nancy (Committee member) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / Enders, Craig (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Elevated rates of exposure to multi-level chronic stressors (e.g., poverty, discrimination, acculturative stress) place low-income, Mexican-origin individuals in the United States at elevated risk for adverse psychological and physical health across the lifespan. Despite exposure to contextual risk factors, many individuals maintain positive biobehavioral health. In particular, despite greater exposure to sociodemographic risk factors, more recently immigrated Mexican-origin individuals in the U.S. may demonstrate more positive biobehavioral health, warranting consideration of specific cultural values and practices that confer and maintain positive health across generations. Parental cultural socialization is an understudied mechanism in promotive pathways of parent-child processes and child biobehavioral health. Across three generations of Mexican-origin families in the United States – maternal grandmothers, mothers, children – the current study (1) identified a multidimensional measure of child biobehavioral health across psychological and biological indicators, (2) evaluated the intergenerational transmission of grandmother-mother cultural socialization, (3) evaluated the effect of maternal cultural socialization on child-perceived parenting and child biobehavioral health, and (4) evaluated child cultural orientation as a moderator of the effect of maternal cultural socialization on child-perceived parenting and child biobehavioral health. Findings highlight the complex and nuanced relations among parental cultural socialization, individual cultural orientation, child perceptions of parenting, and child biobehavioral health among low-income, Mexican-origin families in the United States.
ContributorsCurci, Sarah Gianna (Author) / Luecken, Linda J (Thesis advisor) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / Cruz, Rick (Committee member) / Grimm, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024