Cultural Stressors Described by Latina Young Women Living in a Tumultuous Sociopolitical Climate

Background: In addition to the stressors common to all youth, US Latino/a youth also experience cultural stressors, which are negative events uniquely experienced by members of ethnic minority groups (Stein, Gonzalez, & Huq, 2012). Previous research has demonstrated that cultural stressors such as discrimination, conflict with family members over differences in acculturation, and bicultural stressors are associated with negative mental health outcomes for Latino/a youth (Cervantes, Cardoso, & Goldbach, 2015; Stein et al., 2012; Schwartz et al., 2015). However, much of this research was conducted in the early 2000s, and anecdotal accounts suggest that cultural stressors for Latino/a youth have likely intensified with the current US political administration’s rhetoric that paints immigrants in a negative light (Desjardins, 2017, January 12) and has increased deportation activity (Department of Homeland Security, 2017, February 21). Previous research on cultural stress has also often failed to account for the nuances in experiences of Latino/a youth with respect to generational status.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study is to describe the types of cultural stressors that Latina youth experienced from 2016-2018 and to differentiate experiences of these cultural stressors with respect to generational status.

Methods: The current research is drawn from a larger grounded theory study examining how Latina young women experience, self-manage, and seek mental health services for depressive symptoms during their adolescent years. The current study used a qualitative descriptive design (Sandelowski, 2000) to determine common types of cultural stressors experienced by Latina young women from 2016-2018. Qualitative interviews were conducted with young Latinas (n=24), ages 13-21, who had depressive symptoms during their adolescent years. The interview guide included a question asking the participants to reflect on the stress that they currently felt as a result of being a Latina living in the United States. The responses to this question, as well as discussions of any other stressors related to currently being a Latina in the United States in the complete interview transcripts, were used for analysis in the current project. Qualitative content analysis using a data display summary table (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014) organized data analysis. Any description of stress related to the current sociocultural or political climate was transferred to the data display table and sorted according to generational status (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th). Common types of cultural stressors were determined by the research team.

Results: The analysis revealed four major types of cultural stress: Parental oversight, pressure to succeed, being treated differently, and fear of deportation.

Parental oversight was discussed by 17 participants. Participants described both over involvement and under involvement of parents in their lives. First-generation participants were more likely than others to describe how parents were absent having to work multiple jobs and long hours. Second-generation participants were more likely to endorse having parents who were strict and put many limitations on what they were able to do outside of the home. Third-and 4th-generation participants did not describe this stressor.

Pressure to succeed was discussed by 17 participants. These participants described attempting to live up to the expectations of their parents, particularly in relation to educational goals. The participants revealed that their families expected much from them because their parents and grandparents did not have as many opportunities when they were growing up in other countries. First-, 2nd-, and 3rd-generation participants all mentioned this stressor.

Being treated differently was discussed by 15 participants. These participants described feeling different from peers and receiving differential treatment from others on the basis of ethnicity, usually in the form of discrimination or stereotyping. The participants indicated that being treated differently was related to the racial diversity of their environments and the color of their skin; some indicated that they were protected from being treated differently because they lived in diverse neighborhoods or had light skin. Participants from first-, 2nd-, and 3rd-generations discussed being treated differently.

Fear of deportation was discussed by 8 participants. These participants worried about the deportation of themselves or their family members based on the current political administration’s policies and increased local deportation activity. First-generation youth feared deportation for both themselves and their family members, while 2nd-generation youth discussed fear of deportation for just their family members. Third-and 4th-generation youth did not discuss fears of deportation.

Limitations: Limitations of this study include a small number of 3rd-and 4th-generation participants in the sample. Because all participants in this study were part of a larger study on depressive symptoms, the cultural stressors that these individuals perceived may be more intense than those perceived by the general Latino/a population.

Conclusions: Young Latinas experience a variety of cultural stressors. The most common were parental oversight and the need to live up to their parents’ expectations for success – a stressor that has not been well addressed in prior research. These stressors, as well experiencing ethnic stereotyping, were compounded by the uncertainty some participants faced due to changes in US immigration policies and a negative political climate. Nurses should provide Latina young women in the US with a safe space for discussing these experiences and assess how they are coping with stressors. More research is needed to understand how cultural stressors intersect with contemporary adversities in the lives of young Latina women across the US.