Adrian J. Archuleta

Perceived Levels of Cultural Competence for School Social Workers: A Follow-Up Study

The purpose of this article is to report on findings from a follow-up study that examined the relationship among social work education programs, postgraduate professional development, and school social workers’ perceived levels of cultural competence in practice with urban minority youth. The initial study demonstrated that African Americans perceived a higher level of cultural competence than their Anglo American counterparts did. Findings highlight the need to understand the processes by which practitioners become culturally competent for urban school social work practice. Underscoring the importance of professional development, the authors determined that geographic location of practice may serve as a factor that influences how practitioners anticipate the need for culturally competent practice with diverse populations. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Acculturative Stress Among People of Mexican Descent: The Role of Acculturation, Social Capital, and Family Role Expectations

Stressful acculturative experiences alter familial relationships and mental health functioning among Hispanics. However, risk and protective factors for acculturative stress remain unclear. This study examines acculturation, social capital, marital, and parental role expectations, and acculturative stress among people of Mexican descent (N = 313). The hierarchical regression model explained 15% (R 2 = .15) of the variance in acculturative stress. The use of an interaction term revealed that marital reward value was positively related to acculturative stress for individuals reporting high linguistic acculturation while bonding social capital was negatively related. Therefore, relationships between acculturation and value oriented variables may evoke stressful experiences only under conditional circumstances.

Enhancement of Reducing the Risk for the 21st Century: Improvement to a Curriculum Developed to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and STI Transmission

To ensure that Reducing the Risk, a successful teen pregnancy prevention education curriculum, remains relevant for todays youth, covers all information youth need to know in order to make better choices, and is delivered in a standardized way, adaptations were made and enhancements were added. This article describes results of a pilot execution of initial adaptations to Reducing the Risk with 13 youth from impoverished neighborhoods between the ages of 14 and 18. After each pilot day, a focus group was held with these 13 youth and further adaptations and enhancements were added to the curriculum. The full adapted and enhanced version of Reducing the Risk was then tested as part of a larger efficacy study utilizing a three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial comparing the enhanced Reducing the Risk curriculum version with another curriculum that embeds sex education in the context of healthy relationship skill building, Love Notes, and a control condition curriculum. In order for other sites to replicate the work, this article details the findings from focus groups with youth participants in the pilot training that led to changes and additions in the curriculum. All changes and additions are described at length in this article.

Perceived Expectations for Acculturation: The Transitioning of Hispanics into Southern Communities

Hispanics are a rapidly growing population that has sought resettlement in nontraditional locations across the United States. Movement in and out of cultural homogeneous communities has implications for an individuals perceived expectations for cultural change. Hispanics (N = 10) in two Southern states were asked questions using semi-structured interviews surrounding their acculturation experiences. Using a grounded theory approach, several themes emerged involving the perceived acceptance of their culture, previous and current ethnic composition of their community, cultural values and behaviors underpinning interaction, and perceived pressures to maintain and change their culture. The comfort and discomfort in interacting with other cultural groups often elicited pressure to change, suppress, or maintain ones culture. Targeted intervention efforts addressing community-level acculturative expectations and individual acculturative difficulties with intercultural interaction may assist Hispanics entering nontraditional areas of resettlement. Social services and policy that recognizes the importance of multicultural growth in their communities, and seeks to identify the current state of social and relational inclusiveness of traditionally marginal groups, may improve racial and ethnic relationships and community health.

Balancing cultures: Acculturation, environmental mastery, emotional regulation, and depressive symptoms among first-generation Latino/a youth

ABSTRACT The rate of growth of Latino populations in some communities exceeds the resources available to assist Latino families in adapting to new environments. Some risk factors for depression center on their acculturative experiences; however, it is often unclear under what circumstances these experiences become stressful. Moreover, it is often unclear which protective factors should be given priority in developing interventions that reduce depressive symptoms in this context. The current study examines the relationship between acculturation, emotion regulation, environmental mastery, and depressive symptoms among first-generation Latino youth (N = 56). It was hypothesized that the interaction between enculturation and acculturation would positively relate to depressive symptoms while emotion regulation would prove to be a stronger protective factor over environmental mastery. The findings support these hypotheses and implications are provided.

A Review of Social Justice and Diversity Content in Diversity Course Syllabi

Given United States leading position among international social work organizations, it is important that its standards of practice for diversity in social work education are examined. Using a nationwide sample of syllabi (N = 174) in the United States, the purpose of this study is to measure the extent to which various facets of diversity and social justice are incorporated into social work course syllabi. The study further assesses whether social justice content is integrated into diversity courses according to the Council on Social Work Educations 2001 and 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). The goal is to better understand program adherence to diversity objects designed for social work education curriculum. An examination of course titles, syllabi content, and course objectives revealed a broad array of identified topics; however, terms such as culture/multicultural (79.2%), race (71.7%), diversity (68.2%), ethnicity (63.6%), gender (60.1%), oppression (57.8%), and gay/lesbian (56.1%) were addressed with greater frequency across all syllabi. In an assessment of adherence to 2001 and 2008 EPAS among syllabi, interrater agreement with the use of Kappa revealed modest agreement. Greater transparency in connecting EPAS with diversity course syllabi is an important step in the requirement to improve capability across programs. Implications for future research are discussed.

Family capital: Examining social capital, family commitment, and acculturation among college-enrolled Mexican-American men and women in the Southwestern United States

ABSTRACT Social capital is integral to an individual’s ability to access various resources embedded in social and familial networks that are important in academic access and future success. The types and dynamics of social relationships created by men and women are thought to generate different forms of social capital with factors such as acculturation resulting in differences in intercultural networks and potential resource access. However, the factors that contribute to the development of social capital require further investigation. The current study examines the relationship between acculturation, family role commitment, and various social network characteristics associated with social capital among Mexican-American college-enrolled men (n = 119) and women (n = 196). Several multiple regressions were conducted. Findings indicate that acculturation and family role commitment relate differently to social-capital-network characteristics among Mexican-American men and women. For women, marital commitment was consistently related to social-capital-network characteristics whereas acculturation factors seemed to be more salient among men. Overall, study variables accounted for a larger portion of the variance for social-capital-network characteristics across analyses for men than women indicating that other factors may be at play in generating social capital for women.

Gender Differences in Social Acculturation and Social Capital in Determining Marital and Parental Role Expectations Among People of Mexican Descent

Men and women experience acculturation differently, creating acculturative gaps that may affect traditional family role expectations. In the current study, additive moderation between social acculturation, bonding social capital, and gender in relationship to marital and parental role expectations was explored among Mexican Americans (N = 314). The results indicate that when bonding social capital is at low to moderate levels, women are more committed to marital and parental roles and report more marital reward value as social acculturation increases. However, as bonding social capital and social acculturation increase, women report less marital reward value and marital and parental commitment. The size and quality of personal networks among Mexican American men and women appear to relate to social acculturation’s conditional relationship to family role expectations.

Moderated Linguistic Acculturation and Perceived Group Social Capital on Economic and Occupational Stress among People of Mexican Descent

Acculturation plays an important role in Hispanics’ work experiences. Differences in acculturation lead to increases in discrimination that impedes economic and social mobility. This study examines the acculturation and social capital associated with various groups on economic/occupational stress. A convenience sample composed of mostly Mexican-Americans (N = 322) pursuing higher education completed several surveys related to acculturation, economic stress, and social capital. Hierarchical regression results indicate that media, social, and linguistic acculturation and the acculturation interaction term were significant in the final model. Social capital gained from friends and community members was also related to economic stress. The findings from this study identify the stressful intersection between various areas of acculturation and economic stress.