Daniel E. Martínez

Bicultural Stress and Adolescent Risk Behaviors in a Community Sample of Latinos and Non-Latino European Americans

Objectives . The study examined the relation between adolescent risk behaviors and bicultural stress due to discrimination, immigration, and acculturation factors. We hypothesized bicultural stress would be related to increased risk behavior and depressive symptoms independent of socioeconomic status, ethnic self-identification, and acculturation. Design . Middle school student participants (n=519; median age 14) completed a self-report questionnaire on their risk behaviors, psychosocial antecedents, and socio-demographic factors. Latino (304) and non-Latino European American (215) students were surveyed through a large, urban, West Coast US school district. Results . More bicultural stress was significantly related to reports of all risk behaviors (i.e. smoking, drinking, drug use, and violence) and depressive symptoms. Further, bicultural stress was a robust explanatory variable across sub-groups, and appears largely independent from depressive symptoms. Conclusion . The hypotheses were supported. Bicultural stress appears to be an important underlying factor for health disparities among US adolescents. Future research may consider promoting well-being in majority, as well as minority adolescents, through targeting sources of bicultural stressors or examining ways to moderate their effects on adolescent risk behaviors.

What Part of 'Illegal' Don't You Understand? The Social Consequences of Criminalizing Unauthorized Mexican Migrants in the United States

In this article, we examine the social repercussions of criminally prosecuting individuals that cross into the United States without official documentation. The “criminalization of immigration law” (Coleman, 2007), federal- and state-level anti-immigrant initiatives, and an incarceration-oriented approach to dealing with unauthorized migration have redefined what it means to be undocumented in the United States, a definition with more sociological implications than ever before. Using strain theory (Agnew, 1992; Merton, 1938) and Cloward and Ohlin’s (1960) concept of illegitimate means structures, we discuss the social ramifications for migrants who are exposed to a potentially unfamiliar criminal element while incarcerated for unauthorized entry. First-hand accounts of migrants’ experiences were gathered from face-to-face semi-structured interviews of 210 randomly selected individuals at a migrant shelter in northern Mexico.

The Geography of Border Militarization: Violence, Death and Health in Mexico and the United States

Despite proposed increases in spending on personnel and equipment for border enforcement, the complex geography of border militarization and the violence it produces require further examination. We take a geographical perspective to determine the role of violence in both its official forms, such as the incarceration and punishments experienced by undocumented migrants, as well as through abuses and violence perpetrated by agents in shaping border and immigration enforcement. By drawing on the Migrant Border Crossing Study (MBCS), which is a unique data source based on 1,110 surveys of a random sample of deportees, as well as research with family members and return migrants in Puebla, Mexico, we provide an innovative and robust account of the geography of violence and migration. Identifying regional variation allows us to see the priorities and strategic use of violence in certain areas as part of enforcement practice. We assert that understanding the role of violence allows us to explain the prevalence of various forms of abuse, as well as the role of abuse in border enforcement strategies, not as a side effect, but as elemental to the current militarized strategies.

Framing Human Trafficking: A Content Analysis of Recent U.S. Newspaper Articles

ABSTRACT The news media can play a significant role in shaping public perceptions of social problems. One of these, human trafficking, has attracted increasing media attention since the early 2000s. This article builds on earlier work with a content analysis of articles on human trafficking published in the New York Times and the Washington Post during 2012–2013. In order to identify both continuities and changes in reporting over time, we replicate and expand on a study of the 1980–2006 time period, in addition to analyzing additional factors not examined in the previous study. In addition to documenting a sharply increasing amount of coverage compared to earlier years, we examine the ways in which trafficking is defined and framed, the types of sources relied on in the articles, the types of victims that received the most attention, and other important features. We document key similarities and differences over time in reporting on human trafficking.

To Study, to Party, or Both? Assessing Risk Factors for Non-Prescribed Stimulant Use among Middle and High School Students

ABSTRACT This study examines the risk factors predicting non-prescribed stimulant use (NPSU) among adolescents, with an emphasis on whether such factors are reflective of instrumental (e.g., studying) and/or recreational (e.g., partying) drug consumption settings. Using data from Monitoring the Future (2011), we employed a series of logistic regression models to establish predictors of 12-month self-reported Adderall or Ritalin use without a doctor’s note among eighth and tenth graders. Whereas studies of college students have found NPSU to correlate with instrumental motives and productivity-related demands, we find no association between NPSU and indicators of academic strain for this younger sample. Rather, we find that the age of onset and current use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are most predictive of NPSU, which are substances generally associated with social and recreational consumption settings. These findings have potential implications for practitioners concerned with mitigating the harms of general prescription drug misuse, as intervention efforts informed by research conducted among college students may not readily apply to younger populations. Drawing from central tenets of developmental and life course criminology, we call for continued inquiry into the broader socialization and developmental processes that influence NPSU and other prescription drug use patterns prior to early adulthood.

The Migrant Border Crossing Study: A methodological overview of research along the Sonora–Arizona border

Increased border enforcement efforts have redistributed unauthorized Mexican migration to the United States (US) away from traditional points of crossing, such as San Diego and El Paso, and into more remote areas along the US–Mexico border, including southern Arizona. Yet relatively little quantitative scholarly work exists examining Mexican migrants’ crossing, apprehension, and repatriation experiences in southern Arizona. We contend that if scholars truly want to understand the experiences of unauthorized migrants in transit, such migrants should be interviewed either at the border after being removed from the US, or during their trajectories across the border, or both. This paper provides a methodological overview of the Migrant Border Crossing Study (MBCS), a unique data source on Mexican migrants who attempted an unauthorized crossing along the Sonora–Arizona border, were apprehended, and repatriated to Nogales, Sonora in 2007–09. We also discuss substantive and theoretical contributions of the MBCS.

Sanctuary Policies and City-Level Incidents of Violence, 1990 to 2010

Despite media coverage of isolated incidents of violent crime perpetuated by undocumented immigrants in cities with sanctuary policies, there is scant systematic research on the relationships between the adoption of sanctuary policies, unauthorized immigration, and crime. We compile city-level data from official sources and use fixed-effects negative binomial regression to examine whether the adoption of city-level sanctuary policies and the concentration of unauthorized Mexican immigrants are associated with homicide and robbery incidents in 107 U.S. cities, across three decades. We find evidence that the adoption of sanctuary policies is associated with a reduction in robberies but not homicide. In contrast, an increase in the relative size of a city’s unauthorized Mexican immigrant population corresponds with a reduction in homicide; however, only in sanctuary cities. Lastly, shifts in violence during our study period are consistently related to social structural characteristics of cities, which are findings consistent with social disorganization theory.

Recent Police Killings in the United States: A Three-City Comparison:

Recent police killings of citizens in the United States have attracted massive coverage in the media, large-scale public protests, and demands for reform of police departments throughout the country. This study is based on a content analysis of newspaper coverage of recent high-profile incidents that resulted in a citizen’s death in Ferguson, North Charleston, and Baltimore. We identify both incident-specific content as well as more general patterns that transcend the three cases. News media coverage of similar incidents in past decades tended to be episodic and favored the police perspective. Our findings point to some important departures from this paradigm. Reporting in our three cases was more likely to draw connections between discrete incidents, to attach blame to the police, and to raise questions about the systemic causes of police misconduct. These findings may be corroborated in future studies of news media representations of high-profile policing incidents elsewhere.

The Geography of Migrant Death: Implications for Policy and Forensic Science

This chapter examines US border policy and the changing “geography of death,” a process by which migrants are funneled into increasingly clandestine routes and relationships. But this aspect of dangerous geography is not the full story. The authors explore the many ramifications of geography as the locations of migrant deaths have shifted over time and as the geographic origins of border crossers have changed. It also explores the effects of border policy on the ground and in local places where deaths have been clustered. We aim to unpack the many ramifications of border enforcement’s inextricable relationship with geography as a deadly force multiplier.

Repeat Migration in the Age of the “Unauthorized Permanent Resident”: A Quantitative Assessment of Migration Intentions Postdeportation

Drawing on postdeportation surveys (N = 1,109) with Mexican migrants, we examine the impact of immigration enforcement programs and various social factors on repeat migration intentions. Our multivariate analyses suggest immigrants with strong personal ties to the United States have higher relative odds of intending to cross the border again, even when controlling modes of removal from the United States. Our findings highlight the inevitable failure of immigration policy and enforcement programs when placed against the powerful pull of family and home. These findings shed greater insight on the complex nature of unauthorized migration in an era of increased securitization and deportation.