Heather H. McClure

Recruitment and Retention of Latino Immigrant Families in Prevention Research

The development and testing of culturally competent interventions relies on the recruitment and retention of ethnic minority populations. Minority immigrants are a population of keen interest given their widespread growth, needs, and contributions to communities in which they settle, and particularly recent immigrants from Mexico and Central and South American countries. However, recruitment and retention strategies for entirely immigrant samples are rarely discussed in the literature. The current article describes lessons learned from two family-focused longitudinal prevention research studies of Latino immigrants in Oregon—the Adolescent Latino Acculturation Study (ALAS) and the Latino Youth and Family Empowerment Project-II (LYFE-II). Social, legal, economic, and political contexts are considered that shape Latino immigrants’ experiences in their home countries as well as in the United States. The implications of these contexts for effective recruitment and retention strategies are discussed.

Discrimination, psychosocial stress, and health among Latin American immigrants in Oregon

Chronic psychosocial stress related to discrimination has been shown to be associated with biological measures such as elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP), increased body fat, and higher fasting glucose levels. Few studies have examined these relationships in immigrant populations. The present study recruited a sample of 132 Oregon Latino immigrant adults to investigate the relationships between perceived discrimination and several health measures (blood pressure, body mass index [BMI], and fasting glucose). Results indicate that perceived discrimination stress predicted elevated SBP among men but not among women. Perceived discrimination was significantly higher among obese women than among women of normal BMI. The same pattern was not observed for men. Further, a strong trend relationship was detected: the higher womens reported discrimination stress, the higher their fasting glucose levels. Again, this pattern was not observed for men. These results suggest that chronic psychosocial stress plays an important role in disease risk among Latin American immigrants, and that male and female immigrants may have distinctive physiological responses. If confirmed, these findings may have important clinical and public health implications for chronic disease prevention among Latinos. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2010.

Time in U.S. Residency and the Social, Behavioral, and Emotional Adjustment of Latino Immigrant Families

Little is known about contributors to positive social, behavioral, and emotional adjustment among foreign-born youth at different stages of adapting to life in the United States. Using baseline data from the Adolescent Latino Acculturation Study (N = 217), this article examines the effects of time in residency on parent adjustment, family stress, parenting practices, and youth behavioral and socioemotional outcomes among Latino immigrant parents and youth (Grades 6 to 10) who have lived in the United States between 1 and 12 years. Results of cross-sectional analyses show that immigrant families with less time in residency may experience higher levels of distress that diminish in intensity over time and that youth problem behaviors increase and academic outcomes worsen with increased exposure to life in U.S. society. Time in residency, parent adjustment, and parenting practices each demonstrated unique and unmediated effects on youth outcomes. Results highlight specific vulnerabilities for families in states with emerging immigrant populations that often have few supports for the successful integration of recent immigrant families.

Stress, Place, and Allostatic Load Among Mexican Immigrant Farmworkers in Oregon

Cumulative exposure to chronic stressors has been shown to contribute to immigrants’ deteriorating health with more time in US residence. Few studies, however, have examined links among common psychosocial stressors for immigrants (e.g., acculturation-related) and contexts of immigrant settlement for physical health. The study investigated relationships among social stressors, stress buffers (e.g., family support), and allostatic load (AL)—a summary measure of physiological “wear and tear”—among 126 adult Mexican immigrant farm workers. Analyses examined social contributors to AL in two locales: (1) White, English-speaking majority sites, and (2) a Mexican immigrant enclave. Our six-point AL scale incorporated immune, cardiovascular, and metabolic measures. Among men and women, older age predicted higher AL. Among women, lower family support related to higher AL in White majority communities only. Findings suggest that Latino immigrants’ cumulative experiences in the US significantly compromise their health, with important differences by community context.

Child and Adolescent Affective and Behavioral Distress and Elevated Adult Body Mass Index.

Obesity rates throughout the world have risen rapidly in recent decades, and are now a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Several studies indicate that behavioral and affective distress in childhood may be linked to elevated adult body mass index (BMI). The present study utilizes data from a 20-year longitudinal study to examine the relations between symptoms of conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and depression during late childhood and mid-adolescence and BMI during emerging adulthood. Data were analyzed using multiple regression. Results suggest that childhood and adolescent problems may influence adult BMI through direct impacts on adolescent overweight, a condition which then persists into adulthood.

Diurnal cortisol rhythms among Latino immigrants in Oregon, USA

One of the most commonly used stress biomarkers is cortisol, a glucocorticoid hormone released by the adrenal glands that is central to the physiological stress response. Free cortisol can be measured in saliva and has been the biomarker of choice in stress studies measuring the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Chronic psychosocial stress can lead to dysregulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function and results in an abnormal diurnal cortisol profile. Little is known about objectively measured stress and health in Latino populations in the United States, yet this is likely an important factor in understanding health disparities that exist between Latinos and whites. The present study was designed to measure cortisol profiles among Latino immigrant farmworkers in Oregon (USA), and to compare quantitative and qualitative measures of stress in this population. Our results indicate that there were no sex differences in average cortisol AUCg (area under the curve with respect to the ground) over two days (AvgAUCg; males = 1.38, females = 1.60; P = 0.415). AUCg1 (Day 1 AUCg) and AvgAUCg were significantly negatively associated with age in men (P<0.05). AUCg1 was negatively associated with weight (P<0.05), waist circumference (P<0.01) and waist-to-stature ratio (P<0.05) in women, which is opposite of the expected relationship between cortisol and waist-to-stature ratio, possibly indicating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation. Among men, more time in the United States and immigration to the United States at older ages predicted greater AvgAUCg. Among women, higher lifestyle incongruity was significantly related to greater AvgAUCg. Although preliminary, these results suggest that chronic psychosocial stress plays an important role in health risk in this population.

Associations Among Mother–Child Contact, Parenting Stress, and Mother and Child Adjustment Related to Incarceration

Contact between incarcerated parents and their children has received increased attention due to potential effects of contact on adult adjustment, adults’ ability to parent their children effectively, and children’s adjustment during and after incarceration. This pilot investigation incorporated self-report and biological measures of stress to examine associations between various forms of mother-child contact, mothers’ cortisol levels derived from hair samples, self-reported parenting stress, and maternal and child adjustment (i.e., emotion dysregulation, depressive and other mental health symptoms). The sample comprised 47 incarcerated mothers with a child between the ages of 4 and 12 years. Mothers were assessed at T1 in prison, at T2 before release, and at T3 6 months after release to examine change and stability over time in mothers’ cortisol and adjustment, associations between mothers’ cortisol and adjustment, and associations between mother-child contact and mothers’ cortisol, adjustment, and recidivism. Caregivers provided reports on children at T1 and T3 to investigate associations among child adjustment, mother-child contact, and maternal stress and adjustment. Mothers’ cortisol levels remained stable in prison and increased significantly after release, which was in contrast to other aspects of mothers’ adjustment such as depressive and mental health symptoms that decreased before release and remained stable after prison. More frequent mother-child contact appeared to be beneficial for maternal stress. In contrast, more mother-child contact was associated with higher child internalizing behavior. Mother-child contact was also related to recidivism. Living with their children before and after incarceration, and more frequent contact after release were associated with a decreased likelihood of detention after release among mothers. At T3 after reunification, higher maternal parenting stress was related to children’s higher internalizing and emotion dysregulation. The implications of the findings are discussed.

A Tale of Two Measures: Concordance Between the ARSMA-II and the BIQ Acculturation Scales Among Latino Immigrant Families

Acculturation refers to the extent to which an individual immigrant (or immigrant group) acquires the customs and characteristics of a new receiving society and/or retains the customs and characteristics of the person’s or group’s cultural heritage. Different acculturation measures are often assumed to be interchangeable, although this assumption is rarely tested empirically. The purpose of the present study was to examine the overlap between 2 commonly used measures of acculturation among individuals of Latino/Hispanic ancestry in the United States, the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans II (ARSMA-II) and the Bicultural Involvement Questionnaire-Short Version (BIQ-S). Specifically, we examined the ways in which scores from the 2 measures relate to one another, as well as similarities versus differences in the ways they predict external variables of interest (e.g., family functioning, parenting, and youth adjustment) that acculturation is known to influence. Findings indicate distinct patterns of results for the 2 measures. For instance, though the BIQ-S focuses entirely on language use and other cultural practices, the ARSMA-II more consistently relates to language variables. Further, adolescent BIQ-S cultural heritage scores related negatively to risks for and engagement in alcohol use—supporting prior findings—whereas ARSMA-II scores were unrelated to alcohol use. Given the largely nonoverlapping set of relationships of the BIQ-S and the ARSMA-II subscale scores with measures of language dominance and conflict, measures of parenting, and measures of youth outcomes, we recommend that studies utilize both of these measures to fully appraise acculturation in this population.

Food insecurity partially mediates associations between social disadvantage and body composition among older adults in india: Results from the study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE)

Our objective was to test whether food insecurity mediates cross‐sectional associations between social disadvantage and body composition among older adults (aged 50+) in India (n = 6556).

Latino Youth Substance Use in States with Emerging Immigrant Communities

While immigrants typically arrive in the U.S. in the hope of building a better life for themselves and their families, many encounter circumstances upon their arrival that make reaching such a goal difficult. The process of adapting to a culture that is different from that in the country of origin, or “acculturating,” can be extremely stressful in general, with acculturative stressors varying by the contexts within which immigrants settle. Social structure characteristics of the geographic areas in which Latino families reside impact the nature, complexity, and magnitude of potential contextual stressors, including those related to cultural adaptation (Vega and Gil 1999), which in turn can have unique and profound effects for behavioral outcomes. In states that historically have been centers of Latino settlement, longer residence in the U.S. and greater acculturation have been linked to heightened risks for adolescent substance use initiation and abuse, and other deleterious health outcomes, such as depression (Gil et al. 2000). However, for the past several decades, a substantial number of Latino immigrants have settled outside of these states, and little has been written about the impact of acculturative and other contextual stressors on these new arrivals.