Rosalie A. Torres Stone

Acculturative Stress, Social Support, and Coping: Relations to Psychological Adjustment among Mexican American College Students

This study examined the relations between acculturative stress and psychological functioning, as well as the protective role of social support and coping style, in a sample of 148 Mexican American college students (67% female, 33% male; mean age = 23.05 years, SD = 3.33). In bivariate analyses, acculturative stress was associated with higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Moreover, active coping was associated with better adjustment (lower depression), whereas avoidant coping predicted poorer adjustment (higher levels of depression and anxiety). Tests of interaction effects indicated that parental support and active coping buffered the effects of high acculturative stress on anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. In addition, peer support moderated the relation between acculturative stress and anxiety symptoms. Implications for reducing the effects of acculturative stress among Mexican American college students are discussed.

Health status, neighborhood socioeconomic context, and premature mortality in the United States: The National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

OBJECTIVES We examined whether the risk of premature mortality associated with living in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods varies according to the health status of individuals. METHODS Community-dwelling adults (n = 566,402; age = 50-71 years) in 6 US states and 2 metropolitan areas participated in the ongoing prospective National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, which began in 1995. We used baseline data for 565,679 participants on health behaviors, self-rated health status, and medical history, collected by mailed questionnaires. Participants were linked to 2000 census data for an index of census tract socioeconomic deprivation. The main outcome was all-cause mortality ascertained through 2006. RESULTS In adjusted survival analyses of persons in good-to-excellent health at baseline, risk of mortality increased with increasing levels of census tract socioeconomic deprivation. Neighborhood socioeconomic mortality disparities among persons in fair-to-poor health were not statistically significant after adjustment for demographic characteristics, educational achievement, lifestyle, and medical conditions. CONCLUSIONS Neighborhood socioeconomic inequalities lead to large disparities in risk of premature mortality among healthy US adults but not among those in poor health.

Geographic Variation in Colorectal Cancer Survival and the Role of Small-Area Socioeconomic Deprivation: A Multilevel Survival Analysis of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study Cohort

Adverse socioeconomic conditions, at both the individual and the neighborhood level, increase the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) death, but little is known regarding whether CRC survival varies geographically and the extent to which area-level socioeconomic deprivation affects this geographic variation. Using data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-AARP Diet and Health Study, the authors examined geographic variation and the role of area-level socioeconomic deprivation in CRC survival. CRC cases (n = 7,024), identified during 1995-2003, were followed for their CRC-specific vital status through 2005 and overall vital status through 2006. Bayesian multilevel survival models showed that there was significant geographic variation in overall (variance = 0.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.1, 0.2) and CRC-specific (variance = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.4) risk of death. More socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods had a higher overall risk of death (most deprived quartile vs. least deprived: hazard ratio = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.4) and a higher CRC-specific risk of death (most deprived quartile vs. least deprived: hazard ratio = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.5). However, neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation did not account for the geographic variation in overall and CRC-specific risks of death. In future studies, investigators should evaluate other neighborhood characteristics to help explain geographic heterogeneity in CRC survival. Such research could facilitate interventions for reducing geographic disparity in CRC survival.

Infertility and Life Satisfaction Among Women

Using data from a random sample of 580 midwestern women, the authors explore the association between lifetime infertility and life satisfaction. Past research shows lower life satisfaction among those seeking help for infertility. The authors find no direct effects of lifetime infertility, regardless of perception of a problem, on life satisfaction; however, there are several conditional effects. Among women who have ever met the criteria for infertility and perceive a fertility problem, life satisfaction is significantly lower for nonmothers and those with higher internal medical locus of control, and the association is weaker for employed women. For women with infertility who do not perceive a problem, motherhood is associated with higher life satisfaction compared to women with no history of infertility.

Exploring Stress and Coping Strategies among National Guard Spouses during Times of Deployment: A Research Note

Studies on active duty military families indicate that deployment disrupts normal functioning of the family. Scholars still, however, lack the necessary knowledge to fully grasp the impact that the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars have had on Army National Guard (ARNG) families who have experienced deployment. A grounded theoretical approach to interviews with ARNG spouses yields insight into how these families are coping with the often-unexpected event of wartime deployment. The authors identify stressors and coping strategies used by these spouses and offer suggestions for future research that will allow scholars to more fully understand the present situation ARNG families are facing.

Supporting the education goals of post-9/11 veterans with self-reported PTSD symptoms: A needs assessment.

PURPOSE The influx of young adult veterans with mental health challenges from recent wars combined with newly expanded veteran education benefits has highlighted the need for a supported education service within the Veterans Administration. However, it is unknown how such a service should be designed to best respond to these needs. This study undertook a qualitative needs assessment for education supports among veterans with post-9/11 service with self-reported PTSD symptoms. METHODS Focus groups were held with 31 veterans, 54% of whom were under age 30. Transcripts were analyzed and interpreted using a thematic approach and a Participatory Action Research team. RESULTS Findings indicate a need for age relevant services that assist with: education planning and access, counseling for the G.I. Bill, accommodations for PTSD symptoms, community and family re-integration, and outreach and support. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The veterans recommended that supported education be integrated with the delivery of mental health services, that services have varied intensity, and there be linkages between colleges and the Veterans Health Administration.

Identifying potential risk and protective factors among non-metropolitan Latino youth: cultural implications for substance use research

Immigration studies show that the social adaptation of second-generation youth is conditioned by the pace of acculturation among parents and children, cultural and economic barriers, and family and community resources for confronting barriers. This research, however, has primarily focused on the link between acculturation and acculturative stress on Latino adolescents residing in large urban communities. There is a lack of research on the social integration of Latino youth living in rapidly expanding non-metropolitan communities. Consequently, we explored cultural aspects and potential risk and protective factors for early onset of alcohol use for Latino youth. Our findings indicate these rural Latino youth face unique and common stressors compared to urban youth that place them at risk for alcohol use. Cultural expectations surrounding substance use, however, may serve as protective factors to substance use for Latino youth, particularly girls.

Access to health care for nonmetro and metro latinos of Mexican origin in the United States

Background:A growing number of Latinos are moving to nonmetro areas, but little research has examined how this trend might affect the Latino-disadvantage in access to healthcare. Objective:We investigate health care access disparities between non-Latino whites and Latinos of Mexican origin, and whether the disparities differ between metro and nonmetro areas. Methods:A series of logistic regression models provide insight on whether individuals have a usual source of care and whether they have had any physician visits in the past year. Our analyses focus on the interaction between Mexican origin descent and nonmetro residence. Subjects:Nationally representative data from the 2002–2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey are analyzed. The sample consists of working-aged adults age 18–64, yielding a sample size of 29,875. Results:The Mexican disadvantage in having a usual source of care is much greater among nonmetro residents than among those living in metro areas. The Mexican disadvantage in the likelihood of seeing a physician at least 1 time during the year does not differ across locations. Although general and ethnicity-specific predictors explain the disadvantage of Mexicans in having a usual source of care, they do not explain the added disadvantage of being Mexican and living in nonmetro areas. Conclusions:This study identifies a new challenge to the goal of eliminating health care disparities in the United States. The Latino population living in nonmetro areas is growing, and our findings suggest that Latinos in nonmetro areas face barriers to having a usual source of care that are greater than those faced by Latinos in other areas.

Beyond Asian American: Examining Conditions and Mechanisms of Earnings Inequality for Filipina and Asian Indian Women

Theories of intersectionality encourage scholars to look at how “gender” experiences are forged through race, particularly in the labor market. This study uses data from the 2000 1-percent Public Use Microdata on 23,852 Filipina, Asian Indian, and non-Hispanic white women living in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to examine additive and interactional influences on earnings. A detailed analysis of interaction effects by race-ethnicity reveal several important differences across the three groups of women. The results of this study show that popular stereotypes about Asian-origin groups, such as “model minority,” mask significant barriers in achieving full equality in the labor market. The study also highlights the importance of immigration context and occupational race segregation in understanding earnings for non-white immigrant women.

Stressed and Helping: The Relations Among Acculturative Stress, Gender, and Prosocial Tendencies in Mexican Americans

ABSTRACT Available evidence suggests that stress is not necessarily linked to negative outcomes and, in fact, may lead to increases in sympathy and helping. In this study, we examined whether acculturative stress was associated with prosocial tendencies in a sample of 148 Mexican American college students (M age = 23.05 years; 99 women). Participants completed measures of acculturative stress, sympathy, and prosocial tendencies. The relations between acculturative stress and prosocial tendencies were generally positive but varied by the type of helping and gender. Higher levels of acculturative stress were linked to greater emotional, dire, compliant, and anonymous prosocial tendencies, as well as with fewer costly (altruistic) prosocial tendencies. Sympathy mediated the relations between acculturative stress and prosocial tendencies for men only.