Rose M. Perez

Understanding Acculturation, Depressive Symptoms, and the Protective Role of Family Involvement Among Latino(a) Immigrant Families

Although the relationship between varying levels of acculturation and depressive symptoms has been established among Latino(a) youth, the positive role of family involvement in relation to depressive symptoms among immigrant Latino(a) families has been studied less. This study draws on a sample of first-generation Latino(a) youth from the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study and explores the relationship between acculturation levels and depressive symptoms, as well as the protective role of family involvement. Although results do not support a relationship between acculturation and depressive symptoms, family involvement was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms while taking important sociodemographic variables into consideration. Research and practice implications with Latino(a) immigrant families are discussed.

Exploring the Relationship between Exposure to Violence, Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety, and Children's Adaptive Functioning: Clinical and Community Implications

This study explored the relationship of exposure to violence and childrens perceptions of neighborhood safety and childrens adaptive functioning. It used a cross-sectional quadi-experimental design of 300 inner-city children and a bttery of standardized measures, which included the Child Maltreatment Classification Scheme, Exposure to Community Violence Scale, the Domains of Safety Subscale for Neighborhood, and the Child Behavior Checklist-Teachers Report form. Hierarchal regression analysis revealed that child maltreatment history and perceptions of neighborhood safety were significantly related to childrens overall adaptive functioning. Social workers can help by engaging in efforts to increase neighborhood safety and reinforcing positive adaptive psychosocial functioning of children at risk or exposed to violence.

Cuba No; Miami Sí: Cuban Americans Coping with Ambiguous Loss

This study explores the lifelong loss that Cuban émigrés experienced after leaving Cuba following the 1959 revolution. Many left thinking they would remain in exile for a brief period, but a return no longer seems possible. Nevertheless, their attachment to the lost homeland persists. The annual Cuba Nostalgia event at the Miami Expo Center attests to this enduring sense of attachment. Employing a phenomenological framework, we interviewed 10 older attendees who left Cuba between 1959 and 1979. Themes that emerged from the interviews are consistent with ambiguous loss theory and also reveal positive coping skills and resilience.

Paradise Lost: Older Cuban American Exiles’ Ambiguous Loss of Leaving the Homeland

To explore the experience of leaving Cuba, 2 Cuban American émigrés interviewed 20 Cuban exiles aged 65 or older, who left Cuba between 1959 and 1971. The interviews were conducted in New York and New Jersey using a phenomenological approach (Moutsakas, 1994). Themes included feeling betrayed by the Revolution, the inevitability of leaving, the expectation of a temporary refuge, and longing and idealizing the past. The psychological presence that participants expressed, along with an endless sense of loss, resonates with ambiguous loss theory (Boss, 2006)—themes that have yet to be explored in the literature and that have research and practice implications.

Exploring Differences in Family Involvement and Depressive Symptoms across Latino Adolescent Groups

This study investigated the association between family involvement and depressive symptoms among a sample of 187 Dominican, Mexican, and Central American adolescents from the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study. The study used the transactional stress model as its theoretical foundation. Findings from a multiple regression model suggest that low levels of family involvement were significantly related to higher levels of depressive symptoms for Dominican youths but not for Mexican or Central American youths. Latina adolescents were significantly more likely to have higher rates of depressive symptoms than their male counterparts. Research and practice implications are discussed.

Linguistic Acculturation and Emotional Well-Being in U.S. Schools

The relationship between language use and emotional well-being at school/work, compared to other contexts in which adolescents spend time, has not been studied extensively. An analysis of data from the 1993–1997 Sloan Study of Youth and Social Development employing the experience sampling method showed that language preference moderated the effect of context on the subjective emotional experiences of Latino(a) youths. Participants whose primary language is Spanish experienced lower emotional well-being in school/work time than with family, as opposed to those whose second language preference is English in the same contexts. Results highlight the need to better understand the complex process of language use and raise questions about improving the incorporation of Spanish-dominant students.

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Latino Immigrant’s Ambiguous Loss of Homeland:

Understanding the complex psychological processes that underlie post-migration experiences can assist those settling into a new land. We propose a conceptual framework that examines two distinct emotional experiences—ambiguous loss of homeland (ALH) and relative satisfaction (RS) between the country of origin (CO) and the host country. This framework emerges from interviews with 55 Spanish-speaking immigrants to the United States and results in four quadrants: (1) “pulled there” (feels loss of homeland strongly and prefers CO to the United States); (2) “neither here nor there” (does not feel loss of homeland strongly, however, prefers CO to the United States); (3) “mostly here” (does not feel loss of homeland strongly and prefers the United States); and (4) “here but pulled there” (feels loss of homeland strongly, however, prefers the United States). The conceptual framework of ALH and RS contributes to the immigration literature and is not exclusive to Latinos, but to the growing global immigrant and refugee population.