Mexican-origin individuals constitute the largest immigrant subgroup in the United States. With this rapidly growing population, it is critical to identify factors that promote positive mental health outcomes among Mexican-origin youth, who face discrimination as well as elevated rates of psychopathology. Family processes can play a key malleable role in fostering resilience and mitigating internalizing symptoms. This study examined family protective factors that may buffer the impact of racial-ethnic discrimination on adolescent mental health in a sample of 344 Mexican-origin youth, aged 12-15, with 335 mothers and 171 fathers across three waves of yearly data collection in a new migration area in the Midwestern United States. Youth reported on discrimination and internalizing symptoms at all waves. Youth, mothers, and fathers reported their perspectives on familism, family cohesion, and cultural socialization at all waves. Initial levels of discrimination were positively associated with final levels of internalizing symptoms. Latent growth curve moderation analyses revealed that youth-reported family cohesion and father-reported cultural socialization were significant buffers against the association between discrimination and distress. Contrary to our hypotheses, no moderating effects of familism were observed. Implications of these results for family-level prevention and intervention programs aimed at enhancing family resilience are highlighted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Valentino et al. (Thu,) studied this question.