The effects of parental acculturation and parenting behaviors on the social-emotional functioning of young Hispanic children

Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the U.S. Research has found that Hispanic children are at increased risk for mental health problems even when compared to other ethnic minority groups. Therefore, it is important to identify risk factors specific to Hispanic children and families in order inform intervention. Of particular interest for prevention and early intervention are factors involved in young Hispanic children’s social-emotional functioning, such as parental acculturation level and parenting behaviors. However, research that examines the impact of acculturation and parenting behaviors on the social-emotional functioning of young Hispanic children is limited. There were two main goals for this study. The first was to determine the relationships between pairs of study variable: child gender, parental acculturation level, parenting behaviors, and children’s social-emotional functioning (internalizing and externalizing problems). The second goal of the study was to examine the extent to which linear combinations of child gender, parental acculturation (low, bicultural, high), and parenting behaviors (nurturance, expectations, and discipline) predicted in-school internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Participants included 90 four-year-old preschoolers of Hispanic background from an urban public school district in central New Jersey. Correlation, multiple regression, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to determine the relationships among these constructs and to identify the variables that predict internalizing and externalizing behaviors for this sample. Findings suggest that as parents of Hispanic preschool children become more acculturated to the U.S. culture, their children’s externalizing behaviors increase. Hispanic preschool girls, in particular, are at greater risk for oppositional behaviors and anger problems if their parents are bicultural or highly acculturated. Implications for early intervention and prevention, as well as future research directions, are discussed.Psy. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Vanessa Ramire