Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA.
SAS Institute Inc, RTP, Greensboro, NC, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2019 May;48(5):864-875. doi: 10.1007/s10964-019-01012-3. Epub 2019 Mar 16.
Life course models of the impact of discrimination on health and mental health outcomes posit that the pernicious effects of discrimination may not be immediate, but instead may become apparent at later stages in development. This study tests whether peer discrimination changes at particular transition points (i.e., transition to middle and high school) predict subsequent internalizing symptoms in Mexican-origin youth. In a sample of 674 Mexican-origin youth (50% female), this study used a latent change score framework to model changes in peer discrimination across time and to test whether changes in peer discrimination at 7th and 9th grades predicted greater depressive and anxiety symptoms in 12th grade controlling for 5th grade symptoms. Irrespective of longitudinal changes, greater peer discrimination in 5th grade predicted greater depressive and anxiety symptoms in 12th grade. Further, significant increases in peer discrimination from 7th to 8th grade and in 9th to 10th grade uniquely predicted greater anxiety symptoms in 12th grade. These findings suggest that longitudinal research on peer discrimination needs to take into account unique periods of risk. Future research implications are discussed.
生活轨迹模型认为，歧视对健康和心理健康结果的影响不是即时的，而是可能在发展的后期才显现出来。本研究检验了同伴歧视是否在特定的转折点（即，进入中学和高中）发生变化，从而预测墨西哥裔青年随后的内化症状。在一个由 674 名墨西哥裔青年（50%为女性）组成的样本中，本研究使用潜在变化分数框架来模拟同伴歧视随时间的变化，并测试了 7 年级和 9 年级同伴歧视的变化是否在控制了 5 年级症状的情况下，预测了 12 年级更大的抑郁和焦虑症状。无论纵向变化如何，五年级时更大的同伴歧视都预示着 12 年级时更大的抑郁和焦虑症状。此外，7 年级到 8 年级和 9 年级到 10 年级之间同伴歧视的显著增加，也可预测 12 年级时更大的焦虑症状。这些发现表明，同伴歧视的纵向研究需要考虑到独特的风险期。讨论了未来研究的意义。
