Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 November 2018
Familism values are conceptualized as a key source of resilience for Latino adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment. The current study addressed the developmental progression and correlates of familism within the context of the transition to adolescent motherhood. Participants were 191 Mexican-origin pregnant adolescents (15 to 18 years of age at first pregnancy; Mage = 16.76 years; SD = 0.98) who were having their first child. Adolescents completed interviews during their third trimester of pregnancy and annually for 5 years after (Waves 1 through 6). We examined changes in familism values across the transition to adolescent motherhood and the moderating role of age at pregnancy. Moderation analyses revealed differences in familism trajectories for younger versus older adolescents. We also examined whether familism values were related to family relationship dynamics (i.e., adolescents’ relationships with their own mother figures) and adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, respectively, using multilevel models to test both between-person and within-person associations. Adolescents’ stronger familism values were related to adolescent–mother figure warmth and conflict, coparenting communication, and three dimensions of social support from mother figures, but no associations emerged for coparental conflict, adolescents’ depressive symptoms, or self-esteem. Discussion addresses these findings in the context of culturally grounded models of ethnic–racial minority youth development and psychopathology.
This research was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant R01HD061376; PI: Umaña-Taylor), the Department of Health and Human Services (Grant APRPA006001; PI: Umaña-Taylor), and the Cowden Fund to the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. We thank the families who participated in this study, the agencies and community partners who facilitated participant recruitment efforts, and the undergraduate research assistants, graduate research assistants, and staff of the Supporting MAMI project for their contributions to the larger study.