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Intergenerational gaps in Mexican American values trajectories: Associations with parent–adolescent conflict and adolescent psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2018

Nancy A. Gonzales ,
George P. Knight ,
Heather J. Gunn ,
Jenn-Yun Tein ,
Rika Tanaka  and
Rebecca M. B. White
Nancy A. Gonzales*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
George P. Knight
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Heather J. Gunn
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Jenn-Yun Tein
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Rika Tanaka
Affiliation:
Toronto General Hospital
Rebecca M. B. White
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nancy A. Gonzales, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 950 S McAllister Ave, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104; E-mail: nancy.gonzales@asu.edu.
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Abstract

Growth mixture modeling with a sample of 749 Mexican heritage families identified parallel trajectories of adolescents’ and their mothers’ heritage cultural values and parallel trajectories of adolescents’ and their fathers’ heritage cultural values from Grades 5 to 10. Parallel trajectory profiles were then used to test cultural gap-distress theory that predicts increased parent–adolescent conflict and adolescent psychopathology over time when adolescents become less aligned with Mexican heritage values compared to their parents. Six similar parallel profiles were identified for the mother–youth and father–youth dyads, but only one of the six was consistent with the hypothesized problem gap pattern in which adolescents’ values were declining over time to become more discrepant from their parents. When compared to families in the other trajectory groups as a whole, mothers in the mother–adolescent problem gap trajectory group reported higher levels of mother–adolescent conflict in the 10th grade that accounted for subsequent increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms assessed in 12th grade. Although the findings provided some support for cultural gap-distress predictions, they were not replicated with adolescent report of conflict nor with the father–adolescent trajectory group analyses. Exploratory pairwise comparisons between all six mother–adolescent trajectory groups revealed additional differences that qualified and extended these findings.

Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 30 , Special Issue 5: Cultural Development and Psychopathology , December 2018 , pp. 1611 - 1627
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

This research was supported, in part, by NIMH Grant MH68920 (Culture, Context, and Mexican American Mental Health). The authors are thankful for the support of Mark W. Roosa, Marisela Torres, Leticia Gelhard, Jaimee Virgo, our Community Advisory Board and interviewers, and the families who participated in the study.

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