The purpose of the current study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) within a sample of Hispanic college students. The sample of 223 Hispanic or Latino/a college students consisting of 142 women (65%) and 79 men (35%) was recruited from a Hispanic serving institution in…

Positive psychology is a useful framework to understand Mexican American adolescents' academic experiences. We used a quantitative, predictive design to explore how presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, subjective happiness, hope, and family importance influenced 131 Mexican American adolescents' college-going beliefs. We used…

This study uses a testimonios research methodology to explore the familial origins of educational resilience and to report on the entering into the culture of college by four brothers in a Latin@ family, all of whom earned advanced degrees and pursued careers in psychology, medicine, literature, and law. In addition, LatCrit, a theoretical…

The purpose of this systematic review is to provide a comprehensive synthesis and analysis of the empirical evidence to date on the factors related to Latina/o student academic achievement in the country's increasingly Latina/o K-12 schools. Factors found to be related to academic achievement outcomes (e.g., grades, test scores, high school…

Positive psychology is a useful framework to understand Latina/o students' experiences. In the current study, we examined how presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, hope, and family importance influenced 128 Latina/o college students' psychological grit. We used the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), Subjective Happiness Scale,…

We investigated the contributions of positive psychology and familial factors as predictors of hope and academic performance among 166 Latina/o college students enrolled at a Hispanic Serving Institution of Higher Education. The results indicated that presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, daily spiritual experiences, and…

We explored migration decisions using in-depth, semistructured interviews with male and female youth ages 14 to 24 (n = 47) from two Mexican communities, one with high and one with low U.S. migration density. Half were return migrants and half were nonmigrants with relatives in the United States. Migrant and nonmigrant youth expressed different…

This study examined the relationship between risk, assets, and negative health behaviors among a large sample of Hispanic adolescents. Data were collected from over 1,000 Hispanic youth in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 attending school in a moderate size school district in Northwest Arkansas. Logistic regression models examined the variation in the odds…

This study used a person-centered approach to examine patterns of adjustment along psychological (i.e., depression, self-esteem, anxiety) and academic (i.e., academic motivation) domains in a sample (N = 338) of Mexican-origin female adolescents. Four adjustment profiles were identified. A "High Functioning" (n = 173) group, which…

Measurement of social stressors among Hispanic women is a growing and important area of study, particularly in terms of understanding explanatory mechanisms for health disparities. This study involved adaptation of the Hispanic Stress Inventory and the Latin American Stress Inventory to create a measure of social stressors specifically for both…

Among 61 Mexican American adolescents admitted to an El Paso inpatient psychiatric unit after a suicide attempt, those with high intent to complete suicide attempts differed from low-intent youth in having prior suicide attempts, having lived in El Paso for a shorter time, and having lived with both biological parents longer. Contains 58…

Very little research exists on self-harm in Hispanic populations, although there is a strong literature that addresses suicidality in Hispanics. This study compares self-reported rates of self-harm in 255 non-Hispanic White (NHW) and 187 Hispanic (predominantly Mexican American) undergraduate students. Results indicated that self-harm is…

This study draws from a social domain framework to explore judgments of parental authority in a Mexican origin familial context. The sample included 277 ninth-grade youth (M = 14.53 years, SD = 0.61) and one of each of their parents. The average age of mothers was 39.88 years (SD = 5.85), and for fathers it was 41.65 years (SD = 5.51). As…

Reasons proposed by researchers to account for the underutilization of public mental clinics by Mexican Americans are summarized and then tested using data from a survey of 666 Mexican Americans in three Southern California communities. It is suggested that ethnic perceptions of emotional problems are most important in determining mental health…

A discussion of the readaptation process of 70 physicians who returned to Peru to practice medicine after completing postgraduate training in the U.S. (1965-1975) covers the determinants of the decision to return; academic, familial, and adaptational problems; and the physicians' impact on medical education and health care services in Peru. (NQA)