Mediators of the Relationship Between Acculturative Stress and Internalization Symptoms for Immigrant Origin Youth

The present study examines the generational differences in the relation between acculturative stress and internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depression) with a sample of 304 urban residing first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents. In addition, the role of perceptions of social support-a critical element to healthy immigrant adolescent adaptation-is explored as a mediator of this relation. Results indicate that first-generation adolescents report more acculturative stress and internalizing symptoms than do second generation. Employing a moderated mediation framework (Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes, 2007), we find that perceptions of both emotional and academic social support mediate the relation between acculturative stress and internalizing symptoms for the first generation but not for the second. Our findings serve to expand the discourse of the "immigrant paradox" (Garcia Coll & Marks, 2011).