Attachment, acculturative stress, and mental health of Mexican immigrants

Mexican immigrants in the United States (US) account for 11.4 million individuals, yet little psychological research has examined the role of adult attachment on their acculturation experience and mental health outcome. This study investigated the relations among adult attachment, acculturative stress, and mental health (i.e., psychological distress, life satisfaction) with a sample of 154 non-US-citizen Mexican immigrants. Results indicated that the direct effects of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance on psychological distress were not significant when considering acculturative stress, but both attachment variables indirectly associated with psychological distress via acculturative stress. Consistent with our hypothesis, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were positively associated with acculturative stress. Higher acculturative stress was positively correlated with psychological distress, but it was not significantly associated with life satisfaction. Further, attachment avoidance was directly associated with life satisfaction, but its indirect effect on life satisfaction via acculturative stress was not significant. Attachment anxiety did not have a significant direct or indirect effect on life satisfaction. Findings highlight the role of acculturative stress in the association of adult attachment and mental health and suggest that psychological interventions targeting at alleviating acculturative stress may be important in reducing psychological distress for non-US-citizen Mexican immigrants with insecure attachment.