The Associations Between Multiple Dimensions of Acculturation and Psychological Distress Among Latinx Youth From Immigrant Families

Acculturation includes cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions, but few studies have included all three, and little is known about the ways in which these dimensions interact with contextual factors to predict psychological distress among Latinx adolescents. The current study explored the strength of the associations between the three dimensions of acculturation and psychological distress among Latinx adolescents from immigrant families (N = 129). The study also investigated whether acculturative stress and time in the United States moderated these associations. Results indicated that higher levels of acculturative stress and lower levels of familism (an indicator of the cognitive dimension of acculturation) predicted higher psychological distress. Age of arrival moderated the association between language preference (behavioral dimension) and psychological distress for English-dominant participants such that later arrival (during adolescence) was associated with less distress compared with arrival in early childhood.