Mental Health Professionals’ Attitudes,Perceptions, and Stereotypes Toward Latino Undocumented Immigrants

We assessed the attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes toward Latino immigrants among 247 mental health professionals across 32 U.S. states. We also randomly presented two versions of an attitude measure that varied in their references to immigrants (“illegal aliens” or “undocumented immigrants”). Participants reported that they did not agree with the anti-immigration law Arizona SB 1070 and other similar bills. Also, greater multicultural awareness was related to positive attitudes and fewer stereotypes toward immigrants. Furthermore, participants who were asked to think about “undocumented immigrants” viewed Latino immigrants more positively than those who were asked think about “illegal aliens.” Findings show the continued need for multicultural awareness and competence training for mental health professionals, which align with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (i.e., Principle E: Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity and Standard 3.01: Unfair Discrimination). Limitations and future directions for research are discussed.     

Data-Driven Belief Revision in Children and Adults

The ability to use numerical evidence to revise beliefs about the physical world is an essential component of scientific reasoning that begins to develop in middle childhood. In 2 studies, we explored how data variability and consistency with participants’ initial beliefs about causal factors associated with pendulums affected their ability to revise those beliefs. Children (9–11 years old) and college-aged adults ran experiments in which they generated, recorded, and interpreted data so as to identify factors that might affect the period of a pendulum. In Study 1, several children and most adults used observed evidence to revise their initial understanding, but participants were more likely to change incorrect noncausal beliefs to causal beliefs than the reverse. In Study 2, we oriented participants toward either an “engineering” goal (to get an effect) or a “science” goal (to discover the causal structure of the domain) and presented them with variable data about potentially causal factors. Science goals produced more belief revision than engineering goals. Numerical data, when presented in context, with appropriate structure, can help children and adults reexamine their beliefs and initiate and support the process of conceptual change and robust scientific thinking.     

Depression in Latino adolescents: a cultural discrepancy perspective

Latino adolescents report high levels of depression compared to other youth, yet little is known about how culture-specific factors contribute to risk (Blazer, Kessler, McGonagle, & Swartz, 1994; Roberts, Roberts, & Chen, 1997; Roberts & Sobhan, 1992; Twenge & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). In this study we evaluated the link between cultural discrepancy (i.e., perceived acculturation and gender role disparity between children and their parents) and depression among children of Latino immigrants. Compared to boys, Latina adolescents reported greater differences in traditional gender role beliefs between themselves and their parents and higher levels of depression. Gender role discrepancy was associated with higher youth depression, with this relationship mediated by increases in family dysfunction. Moreover, a moderator analysis suggested that gender role discrepancy effects may be most pronounced for Latina adolescents. Gender role discrepancy was associated with poorer family functioning for girls but not for boys, although the interaction effect was only marginally significant. These preliminary results point to the importance of considering cultural discrepancy as a contributing factor to youth depression.     

Comorbidity Between Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents: Bridge Symptoms and Relevance of Risk and Protective Factors

Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent and comorbid in adolescents, and this co-occurrence leads to worse prognosis and additional difficulties. The relationship between depression and anxiety must be delineated to, in turn, reduce and prevent the comorbidity, however our knowledge is still limited. We used network analysis to investigate bridge symptoms; symptoms that connect individual depression and anxiety symptoms and thus can help explain the comorbidity. We also examined the role of relevant risk and protective factors in explaining these symptom-level associations between these disorders. We analyzed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents (n?=?3670). Depression and anxiety symptoms, peer victimization, bullying, peer relational problems, prosocial behavior, and parental monitoring were assessed at a single time point around age 13 years. Stressful life events (SLEs) were assessed at age 11 years. We identified the most prominent bridge symptoms among depression (“feeling unhappy”, “feeling lonely”) and anxiety symptoms (“worrying about past”, “worrying about future”). Peer relational difficulties and SLEs were strongly associated with several depression and anxiety symptoms, such that these two risk factors created a link between individual depression and anxiety symptoms. Prosocial behavior had several negative associations with symptoms of both disorders, suggesting it can be an important protective factor.

     

Why does ingroup essentialism increase prejudice against minority members?

A study with British participants (N = 90) tested a potential mediator of the effect of essentialist beliefs about the national ingroup on prejudice against immigrants. Essentialist beliefs were defined as beliefs in genetic determinism, a basic assumption that group membership is “written in the blood” and that the groups’ boundaries and characteristics are determined by genetic and/or biological factors. Essentialist beliefs were expected to play an important role in the formation of prejudice. They were predicted to be associated with a reduction in the perceived possibility of immigrants’ adopting the mainstream culture. Further, it was expected that essentialist beliefs would be positively associated with perceptions of intergroup threat, which in turn would be associated with a stronger demand for immigrants adopting the mainstream culture. Taken together, essentialist beliefs were predicted to be associated with a greater discrepancy between the demand for and perceived feasibility of culture adoption. This discrepancy was hypothesized to mediate the effect of essentialist beliefs on prejudice against immigrants. Structural equation modeling analysis and mediation analysis supported the hypotheses, showing that essentialism attributed to the national ingroup results in people demanding something seemingly impossible from immigrants, and that this situation in which immigrants have little chance of fulfilling majority members’ expectations results in prejudice against them. Thus, results show that perceptions of the ingroup are associated with attitudes to the outgroup, and they outline an explanatory mechanism for the positive correlation between essentialism and prejudice which has been found in previous research. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

The Impact of Christianity on Therapy with Latino Families

Unquestioned patriarchal beliefs prescribed by religion often place women and racial and sexual minorities in positions of victimization. In the therapeutic framework, “God” represents unquestioned values that must be challenged and evaluated in order to have a transformative effect. As a result of the increase in the number of Latino immigrants to the United States, it is inevitable for therapists to work with Latino families, a highly religious population. The purpose of this paper is to explore, through a feminist perspective, the role of Christianity and the feminist movement in Latin America and the impact of Christianity on therapists’ work with Latino families.     

Exploring Culture-Specific Differences in Beliefs about Causes, Kinship and the Heritability of Major Depressive Disorder: The Views of Anglo-Celtic and Chinese-Australians

The aim of this study was to explore cultural differences in causal attributions and beliefs about heritability of major depressive disorder (MDD). Face-to-face interviews with Anglo-Celtic- and Chinese-Australians community members with a family history of MDD were conducted and subjected to a rigorous qualitative analysis, using the computer software NVivo. Sixteen Anglo-Celtic-Australians and 16 Chinese-Australians were interviewed. Both groups believed that a combination of genetic and environmental factors contributed to MDD, that stress was an important cause of MDD, and that coping factors were significant moderators of the impact of stress on MDD. Both cultural groups believed that the causes of MDD affecting multiple family members included a shared family environment and a “contagion effect”, in addition to genetics. Unique to the Chinese-Australian group was the beliefs that parental pressures to exceed academically contributed to MDD; this cultural group also reported beliefs that depression was due to God’s will or alternatively fate, which in turn was related to attributions to feng shui and auspicious dates. This study documented key culture-specific differences in beliefs about causes and inheritance of MDD; such differences have major implications for clinician-patient communication about genetic risk associated with having a family history of MDD.     

Support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants in Italy: Perceived threat and positive beliefs mediate the effect of contact with immigrants

The present study aimed at investigating whether the effects of intergroup contact on support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants was mediated by perceived threat from immigrants and positive beliefs toward immigrants. Using data from the Italian national survey on “Discrimination by Gender, Sexual Orientation and Ethnic Origin,” which followed a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling procedure, a representative sample of 5509 Italian residents (53.4% women), aged 18 to 74 years, participated. Findings showed that contact with immigrants was negatively related to perceived threat, and positively related to positive beliefs toward immigrants. Mediational analysis conducted by structural equation modelling, indicated that support for discriminatory behaviours was positively associated with perceived threat, and negatively associated with positive beliefs toward immigrants. Both variables together mediated the relationship between contact with immigrants and support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants; individually, indirect relationships were also significant. To promote interaction between natives and immigrants by reducing the perceived threat and strengthening positive beliefs toward immigrants might lessen support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants.     

Fear of missing out and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments issued public health safety measures (e.g., “stay-at-home” ordinances), leaving many people “missing out” on integral social aspects of their own lives. The fear of missing out, popularly shortened as, “FoMO,” is a felt sense of unease one experiences when they perceive they may be missing out on rewarding and/or enjoyable experiences. Among 76 participants (ages M = 69.36, SD = 5.34), who were at risk for hospitalization or death if infected with COVID-19, we found that FoMO was associated with depressive symptoms at Time 1, even when controlling for perceived stress, loneliness, and fear of COVID-19. However, FoMO did not predict future depressive symptoms, about 1 week later, when controlling for Time 1 depressive symptoms. These findings provide further evidence that FoMO is associated with depressive symptoms in a short period of time even when accounting for other powerful social factors such as loneliness. Future research should explore the potential causal relationships between FoMO and depression, especially those that may establish temporal precedence.     

Beyond stigma: Understanding the “inclined abstainers” in military behavioral health-care utilization

ABSTRACT

Low treatment utilization in Soldiers with combat-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an ongoing issue. The critical concern is to better understand factors which prohibit a Soldier with PTSD who wants help from seeking treatment (an “inclined abstainer”). A total of 537 Active Duty Soldiers on a US Army post completed a brief survey comprising psychometrically validated measures of stigma, behavioral health treatment beliefs, resilience, PTSD symptoms, and treatment intentions. Health-care records were prospectively tracked for 12 months to determine the relation between survey answers and treatment utilization. Sixty-three percent of those who acknowledged having a mental health-related problem did not seek help within a one-year period. Greater severity of PTSD symptoms was associated with an increased likelihood of behavioral health engagement. Soldiers that were classified as “inclined abstainers” were also more likely to endorse negative beliefs about psychotherapy and report higher levels of resilience as compared to “inclined actors.” These results suggest that a treatment model of PTSD emphasizing self-efficacy and self-reliance, while addressing negative beliefs about psychotherapy, may help promote engagement of behavioral health services among Active Duty Soldiers.     

The relationship between spirituality and depressive symptom severity,psychosocial functioning impairment,and quality of life: examining the impact of age,gender, and ethnic differences

Research has documented the contribution of spirituality on overall health and mental health among college students. However, very few studies have explored the impact of cultural and ethnic differences on the effect of spirituality on mental health outcomes in this population. The aims of this study were to examine the relationships among spirituality, depressive symptom severity, psychosocial functioning impairment, and quality of life in a large multi-ethnic sample of college students and explore the impact of age, gender, and ethnicity on these relationships. The sample consisted of Latino, African-American, Caucasian, and Caribbean/West Indian college students. Findings indicated that spirituality, believing in God's presence, age, gender, and ethnicity were significantly related to depressive symptoms. These factors were also associated with impairment in psychosocial functioning and quality of life related to depression.     

Latino Foster Parent Health Perceptions of Chronic Conditions: A Qualitative Exploration

Prior work using nationally representative data of children in the child welfare system suggested that Latino foster parents were less likely to identify children in their care as having chronic conditions. Hispanics comprise over one-fifth of children in foster care, the majority of whom have special health care needs, and there is a growing need to recruit qualified Latino families into the child welfare system. Little is known about Latino parents’ health perceptions regarding chronic conditions, and potential reasons for differing identification rates of children with special health care needs. We conducted 17 home-based, in-depth interviews with Latino foster parents to explore health perceptions and cultural beliefs for children in their care around the concept of chronic illness. We found that Latino foster parents’ understanding of conditions that occurred “over and over again” related to emotional and behavioral health problems. In contrast, their perception of “chronic” was associated with terminal, biological conditions that had limited treatment options, such as cancer, HIV, and hepatitis. Latino foster parents did not interpret the survey question on chronic illness as it was intended, and their view of recurrent conditions did not reflect chronic health conditions. Developing survey questions that are culturally sensitive should improve accuracy in assessing chronic health conditions for this high-risk population. Sensitivity to cultural interpretation for this high-needs population is vital to enhancing communication between families and health providers caring for children in foster care.     

Raising American Citizens: Socialization Goals of Low-Income Immigrant Latino Mothers and Fathers of Young Children

Based on ecocultural theory, this study utilizes focus group interviews to explore the ways Latino immigrant mothers and fathers transmit the values and beliefs they wish their young children to internalize. Findings suggest that parents purposely “pick and choose” values they deem “Latino,” such as the importance of family and values they deem “American,” such as independence, to pass on to their children. Parents recognized three main barriers that might stand in their way of teaching their children to adapt to two cultural groups: balancing work and family, low self-esteem, and lack of good parental role models. However, they also pointed out two sources of strength that can help them overcome these barriers: optimism and motivation. This study provides a basis for generating hypotheses to be tested with larger datasets and informs the development of theory and culturally sensitive interventions and measures to evaluate Latino parenting.     

Maladaptive Core Beliefs and their Relation to Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Research has demonstrated that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) hold unhelpful beliefs about worry, uncertainty, and the problem-solving process. Extant writings (e.g., treatment manuals) also suggest that other types of maladaptive beliefs may characterize those with GAD. However, these other beliefs have received limited empirical attention and are not an explicit component of cognitive theories of GAD. The present study examined the extent to which dysfunctional attitudes, early maladaptive schemas, and broad self-focused and other-focused beliefs explain significant variance in GAD symptoms, over and above negative and positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about uncertainty, and negative beliefs about problems. N = 138 participants classified into Probable GAD and Non-GAD groups completed self-report measures. After controlling for trait anxiety and depressive symptoms, only beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about uncertainty, and schemas reflecting unrelenting standards (e.g., “I must meet all my responsibilities all the time”), the need to self-sacrifice (e.g., “I'm the one who takes care of others”), and less positive views of other people and their intentions (e.g., lower endorsement of views such as “other people are fair”), were unique correlates of Probable GAD versus Non-GAD or GAD severity. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Knowledge and beliefs about depression among urban and rural Indian Malaysians

This study was concerned with mental health literacy specifically with regard to depression. It aimed to investigate “depression literacy” in a sample of urban and rural Indians in Malaysia. A total of 314 participants completed a survey that examined knowledge about depression using a vignette-identification method, and ratings of statements about causes and treatments for depression. The vignette-identification task showed that urban participants were more likely than rural participants to identify depression as such. Only a small minority of rural participants recognised the disorder, using the actual term depression. Factor analysis of the causes and belief items revealed a number of distinct factors, of which trauma and stress were the most strongly endorsed causal factor. For treatment, religious observance and lifestyle factors were rated highly by both groups. The findings suggest that information campaigns are needed to increase the level of awareness about depression targeting the rural population. Limitations are considering including possible ethnocentric biases. The implications of these results are considered.     

Gender differences in depressive symptomatology: The role played by “anxious somatic depression” associated with gender-related achievement concerns

In the studies reported here, females were more likely than males to report high levels of depression accompanied by anxiety and somatic symptomatology such as disordered eating and headache, but not more likely to report depression unaccompanied by these symptoms. This gender difference in depression prevalence and the symptomatology associated with depression was due to a subgroup of females who scored high on scales comprised of items measuring concerns about the limitations placed on their achievement (sample item: “More people would pay attention to my ideas if I were male”) or on their mothers (sample: “When you were growing up, how much did your mother feel limited by being female?”) due to responses to their gender.     

Identity and Immigrant Stereotypes: A Study Based on the Ego-Ecological Approach

Based on the ego-ecological approach, which views identity as deeply interconnected with the social environment via group memberships, this study reconstructed the psychosocial identity of a group of Sri Lankan immigrants who settled in Naples, Italy, with the aim of detecting resonances between their self-representations and the stereotypes circulating in the receiving society. Fifty-one Sri Lankan immigrants completed a shortened version of the Multistage Investigator of Social Identity (MISI) with the following two stimulus groups: “Sri Lankans” (i.e., ethnocultural identity) and “immigrants.” Analyses revealed an implication of the self in both groups (i.e., Sri Lankans and immigrants), with the represented immigrant self more negatively connoted than the ethnocultural self. The contents of the self-representations showed resonances with both the stereotypes associated with immigrants in Italian society and the specific stereotype associated with the Sri Lankan community, thereby empirically confirming that in the immigrant experience identity feels the effect of the attitudes of the receiving context.     

Upward and Downward Counterfactual Thought After Loss: A Multiwave Controlled Longitudinal Study

Counterfactual thoughts, mental simulations about how a situation may have turned out differently (i.e., “if only …, then …”), can reduce mental health after stressful life-events. However, how specific counterfactual thought types relate to post-loss mental health problems is unclear. We hypothesized that self-referenced upward counterfactuals (i.e., “If only I had done …, then the current situation would be better”) may serve as cognitive avoidance, thereby perpetuating loss-related distress. Conversely, downward counterfactuals (i.e., “If … had happened, then the current situation could have been [even] worse”) may facilitate benefit finding, thereby reducing distress. In a longitudinal survey, self-referent, other-referent, and nonreferent upward counterfactuals, and nonreferent downward counterfactuals were assessed at baseline. Prolonged grief and depression symptoms were assessed at baseline, and 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Multiple regression analyses assessed associations between counterfactual thoughts and symptom levels in 65 recently bereaved people who generated counterfactual thoughts about the loss-event. Moderator analyses assessed the unicity of significant effects in the previous step, by comparing these effects in 59 people generating loss-related counterfactuals with those in 59 propensity-score matched participants generating counterfactuals about other negative life-events. Multivariate analyses showed that nonreferent upward counterfactuals were uniquely strongly positively associated with prolonged grief and depression symptoms concurrently. Self-referent upward counterfactuals were uniquely positively associated with prolonged grief and depression symptoms longitudinally. Moderator analyses confirmed that thinking about how one’s (in)actions could prevent a death uniquely exacerbated prolonged grief and depression severity. Prolonged grief treatment may be improved by targeting self-blame and guilt.     

Attribution and expressed emotion in the relatives of patients with schizophrenia.

Indexes of expressed emotion (EE) in 58 relatives of patients with schizophrenia were related to those relatives' spontaneously expressed causal beliefs about the illness and about related symptoms and behaviors. Relatives made attributions predominantly to factors external, universal, and uncontrollable from their own perspective, and to factors internal, universal, and uncontrollable from the patient's perspective. Low-EE relatives were similar in their attributions to emotionally overinvolved relatives. Compared with these two groups, critical and/or hostile relatives made more attributions to factors personal to and controllable by the patient. Subsequent analyses suggested that hostile relatives were further characterized by making more attributions to factors internal to the patient and by making attributions with fewer causal elements.     

Why Me? The Persistence of Negative Appraisals Over the Course of Illness1

This paper examines the relationship of illness appraisals and causal attributions to later psychological adjustment among individuals coping with a chronic illness. Data on threat and challenge appraisals, causal attributions, and depression were collected twice over an 18-month period from patients with recently diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Appraisals and attributions were differentially related to psychological adjustment. Challenge appraisals were stable over time but were unrelated to depression. Internal, stable, global attributions about the diagnosis were associated with greater depression at follow-up for subjects who were initially high on the depression measure but were related to lowered depression for individuals with initially low depression. An interaction between initial threat appraisals and depression was also found for depression 18 months later. For individuals with low depression scores initially, threat appraisals were related to greater depression later; when initial depression was high, threat appraisals were unrelated to later depression. In addition, initial threat appraisals mediated the relationship between initial level of depression and rumination (continuing to ask, “Why me?”) 18 months later. These findings are discussed in terms of the failure to achieve some resolution about the place of the illness in one's life and of theories of dysphoric rumination that suggest that negative self-focus contributes to a continuing depressed mood.