Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Nada M. Goodrum

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that acculturation and acculturative stress can influence family dynamics and Latinx youth well-being. Guided by the Family Stress Model, the current study aimed to assess a latent measurement model of acculturation and examine the relationship between acculturation and acculturative stress and how acculturative stress is related to family processes and youth adjustment. Data included 898 youth and 630 parents from the SOL Youth study. Structural equation modeling was used to assess a latent two-factor measurement model of acculturation and its relation to parental acculturative stress as well as how parental acculturative stress is related to family functioning and youth well-being. Results indicated that a two-factor acculturation model was a better fit in comparison to a one-factor model but was not a strong fit to the data. While retention of heritage culture was not related to acculturative stress, adoption to new culture was negatively related to acculturative stress. Parental acculturative stress negatively predicted youth-reported anxiety symptoms but not youth-reported family functioning or depressive symptoms. Findings from this study provide knowledge about the measurement model of acculturation and the relationships among parental acculturation, acculturative stress, and youth wellbeing. Recommendations for future intervention and measurement are provided.

Rights

© 2025, Julie Nguyen

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