American journal of community psychology最新文献

Migrant youth from Latin America who arrive in the United States are faced with a social and political context that dehumanizes migrants of color. These anti-immigrant sentiments become reflected in federal and state policies that deny migrants rights to freedom and safety. The present paper examined how the U.S. immigration context informed migrant young adults' structural analysis of immigration policies and rhetoric (critical reflection) and actions to challenge exclusionary immigration-related policies and rhetoric (critical action). We further examined facilitators and barriers to action. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with migrant young adults from Latin America living in Virginia (N = 30; M = 20.93; SD = 2.03; 53% female). We employed constructivist grounded theory strategies to analyze the data. Findings showed that migrant young adults offered a range of structural and individual-level attributions for unjust immigration policies. For some migrant young adults, their critical reflection informed decisions to engage in critical actions. Yet, many migrant young adults also noted constraints that impeded their engagement. By more thoroughly understanding migrant young adults' critical reflection and factors that may facilitate or impede action, researchers and practitioners may be better positioned to support migrant young adults who seek to dismantle systems of oppression.

This study expanded on the existing literature by examining the unique associations between maternal religious socialization, as a form of cultural socialization, along with civic socialization practices, and Muslim American emerging adults' civic engagement. In addition, the mediating role of Muslim American emerging adults' religious identity in the association between maternal socialization practices and their civic attitudes and behaviors were assessed. Participants included 329 self-identified Muslim American emerging adults (Mage = 21.4, SDage = 1.9, 63% female). Path analysis results revealed indirect associations between maternal religious socialization and civic behaviors through religious identity private regard and a direct link between maternal civic socialization and civic attitudes. Thus, Muslim American emerging adults whose mothers engaged in transmitting their heritage values, beliefs, and virtues reported a greater sense of pride about their religious group and subsequent higher engagement in informal helping and lower engagement in political actions. Additionally, discussions about social and political issues with their mothers directly fostered Muslim American emerging adults' civic responsibility. Our findings revealed specificity in how civic engagement can be promoted and provided insights into efforts to build civic capacity for minoritized emerging adults.

Prior research has assessed the ways in which neighborhoods promote or inhibit children's development but has paid less attention to delineating the particular processes through which neighborhoods are linked to child outcomes. This study combines geospatial data with survey data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-2011, a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners followed through 5th grade (N ~ 12,300), to explore how differences in neighborhood resources (parks and services) and stressors (crime and neighborhood disadvantage) are associated with variations in parental inputs-school involvement and provision of out-of-home enrichment activities. Using multilevel models assessing within- and between-family associations, we found mixed evidence concerning how neighborhood features are linked to parental inputs. Considering within-family changes in neighborhood contexts, concentrated disadvantage negatively predicted parental inputs, particularly following a move to a more disadvantaged neighborhood. Results were more consistent between families: concentrated disadvantage was associated with lower school involvement and out-of-home enrichment, while community services and parks were associated with more involvement and enrichment. Neighborhood crime was not associated with parental inputs. Results shed light on methodological limitations of neighborhood effects research and suggest the need for more rigorous methods, such as natural experiments which can capture exogenous changes in neighborhood processes.

Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) engages young people as partners in rigorous research inquiry to guide and inform collective action. Scholars interested in YPAR have notable investment in social justice and activist values, which at times come in direct tensions within their doctoral training and/or professional roles within academia. One monumental hurdle in conducting YPAR is obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The goal of this manuscript, therefore, is to transparently and humbly share some of the heart work we have done in navigating the IRB. In partnership with IRB directors who are co-authors, we discuss several choice points in obtaining IRB approval. Challenges include: (1) advocating for youth to have co-investigator status on the IRB application, (2) training youth in research ethics, (3) strategically crafting a YPAR application that attends to the evolving and emerging nature of the research, (4) obtaining approval to compensate youth for their time as researchers, and (5) planning for diverse youth dissemination strategies that may challenge principles of anonymity. In discussing these choice points, we will share examples from our own work, strategies, and resources to support current and future aspiring YPAR scholars.

The purpose of this study was to utilize mixed methods to evaluate the initial implementation of a system of care (SOC) developed and implemented from a community organizing framework. Surveys were conducted with partners (navigators, community partners, parents) to examine changes pre- and post-implementation of the SOC. Surveys assessed care coordination, effectiveness of communication across organizations, quality of services and relationships, barriers, health-related stressors, and distrust. Surveys were conducted at baseline and follow-up approximately 1 year later. At baseline, 160 parents and 40 community partners completed surveys. At follow-up, 125 parents and 33 community partners participated. Qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with participating community-based organization staff (n = 10), community navigators (n = 13), school staff (n = 10), and recipients of services (n = 13). Parent surveys suggested promising improvements in care coordination, communication, and quality of services. These results were supported by qualitative themes describing increased communication, care coordination, relationships, and access to services driven by community navigators. Despite these encouraging findings, surveys completed by community partners did not reveal significant changes. Findings must also be understood within the context of COVID-19.

Understanding the experiences of unaccompanied youths in refugee foster care is important to tailor such systems to support the complex needs and desires of these youth. This instrumental case study sought to understand how a cohort of unaccompanied refugee youth experience refugee foster care as they navigate the "in-betweenness" of adolescence. Eight youth (ages 17-21) from Guatemala and Honduras, nine foster parents, and two staff were interviewed. A constructivist grounded theory analytic approach was implemented, which resulted in a substantive theory, Growing up to be independent but alone: Navigating tension between paths. This tension results from youth being pulled to adult and child-like paths by different forces. As youth come of age in the United States, they are expected to fulfill the US vision of adulthood by becoming independent and self-sufficient. However, definitions of adulthood in their cultures of origin involve interdependence and the responsibility to provide for their families. They experience the pressure to become independent as being alone. Findings underscore the need for comprehensive support systems tailored to address the unique challenges faced by unaccompanied youth during their complex migration journey and transition into independence.

Racist and xenophobic policies in the United States (e.g., family separations and lack of access to protected immigration statuses for undocumented immigrants) have historically excluded immigrants of color from accessing full civil rights, thus contributing to widening racial inequities in the US. Racism and xenophobia intersected with other systems of oppression during the COVID-19 pandemic, exposing immigrants of color to detrimental health effects. Research shows that activism helps immigrants of color cope with systemic stressors and protect their psychological well-being. In this manuscript, we introduce the antiracist activism for immigrant rights (AAIR) framework to clarify how activism in response to systemic stress may promote healthy coping. This framework was developed together by scholars and immigration activists in the US Critical and liberatory theory and research on empowerment and healing also informed AAIR. Using structural equation modeling, we tested the framework in a community sample of 204 immigrants of color. Results support the model, depicting antiracist immigration activism as a latent construct manifested as a combination of engagement in racial justice, immigrant rights, and electoral activism. Further, results support the link between antiracist immigration activism and healthy coping in response to stress from immigration and health. We provide recommendations for behavioral health professionals to promote antiracist immigration activism and healthy coping among immigrant communities.

Community resilience increases collective capacity to enact change and restore communities following trauma. Using the Beyond the Bridge Project as a case study following the Morandi Bridge Collapse, we conducted 10 consultations with the Project Lead Group. We employed a stakeholder analysis, and ecological maps performed using the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit methodology. The findings highlight the involvement and categorization of stakeholders based on their post-trauma intervention attitudes. The ecological maps facilitated communication and community competence between different stakeholder groups, which are key aspects of community resilience. We suggest that this methodology is promising for future research in trauma-affected communities.

Young gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in Kenya experience pervasive intersectional stigma and discrimination, contributing to elevated levels of negative mental health symptoms. Grounded in the Minority Stress Model, this paper explores associations of proximal and distal minority stressors with three types of negative mental health outcomes among young HIV-negative GBMSM (n = 63) between the ages of 19–34 who participated in a pilot trial of a sexual health intervention. Using the PHQ-9, GAD-7, and PC-PTSD-5 screening measures, levels of clinically significant symptoms were reported as follows: 15.8% depressive symptoms, 12.7% anxiety symptoms, 31.7% posttraumatic stress symptoms. Results from stepwise linear regression analyses suggest that GBMSM-related stigma (distal stressor) was the strongest correlate for all three mental health outcomes, and concealment motivation (proximal stressor) was an additional significant correlate only in the depressive symptoms model. These findings should be viewed with caution and seen as initial observations given the small sample which limits our interpretations of the findings. Structural-level interventions are needed to decrease GBMSM's exposure to intersectional stigma and discrimination, such as decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity, as well as individual and group-level interventions that assist GBMSM with improving their adaptive coping strategies.

The current paper utilizes an ecological level of analysis framework to review and critique the literature surrounding predictors, correlates, and antecedents of Latinos' intimate partner violence (IPV) behaviors. More specifically, the ecological levels of analysis framework was employed to demonstrate how Latino males' IPV perpetration is being understood and studied. A total of n = 34 peer-reviewed articles were reviewed and critiqued. Findings indicated that most IPV research is being conducted at and comprehended from the individual (n = 33; 97%) and microsystem/small group (n = 24; 71%) levels of analysis, while linkages to organizational, locality, and institutional levels of analysis are largely neglected. Researchers and interventionists appear to view Latinos' IPV behaviors through deficit models, employ decontextualized and homogenized representations of the population, and neglect higher ecological levels of analysis. These three shortcomings in IPV research as it pertains to Latino populations must be addressed in future research studies if investigators desire to end the stigmatization and demonization of Latinos as a cultural and people group, and to maximize battering intervention effectiveness and efficiency for men of Latino origin.