Date of Award

12-1-2023

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Betty Lin

Subject Categories

Clinical Psychology

Abstract

The immigration process is associated with a host of cultural stressors that may impact family and parental wellbeing. The present study examined whether immigration stress was related to reduced maternal sensitivity, and whether lower PNS activity would account for their associations. A secondary aim was to test the buffering effect of cultural resiliency factors (i.e., familism values, cultural orientation) on maternal PNS activity. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of Mexican American mothers (N = 322; M age = 27 years). Contrary to hypotheses, higher immigration stress was significantly associated with higher maternal resting RSA (B = 0.15, SE = .07, p = .04). However, immigration stress and maternal sensitivity were not significantly associated (β = 0.09, SE = .06, p = .15). Moderation analyses revealed that the association between immigration stress and maternal RSA varied depending on certain familism values, but not on acculturation. Specifically, immigration stress was associated with higher RSA among mothers who endorsed a stronger belief that their decisions should involve and represent their families (B = 0.14, SE = 0.06, p = 0.02). Strong familism values and high basal RSA may afford Mexican American mothers the capacity to adaptively navigate and overcome immigration stress, and thus to recast immigration stress into an opportunity to act in accordance with their cultural beliefs and create meaning from stressful immigration-related events. The current study contributes to our understanding of the sequelae of immigration stress in Mexican American mothers and the cultural factors that may alter its effects.

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