Threat and Deprivation as Distinct Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress and Depression Symptoms in First and Second Generation Latinx Youth.

Recent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) scholarship emphasizes that differing ACEs affect the onset and course of psychopathology, and that sociopolitical context contributes to ACEs experienced by marginalized youth. Guided by the Immigration-Related Adverse Childhood Experiences Model, we explored the associations between different ACEs-immigration enforcement fear and perceived economic hardship-on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among first and second-generation Latinx youth in immigrant families. Participants (n=306) included students from 11 high schools in two states (58% female; 25% aged 17 or older).

Discrimination and PTSD among Latinx immigrant youth: The moderating effects of gender.

Objective: Discrimination is a minority-related stressor that contributes to mental health disparities between Latinx youth and their racial/ethnic peers. Discrimination activates the body's stress response system, resulting in a higher allostatic load that can cause mental health problems such as PTSD. We explored 1) the relation between perceived discrimination and PTSD symptoms among Latinx immigrant youth, and 2) how gender moderates this relation.

Uncertainty About the Size of the Unauthorized Foreign-Born Population in the United States.

One of the most common methods for estimating the U.S. unauthorized foreign-born population is the residual method.

Immigration Enforcement Fear and Anxiety in Latinx High School Students: The Indirect Effect of Perceived Discrimination.

Purpose: Immigration enforcement policies and negative rhetoric about immigrants harm the psychological well-being of Latinx youth in immigrant families, particularly those who are most vulnerable because of their own or their loved ones' legal status. According to the Integrative Model for the Study of Developmental Competencies among Minority Children, discrimination may be one pathway to explain how vulnerability to restrictive immigration policies affects Latinx youth mental health.

Methods: We collected data from 306 Latinx high school students from immigrant families in Harris County, Texas, and Rhode Island to (1) determine the direct effect of immigration enforcement fear (a proxy for the social position of vulnerable legal status) on adolescents' anxiety; (2) explore the effect of immigration enforcement fear on anxiety through the pathway of perceived discrimination; and (3) test whether the different enforcement climates in the two study sites moderate these pathways.

Commentary on "The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States: Estimates based on demographic modeling with data from 1990-2016".

"The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States: Estimates based on demographic modeling with data from 1990-2016" by Fazel-Zarandi, Feinstein and Kaplan presents strikingly higher estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population than established estimates using the residual method. Fazel-Zarandi et. al.

Sensitive subjects: research choices and presentational challenges in studying immigrant children and families.

We write from our own experience as researchers on the integration of immigrants and their children, describing several ethical and research considerations that we addressed. In one study we examined the use of public benefits among immigrant families. This study posed issues regarding the selection of which "benefits" should be considered as "welfare"; how to construct comparison groups of immigrants versus natives; and the political sensitivities in reporting widely high use rates of certain benefits, particularly Medicaid.

Changes in sexual risk behavior as young men transition to adulthood.

Context: Understanding how young men's sexual risk behaviors change during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood is important for the design and evaluation of effective strategies to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STDs.

Methods: Data from three waves of the National Survey of Adolescent Males (1988, 1991 and 1995) were used to categorize 1,880 respondents into clusters according to sexual risk behaviors. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to assess associations between clusters and rates of self-reported STD diagnoses and positive chlamydia tests.