Mexican-descent adolescent resilience through familismo in the context of intergeneration acculturation conflict on depressive symptoms.

Mexican-descent adolescents have higher rates of depressive symptoms compared to those of other ethnic groups. One process that has been related to this mental health disparity is intergenerational acculturative conflict (IAC). Little is known about factors that may be protective when IAC occurs. One factor that may be protective is familismo. In the present study, we hypothesized that higher levels of familismo would be protective in that it would reduce depressive symptoms for those experiencing IAC. The sample included 524 Mexican descent adolescents (53.1% young women; mean age = 16.23, SD = 1.10, range = 14-20) from a high school in South Texas. A hierarchical linear regression was performed, and results indicated that higher levels of IAC are related to higher levels of depressive symptoms (b = 2.67, p = .001) and higher levels of familismo values are related to lower levels of depressive symptoms (b = -2.02, p = .008). Additionally, familismo values moderated the relationship between IAC and depressive symptoms (b = -1.79, p = .012). Moderation results from this study show that higher levels of familismo values play a protective role in reducing the role of IAC on depressive symptoms among Mexican-descent adolescents. Even though IAC is present, familismo values may be key in preventing or reducing negative mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms, among Mexican-descent adolescents.