Puerto Rican-Born Latinas and Integration into the U.S.: Risks for and Protectors from Acculturative Stress

With the increasing number of Latino immigrants to the U.S., research on their psychological distress has become prolific. While most studies examine the impact of acculturation on psychological distress, the role of acculturative stress is often disregarded.  Additionally, most studies  aggregate Latinos into one group, eliding socioeconomic and cultural differences between Latino subgroups.  Puerto Rican Latinos—the second largest Latino subgroup in the U.S.—have a distinct integration experience in the U.S. due to unique geopolitical, economic, and historical factors, and the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S.  This study focused specifically on how acculturative stress affects Puerto-Rican born women residing in the U.S.  We specified contextual factors specific to this group that either diminish or exacerbate their acculturative stress.  We used Family Stress Management (FSM) framework to identify a wide range of contexts that could impact their acculturative stress and mental health.

Methods: Using data from the National Latino Asian American Survey (NLAAS), the study included 145 Puerto Rican–born women.  Mediation path analysis in MPLUS was used to estimate relationships between contextual factors, acculturative stress, and psychological distress.  Prior to entering variables into model, bivariate analyses were administered to assess correlations between contextual factors, acculturative stress and psychological distress. The use of specification search helped identify a better-fitting model and Modification Index (MI) informed our inclusion of specific parameters. We employed Maximum Likelihood Method (MLR), an estimator robust to non-normality, because standard errors estimated through MLR are very close to those produced through “bootstrap” methods. We cross-validated the estimated model using the holdover cross-validation technique. Interactions between the various contexts in predicting acculturative stress were estimated using Stata’s fitint software. The fit of the data to the final model was adequate. Chi-square was non-significant, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Tucker Lewis Index (TFI) were greater than 0.95, and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was less than 0.05.

Results: Racial discrimination (b=0.38; p=0.01), difficulties visiting family abroad (b=0.26; p=0.03), and age at immigration (b=0.19; p=0.03) were positively associated with acculturative stress. English skills (b=-0.31; p=0.02) were negatively associated with acculturative stress. Racial discrimination had the strongest impact on acculturative stress, followed by English skills, difficulties visiting family abroad, and age at immigration. When assessing the relationships between contextual factors and psychological distress, we found that racial discrimination (b=0.39; p=0.01) and financial constraints (b=0.30; p=0.01) were positively associated with psychological distress. Racial discrimination generated the strongest impact on their psychological distress, followed by economic contexts (financial constraints).

Implications: The study has implications for developing culturally sensitive interventions effective for Puerto Rican-born women. The results inform practitioners in considering the contextual factors that have a significant impact on the psychological distress of this subgroup of Latinas and the resources that are needed to promote their healthy integration. Social workers should acknowledge discrimination experience and highlight social support and family dynamics in service plans.  Advocacy efforts endorsing anti-discrimination laws and policies and skill enhancement should be supported.