Session: Understanding Risk & Protective Factors to Promote the Wellbeing of Asian & Latino Youth (Society for Social Work and Research 21st Annual Conference - Ensure Healthy Development for all Youth)

Asian and Latino populations in the United States (US) have increased in the past few decades (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016).  Asian and Latino youth must confront numerous factors that can negatively impact their health and wellbeing.  While often viewed as the “model minority” children within emerging Asian immigrant communities are at risk for negative mental health outcomes as a result of parental trauma (Choi et al., 2008).   Latino youth disproportionately live in impoverished communities and struggle with numerous health and social outcomes (Zambrana & Carter-Pokras, 2010).  In addition, Latino children are the fastest growing population of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (CDC, 2013).  However, Asian and Latino families possess unique cultural and familial strengths that can serve as protective factors. Unfortunately, social work research and practice have not adequately responded to the changing demographics and new issues impacting the health and wellbeing of Asian and Latino youth. 

The changing demographics of the US warrant our focus on the two of the fastest growing minority groups in the US in order to develop appropriate, effective, and culturally grounded interventions.  The purpose of this symposium is to examine risk and protective factors of Asian and Latino families in order to promote the wellbeing of Asian and Latino youth and to discuss strategies for interventions and future research. 

The first paper in the symposium is a quantitative longitudinal study which examines the association between social determinants of health indicators and adolescent depression, problem behaviors, and substance use among a sample of Vietnamese and Cambodian mothers and their adolescent children.  The results indicated several maternal risk factors associated with adolescents’ depression, behavioral health, and substance use.

The second paper uses a sample of White and Latina to examine the impact of optimism and pessimism on service needs among Latino and White families raising children with autism.  The results indicated that being Latina and having higher levels of optimism were associated with a greater need for services, but lower levels of services received for Latino children diagnosed with autism.  This paper highlights the gap between the services needed versus the services received for Latino children with autism.

The third paper in the symposium uses an embedded quasi-experimental design of Latino families living in low-income and subsidized housing communities, to examine the effectiveness of a family intervention program to promote family bonding, community involvement, in order to improve youth educational outcomes.  The results indicated that parents participating in the intervention experienced greater parental involvement, confidence, and understanding of parental roles in their children’s education. Findings also showed an improvement in parents’ report of their children’s’ progress in school.

This symposium disseminates research findings on important and current issues facing Asian and Latino youth and families.  Symposium participants will gain deeper understanding of research which can be used to further culturally grounded interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of Asian and Latino youth and families.