Multilevel Comparison of Socioemotional Symptoms of Hispanic Children from U.S. and Foreign-Born Parents

Background/Purpose: The Hispanic population in the United States (U.S.) is one of the fastest growing ethnoracial groups. Although slightly over half of the Hispanic adult population is immigrant, the majority of Hispanic children are U.S.-born, which means that most Hispanic children live with at least one immigrant parent.

Research indicates the children of Hispanic immigrants are at the same risk of psychiatric disorder as the children of U.S. born parents. Also, in families where the rate of acculturation is different for parents and children, children experience less supportive parenting and more depressive symptoms, especially if parents suffer experiences of discrimination.

There is limited research on the children of Hispanic immigrants and their socioemotional development. The purpose of this study is to examine if there are differences in the internalized problem behaviors scores of children and adolescents of U.S. born Hispanic parents compared to the children and adolescents of Hispanic immigrant parents.

Methods: Data and Samples: This study utilized the data of the sample child and sample adult sections of the 2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The sample consisted of 967 parent-child dyads. Children (mean age= 10.67; 52% male; 96% Hispanic) and parents (mean age=39.16; 61% female; 53% immigrant).

Measures: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to identify children who had internalized problem behaviors. The independent variable was whether the parent was a U.S.-born or immigrant Hispanic. This variable was moderated by the parent’s level of education, family income, and family structure. The dependent variable was the combined scores in the SDQ subscales of emotional symptoms and peer problems.

Results: Multilevel modeling was used to understand how individual characteristics interact with contextual factors to influence child mental health outcomes. The models were constructed following a bottom-up approach, with the data nested within PPSU. An unconditional model was created, followed by a level 1 model with the child covariates, and level 2 models including the independent variable, parent covariates, and moderators. Although the moderation effect of education level was not significant, it showed that for the children of immigrant parents who reached 12^th grade and did not graduate there was a marginally significant increase in their SDQ scores (p=0.06); and, the children of immigrant parents with the highest level of education had the highest SDQ scores of all children, though this was not statistically significant. Family income and family structure did not moderate the relationship between parent nativity and child behavior.

Conclusion and implications: Our findings suggest that the challenges faced by the children of Hispanic immigrants may be greater than those faced by the children of U.S.-born Hispanics, particularly for the children of parent with either low or high educational attainment. This underscores the need for policies that address structural barriers, such as improving credential recognition for immigrant professionals, supporting the development of interventions that address acculturation for both parents and children, and ensuring equitable resource allocation for vulnerable populations.