Traumatic Stress Due to Family Separation
For many Latine individuals, experiencing involuntary (e.g., deportation) separation from family members is common (Center for American Progress Immigration Team, 2014; MALDEF, 2014). Several studies have found that the long-term psychological effects of family separation among parents and children in families that experience deportation include post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder (Capps et al., 2007; Dreby, 2006; Suárez-Orozco et al., 2004). Traumatic stress is common after exposure to highly stressful events characterized by actual or threatened harm to the self or others (Cahill & Pontoski, 2005). Symptoms may include being easily startled or frightened, always being on guard for danger, self-destructive behavior, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, irritability, angry outbursts, or aggressive behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). This study will conceptualize family separation as a student’s close family member being deported from the United States.
Depression
The traumatic stress associated with family separation due to deportation experience may significantly impact Latine college students by developing depressive symptoms (Suarez-Orozco et al., 2004).
Depression is categorized as persistent sadness and hopelessness characterized by impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, such as academic work (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). Depression has the presence of five or more of the following symptoms within a two-week period: depressed mood, decreased interest or pleasure in activities, significant weight changes, sleep disturbances, psychomotor agitation or retardation, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, indecisiveness, low self-esteem or inappropriate guilt, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideation (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). Latine college students are at risk of experiencing negative mental health experiences in college (Arbona & Jimenez, 2014; Castillo & Hill, 2004). The prevalence of depressive symptoms amongst Latine students between 2020-2021 was 44.4%, demonstrating an increase in depressive symptoms of over 20% since 2013 (Lipson et al., 2022). Given that the Latine culture emphasizes collectivism, failure to maintain relationships with important people, such as family members, may lead to feelings of loneliness and poor psychological adjustment (Chesin & Jeglic, 2012).
Identity-Based Acculturation
Acculturation is a multidimensional construct that refers to cultural changes in behaviors, values, and identity (Schwartz et al., 2010). Identity-based acculturation refers to the person’s feelings about belonging within a cultural group (e.g., Latine culture; Schwartz et al., 2010). For Latine individuals, identity-based acculturation encompasses the receiving (or host) culture, U.S. Identity (United States culture) and heritage culture, Latine Identity (Latine culture). While the term ‘host receiving’ may not be fully accurate as the true ‘hosts’ of the U.S. American land would be indigenous communities, the term is used to reflect U.S. identity as Zea (2003) has used the phrase. This study examines how components of identity-based acculturation moderate the relationship between traumatic stress and depressive symptoms.
Place of Birth
As of 2019, approximately 47 million immigrants live in the United States, and Latines make up 44% of that population (Lopez & Moslimani, 2022). Place of birth may impact the acculturation experience as the identity adaptation to a new place can differ for the U.S.-born and foreign-born Latines. For this study, country of birth will be used to define if a participant is U.S-born or foreign-born (Garza et al., 2017).
Significance of the Study
Family separation due to immigration issues has increasingly become a concern as more people from Latine countries have made an effort to come to the United States. The primary purposes of this study are to (a) identify the relationship between traumatic stress due to family separation and depression, (b) determine if identity-based acculturation acts as a moderator in the relationship, and (c) determine if place of birth moderates the relationship. Overall, the study aims to examine the connection between traumatic stress due to family separation, depression, and identity-based acculturation for Latine STEM college students.
Procedures and Analysis
A moderation hierarchical regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship effect of the independent variables of traumatic stress. The data for this study came from the Latine Students in STEM national study launched in 2021, a web-based survey that is given via Qualtrics. Given the scope of the current study, only participants who reported experiencing family separation were included in the analyses (n = 872).
Findings and Conclusions
The first research question explores if a relationship between traumatic stress and depression due to family separation exists. This study found traumatic stress significantly predicted depressive symptoms (p < .001) even when taking into account known predictors of depression.
The second research question examined whether identity-based acculturation (i.e., Latine Identity and U.S. Identity) moderated the relationship between traumatic stress due to family separation and depressive symptoms. This study found different results for U.S. Identity and Latine Identity: U.S. Identity was found to moderate the relationship between traumatic stress due to family separation and depressive symptoms (p< .001), even when taking into account other factors that could influence depression.
The last research question examined if place of birth (being U.S-born or foreign-born) moderated the relationship between traumatic stress and depression. The study found that place of birth had a moderating effect on the relationship between traumatic stress and depression. The results of the study indicate that being foreign-born worsened the relationship between traumatic stress and depression, which means that this population would experience stronger or worse symptoms of depression than someone who was born in the United States.
About the author
Polet Milian (she/her/ella) is a California native, first-generation college student, pursuing her Ph.D. in Psychology at Texas A&M University and is currently completing her clinical internship/resident year with Cambridge Health Alliance with Harvard Medical School. She will be graduating with a Ph.D. from Texas A&M this August 2024. There she is completing the Latinx Internship track focusing on serving Spanish Speaking populations, the Health Integration Program (HIP), which is a long-term service that provides daily activities and treatment for people with chronic or serious mental illness (SMI), and Psychiatric Emergency Services.
