(PS8-A21) Negative Life Events and Parent-child Relationship quality:influence of Cultural Values and Mental Health on Latinx College Students

Positive parent-child relationships are important for young adults’ psychosocial well-being, especially for Latinx youth who have closer connections with their family members (Fuligni, Tseng, & Lam, 1999). Negative life experiences (NLEs) have been associated with youth’s relationships with their parents. Research has shown that parental warmth decreased as Latinx adolescents' exposure to negative life events increased (McBride et al., 2008). P</span>ositive parental attachment is also related to lower feelings of depression and anxiety among adolescents (Papini & Roggman, 1992). To our knowledge, no study has examined the association between NLEs and parent-child relationship quality (PCRQ) while accounting for the influence of cultural values (CVs) and mental health (MH) in Latinx youth. Therefore, the current study examined the moderating roles of CVs and MH severity on the association between NLEs and PCRQ among Latinx college students.  

Data was collected from a sample of Latinx college students (N=29; expected N = 150) attending the University of Maryland, College Park. Participants (18-25 years) completed an online survey which lasted approximately 25 minutes. NLEs were assessed using the Negative Life Events Scale for Students (Buri, 2018). The Parental Acceptance scale was used to assess PCRQ (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987). For MH, we used the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (Spitzer et al., 1999) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Hann et al., 1999). CVs were examined using the Familism Support, Familism Obligations, and Familism Referent subscales from the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale (Knight et al., 2010). Preliminary analyses were conducted in SPSS Version 27. 

Results from preliminary analyses showed that NLEs were negatively associated with mother acceptance (r=-.48, p=.01) and father’s acceptance scores (r=-.65, p< .01). There were notable negative correlations between father acceptance and anxiety symptoms (r=-.48, p=.01), and mother acceptance and depression symptoms (r=-.53, p<.01). For CVs, familism obligation was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms (r=-.48, p=.01). Familism support was positively associated with mother acceptance (r=.50, p=.01) and father acceptance (r=.46, p=.02) but negatively associated with NLEs (r=-.42, p=.02). Familism referent was positively associated with mother acceptance (r=.44, p=.02). Future regression models examining the interactional effects of mental health and cultural values on the association between NLEs and parent-child relationships will be conducted with a larger sample.