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This study adopts a cultural ecological perspective to examine how cumulative effects of external transcultural and cultural strengths are related to baseline and changes in three markers of Mexican-origin adolescents' self-growth (i.e., resilience, life meaning, and discipline). Using a three-wave longitudinal data set (5 years) of 604 adolescents, cumulative strengths (CS) was calculated, and growth curve analyses showed a similar pattern of findings for both transcultural and cultural cumulative strengths models: Adolescents with higher CS showed higher baseline resilience, life meaning, and discipline. While there were no significant associations between adolescents' CS scores and the increase in resilience, adolescents with higher CS scores showed steeper declines in life meaning and discipline (although these declines were no longer significant for cultural CS when transcultural and cultural CS were simultaneously tested in the same model). The findings emphasize a cultural ecological understanding of Mexican-origin youths' positive development from early to later adolescence. They also provide support for a CS model and have implications for positive psychology theories.

Few studies have considered bilingualism's impact on cognitive development within the sociolinguistic and cultural context of the immigrant communities where bilingualism is commonly practiced. In the United States, many Mexican-origin bilingual youth practice their bilingual skills by "brokering" (i.e. translating/interpreting between languages) for their immigrant parents who have low English proficiency. Meanwhile, these youth may also experience discrimination in their daily life. The present study focuses on Mexican-origin bilingual youth brokers (N = 334) in order to examine how discriminatory experiences (i.e. daily and ethnic discrimination) and bilingual brokering experiences captured by profiles are related to cognitive control performance (i.e. attentional control and inhibition). We found no significant direct influence of either bilingual broker profiles or discriminatory experiences on cognitive control. However, the associations between discriminatory experiences and cognitive control performance depended upon brokering experiences. Specifically, greater discrimination was associated with lower cognitive control performance among moderate brokers (with moderate bilingual experiences), but the association was attenuated among efficacious brokers (with positive bilingual experiences). Findings highlight the need to consider the sociolinguistic heterogeneity of both discriminatory experiences and language use when investigating cognitive control performance in bilinguals.

Adolescence is a challenging and sensitive developmental period in which mothers and adolescents may be vulnerable to internalizing symptoms. The current study aimed to understand how patterns of changes in mother-adolescent perceived parenting (i.e., mother-adolescent perceived parenting transition profiles) corresponded with trajectories of mothers' and adolescents' internalizing symptoms from early to late adolescence. The current study utilized a three-wave longitudinal data set of 604 adolescents (54% female, M[subscript age] = 12.92, SD = 0.92) and 595 mothers (M[subscript age] = 38.89, SD = 5.74) from Mexican-origin immigrant families and adopted mother-adolescent perceived parenting transition profiles from a previous study. Multiple group analyses showed that mother-adolescent dyads who agreed on high levels of positive parenting across the course of adolescence (i.e., "Stable Both High") experienced the lowest levels of internalizing symptoms, whereas dyads that showed an inconsistent pattern of mixed profile typologies over time (i.e., "Fluctuated") experienced high levels of internalizing symptoms. For mother-adolescent dyads that consistently showed a pattern in which mothers reported more positive parenting compared to their adolescent children (i.e., "Stable Mother High"), mothers experienced low levels of (and even a decrease in) internalizing symptoms, while adolescents experienced considerably high levels of internalizing symptoms over time. The results for the other two parenting transition profiles (i.e., "Change to Both High" and "Change from Both High") are also discussed. The findings highlight the importance of developing separate adaptive interventions to reduce internalizing symptoms for mothers and children by considering their change patterns of perceived parenting during the course of adolescence.

This study adopts a cultural ecological perspective to examine how cumulative effects of external transcultural and cultural strengths are related to baseline and changes in three markers of Mexican-origin adolescents' self-growth (i.e., resilience, life meaning, and discipline). Using a three-wave longitudinal data set (5 years) of 604 adolescents, cumulative strengths (CS) was calculated, and growth curve analyses showed a similar pattern of findings for both transcultural and cultural cumulative strengths models: Adolescents with higher CS showed higher baseline resilience, life meaning, and discipline. While there were no significant associations between adolescents' CS scores and the increase in resilience, adolescents with higher CS scores showed steeper declines in life meaning and discipline (although these declines were no longer significant for cultural CS when transcultural and cultural CS were simultaneously tested in the same model). The findings emphasize a cultural ecological understanding of Mexican-origin youths' positive development from early to later adolescence. They also provide support for a CS model and have implications for positive psychology theories. Public Significance Statement: This study advances knowledge regarding the cumulative effects of external transcultural and cultural strengths on Mexican-origin adolescents' self-growth. Higher cumulative strengths are associated with increased baseline resilience, life meaning, and discipline. Our findings suggest that Mexican-origin youths can capitalize on cultural ecological factors to facilitate positive development in adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used a three-wave longitudinal dataset to: identify adjustment profiles of U.S. Mexican-origin adolescents based on their physical, academic, and psychosocial health adjustment; track adjustment profile changes throughout adolescence; and examine the associations between cultural stressors, family obligation, and adjustment profile membership over time. Participants were 604 Mexican-origin adolescents (54% female, M age  = 12.41, SD = 0.97) in Texas (Wave 1: 2012-2015; Wave 2: 2013-2016; Wave 3: 2017-2020). Three concurrent profiles (Well-adjusted, Moderate, and Poorly-adjusted) emerged at each wave, whereas three transition profiles (Improved, Stable well-adjusted, and Overall poorly-adjusted) were identified across three waves. The results suggest that cultural stressors pose risks for Mexican-origin adolescents' adjustment, and family obligation values play a protective role in these associations., (© 2024 The Author(s). Child Development © 2024 Society for Research in Child Development.)