"A cross-ethnoracial comparison of objective and subjective neighborhood predictors of early adolescents’ prosocial behavior"

Professor Gustavo Carlo published an article with colleagues in Social Development exploring cross-ethnic comparisons using the Family Stress Model.

The title of the article is “A cross-ethnoracial comparison of objective and subjective neighborhood predictors of early adolescents’ prosocial behavior.”

Co-authors are University of Missouri, Columbia doctoral students Madison K. Memmott‐Elison (first author, doctoral candidate), Sahitya Maiya, and Joy Roos.

Carlo’s primary research interest focuses on understanding positive social development and health in culturally diverse children and adolescents. Many of his projects focus on U.S. ethnic/racial groups, including Latino/a youth and families. ​He has published more than 200 books, chapters, and research papers. Carlo currently serves as a member of the Society for Research in Child Development Governing Council, as associate editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development, and as co-editor of the upcoming APA Handbook of Adolescent Development. At UCI, Carlo is director the Cultural Resilience and Learning Center. 

Abstract

​Although the Family Stress Model (FSM) has been widely tested, expanded conceptualizations of stressors, intervening mechanisms, and developmental outcomes from this perspective is becoming increasingly common in order to better explain the adolescent adjustment. Additionally, though extant research analyzes the utility of the FSM in African American and European–American samples, little is known about the representativeness of the FSM in Latino/a samples, and cross‐ethnoracial comparisons are scarce. The present study addresses these gaps by conducting cross‐ethnic comparisons in a modified FSM between African American, European–American, and U.S. Latino/a ethnoracial adolescents. Findings revealed that perceived neighborhood safety was indirectly associated with youth prosocial behavior through parent mental health symptoms and family conflict for African Americans, U.S. Latino/as ethnoracial adolescents. Findings revealed that perceived neighborhood safety was indirectly associated with youth prosocial behavior through parent mental health symptoms and family conflict for African Americans, U.S. Latino/as, and European–Americans. Objective neighborhood risk predicted parent mental health symptoms but was not indirectly associated with youths' prosocial behavior. Results generally suggest that the FSM may adequately represent family processes across ethnoracial groups. The usefulness and practical implications of the FSM are discussed.