Acculturative Stress Among Latina Young Adult Immigrants: The Mediating Role of Receiving Community Context

Little is empirically known about how acculturative stress soon after immigration is influenced by immigrants' receiving neighborhood context. In the present study, we investigated mediating effects of receiving community context on associations between social and cultural factors and acculturative stress among Latina young adults during their initial months in the United States. The sample included Latina women aged 18-23 years old who immigrated to the United States approximately 11.5 months prior to assessment (n = 530). Data collected included measures of social and cultural factors (employment status, childhood socioeconomic status, education, time in the United States, acculturation, ethnic identity, and immigration status), perceptions of receiving community context (supportive acts of neighboring, neighborhood annoyance, neighborhood attachment, weak social ties, and more neighborhood stress), and acculturative stress. Path modeling tested study hypotheses. Participant reports of higher acculturative stress were directly associated with less neighborhood attachment, weak social ties, more neighborhood stress, more time in the United States, higher levels of ethnic society immersion, lower levels of dominant society immersion, higher levels of ethnic identity commitment, and lower levels of ethnic identity exploration. The positive relation between ethnic identity commitment and acculturative stress was mediated by more neighborhood stress. Weak social ties were another receiving community factor that mediated positive relations between more ethnic society immersion and acculturative stress. Psychological interventions targeting acculturative stress and future research should consider addressing receiving neighborhood context to potentially relieve stress soon after immigration among Latina young adult immigrants. What is the significance of this article for the general public? This study suggests that for Latina young adult immigrants, higher acculturative stress relates with a variety of theorized social and cultural factors. Neighborhood stress and weak social ties are two factors of receiving community context that underlie some of these relations. Our results signify the importance of neighborhood and community with regards to acculturation, and suggest the importance of community-based interventions targeted at fostering social ties and decreasing neighborhood stress.