Minority Adolescent Stress and Coping
By Nancy A. Gonzales, Ph.D., Preethy E. George, M.S., Aida Cristina Fernandez, M.S., and Violeta L. Huerta, B.S.
The Prevention Researcher,
Volume 12, Number 3, 2005, Pages 7-9, Item# A123-GONZALES
Many of the stressful life events and daily hassles of adolescence are similar for youths despite differences in cultural background or place of residence. However, adolescents from diverse cultural groups often encounter unique challenges that arise from the particular cultural-ecological niches they inhabit by virtue of their ethnic group membership and other context defining factors, such as their family's socioeconomic status, history of immigration, integration with mainstream and ethnic communities, and the location of their neighborhoods and schools.
For some adolescents, these factors combine to offer increased opportunities for development of competencies that enable them to become productive young adults. Too often, however, these interacting factors expose adolescents to chronic adversities and cumulative stressors that overwhelm their coping abilities.
This article reviews three ecological contexts that dramatically shape adolescents' social worlds and the type of stressors they will encounter in their daily lives: poverty and high-risk neighborhood environments; immigration and acculturation; and racism and discrimination.
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This article can be found in the issue:
Teen Stress
The Prevention Researcher,
Volume 12, Number 3, 2005
Adolescence can be a challenging time with youth experiencing biological, psychological, and social changes. Both normative stressors (such as moving from middle school to high school), as well as non-normative stressors (such as parental divorce) have been linked to an increased risk of such internalizing behaviors as depression and anxiety. This issue includes articles on the relationship between stress and at-risk behaviors, stress and culturally diverse youth, and various coping mechanisms.
This issue also featured these articles:
- Adolescent Stress: The Relationship Between Stress and Mental Health Problems, Pages 3-6
- Coping with Stress: Implications for Preventive Interventions with Adolescents, Pages 17-20
- Interconnected Accumulation of Life Stresses and Adolescent Maladjustment, Pages 13-16
- Minority Adolescent Stress and Coping, Pages 7-9
- Perceptions of Threat: Understanding Pathways Between Stress and Health in Adolescents, Pages 10-12
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