Date of Award
1-1-2013
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology
First Advisor
Anne P. DePrince, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Daniel McIntosh
Third Advisor
Stephen Shirk
Fourth Advisor
Martha Wadsworth
Fifth Advisor
Jennifer Cornish
Keywords
Acculturation, Interpersonal violence, Latina, Mental health disparities, Mental health literacy, Post-traumatic stress
Abstract
Despite known mental health (MH) disparities faced by Latino children relative to children from other minority groups of similar socioeconomic status (SES), little is known about how Latina mothers make MH decisions for their children. The present study examined links between Latina mothers' mental health literacy (MHL), including the recognition of and response to child psychiatric symptoms, and maternal acculturation factors as well as interpersonal violence (IPV) related symptomatology. Participants were 80 Latina mothers from Denver, Colorado and Modesto, California with at least one child between the ages of 8-12 years. Mothers were presented vignettes depicting child internalizing and externalizing disorders as well as interviewed about their help seeking behaviors. Maternal acculturation was not related to identification of disorders, but was related to more symptoms recognized for child internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Acculturation predicted use of formal source of care for child internalizing and externalizing disorder. Women demonstrated a preference for informal source of care, with the exception of IPV-related child symptoms, where women demonstrated a preference for formal source of care. IPV-related symptoms did not moderate the relationship between acculturation and MHL. The relationship between maternal acculturation, IPV related symptomatology and their combined effect on MHL for child psychiatric disorders are discussed.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Annarheen S. Pineda
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
94 p.
Recommended Citation
Pineda, Annarheen S., "Mental Health Literacy of Latina Women in the United States for Their School-Aged Children" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 996.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/996
Copyright date
2013
Discipline
Psychology, Mental Health