Toward a Nuanced and Contextualized Understanding of Undocumented College Students: Lessons from a California Survey
Published by Laura E. Enriquez, Karina Chavarria, Victoria E. Rodriguez, Cecilia Ayón, Basia Ellis, Melissa J. Hagan, Julián Jefferies, Jannet Lara, Martha Morales Hernandez, Enrique Murillo Jr., Jennifer Nájera, Carly Offidani-Bertrand, Maria Oropeza Fujimoto, Annie Ro, William Rosales, Heidy Sarabia, Ana K. Soltero López, Mercedes Valadez, Zulema Valdez, and Sharon Velarde Pierce in the Journal of Latinos and Education
Drawing on descriptive analyses, Enriquez and colleagues examine how undocumented students are faring in California’s relatively inclusive policy context. Results demonstrate the heterogeneity of undocumented student experiences and unpack the challenges they confront while also demonstrating the ways they thrive. They document how respondents are performing across a variety of academic, well-being, and civic and political engagement outcomes. Wellbeing outcomes include depression, anxiety, self-rated health, flourishing, and self-worth.
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Evaluating the Effect of Legal Vulnerabilities and Social Support on the Mental Health of Undocumented College Students
Published by Sharon Velarde Pierce, Alein Y. Haro, Cecilia Ayón, and Laura E. Enriquez in the Journal of Latinos and Education
Velarde Pierce and colleagues examine whether multiple dimensions of legal vulnerability are associated with increased emotional distress among undocumented students and whether social support moderates this relationship. They find that legal vulnerabilities, including discrimination, social exclusion, the threat of deportation, and economic insecurity, and social support have direct effects on depression and anxiety symptomatology. The moderating effects of social support are only partially supported.
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A Latent Profile Analysis of U.S. Undocumented College Students’ Advocacy Communication Strategies and its Relationship with Health
Published by Monica Cornejo, Cecilia Ayón, and Laura E. Enriquez in the Journal of Applied Communication Research
Cornejo and colleagues examine the heterogeneity of undocumented college students’ advocacy communication by identifying profiles of undocumented college students based on their participation in various advocacy communication strategies and assessing how these advocacy profiles are associated with health (i.e. anxiety, depression, and self-rated health). Results identify four subgroups based on undocumented students’ patterns of participation in six types of advocacy communication strategies. Importantly, frequent advocators report poor health outcomes compared to the other profiles.
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Mental Health Help-Seeking Among Latina/o/x Undocumented College Students
Published by Cecilia Ayón, Basia D. Ellis, Melissa J. Hagan, Laura E. Enriquez, and Carly Offidani-Bertrand in Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology
Ayón and colleagues examine how various risk and protective factors associated with undocumented status are associated with students’ propensity to seek professional mental health services. They find that greater level of mental health symptoms and perceived mental health need, and greater use of campus-wide resources and undocumented student services predicted greater likelihood of using on-campus mental health services. Greater perceptions of social exclusion due to the immigration policy context predicted lower use of mental health services.
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Discrimination and Mental Health among Undocumented and Mixed-Status College Students: A Mixed Methods Investigation
Published by Victoria E. Rodriguez, Laura E. Enriquez, Cecilia Ayón, and Annie Ro in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Rodriguez and colleagues examine the association between perceived immigration-related discrimination and mental health outcomes among students who are undocumented or are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents and explore the process through which they are linked. They find an association between immigration-related discrimination and increased levels of depression and anxiety. However, this relationship did not vary by self and parental immigration status, which may be the result of students’ internalization of vicarious discrimination through their parents and community members.
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Legal Vulnerability, Belongingness, and Suicidal/Self-Harm Ideation Among Immigrant-Origin Latinx Young Adults
Published by Melissa Hagan, Martha Morales Hernandez, Laura E. Enriquez, and Cecilia Ayón in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Hagan and colleagues examine the association between self/parental immigration status and suicidal and self-harm ideation (SI) disparities among Latinx undocumented students, U.S. citizens with undocumented parents, and U.S. citizens with lawfully present parents. They find that rates of SI were significantly higher among undocumented students and US citizens with undocumented parents. Further immigration policy-related social exclusion and discrimination mediated self/parental immigration status differences in SI. Greater campus belongingness was associated with a lower likelihood of endorsing SI for all students regardless of immigration status or legal vulnerability factors.
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Do Ties Protect? Examining Economic Insecurity and Mental Health in Mixed-Status Families
Published by Josefina Flores Morales, Laura E. Enriquez, and Cecilia Ayón in Family Relations
Flores Morales and colleagues examine whether economic insecurity is associated with undocumented students’ anxiety and depression and if having lawfully present family members mitigates the relationship between economic insecurity and mental health. They find that undocumented students’ own economic insecurity is associated with increased anxiety and depression symptomatology. Having lawfully present extended family members in the household can buffer this relationship, but it also strengthens the relationship between familial economic insecurity and anxiety.
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Examining the Relationship Between Acts of Resistance and Depression among Undocumented College Students
Published by Martha Morales Hernandez, Josefina Flores Morales, and Laura E. Enriquez in Society & Mental Health
Morales Hernandez and colleagues examine to what extent engaging in three acts of resistance is associated with depression and anxiety symptomatology. They find that students with higher rates of political engagement and critical consciousness raising report higher depression and anxiety symptomatology. Findings suggest that structural approaches to studying mental health must also consider immigrants’ agency and efforts to navigate, respond to, and challenge their marginalization.
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Anxious Activists? Examining Immigration Policy Threat, Political Engagement, and Anxiety among College Students with Different Self/Parental Immigration Statuses
Forthcoming by Erin Manolo-Pedro, Laura E. Enriquez, Jennifer Nájera, and Annie Ro in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Manolo-Pedro and colleagues examine whether anxiety symptomatology was associated with perceived threat to family and if political engagement moderated this relationship. They stratified analyses by self/parental immigration statuses—undocumented students, U.S. citizens with undocumented parents, and U.S. citizens with lawfully present parents—to examine family members’ legal vulnerability. Findings suggest that threat to family was significantly associated with anxiety; higher levels of political engagement reduced the strength of this relationship. However, this moderation effect was only significant for U.S. citizens with lawfully present parents.
Food Insecurity Pipeline: How Immigration-Impacted Students in Higher Education Navigate the Food Insecurity Cycle
Forthcoming by Carmen Zambrano-Torres, Claudia Haro Contreras, Cecilia Ayón, and Laura E. Enriquez in Families in Society
Zambrano-Torres and colleagues examine the experiences food insecurity in the day-to-day lives of Latina/o/x undergraduate students who are undocumented and U.S. citizens with undocumented parents. They find a food insecurity pipeline as students’ experiences of food insecurity begin early in childhood in their homes and continue in their adulthood on their college campuses. Food insecurity has implications for their wellbeing and they rely on their strengths and networks to survive food insecurity.