Profiles of psychosocial stressors and buffers among Latinx immigrant youth: Associations with suicidal ideation

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the associations of latent profile group membership based on post-migration psychosocial stressors (proximal immigrant minority stress) and buffers (family, peer, and school support, and ethnic identity importance), and distal stressors (pre- to post-migration victimization and forced immigration-related family separation) with suicidal ideation among immigrant youth from the Northern Triangle (NT). Surveys were administered in a public high school-based Latinx immigrant youth support program between Spring 2019 and Spring 2022 (N = 172). A three latent profile model was previously identified, characterized by moderate stress/low buffer (weak resources), moderate stress/moderate buffer (average resources), and low stress/high buffer (strong resources) levels of psychosocial stressors and buffers. Associations of profile membership and the previously mentioned distal stressors with suicidal ideation were examined using multivariable logistic regression. Findings revealed that youth in the strong resources group experienced significant protection from suicidal ideation compared to youth in both the average and weak resources groups. Distal stressors were not significantly associated with suicidal ideation in multivariable analysis. Immigrant youth from the NT may require substantial buffering resources (i.e., ethnic identity importance, and school, family, and peer support) and minimization of proximal immigrant minority stress during post-migration to experience protection from suicidal ideation.

Keywords: Health equity; Intersectionality; Latent profile analysis; Life course; Minority stress; Northern Triangle; Suicidal ideation.