Cultural Stressors, Youth Coping, and Mother-Adolescent Conflict

Objective: This study examined the associations between cultural stressors (i.e., foreigner-based discrimination and acculturation gap conflict) and mother-adolescent relational conflict and the moderating effects of youth coping on these relations. Method: Within a sample of 175 Latinx mothers (M-age = 41.84 years; 88% born in Mexico) and adolescents (M-age = 12.89 years; 52% female; 87% U.S. born), we used actor-partner interdependence models to test the dyadic associations of one's cultural stress experiences with their own (i.e., self-effect) and the other family member's (i.e., mother or adolescent effect) perception of relational conflict, and we examined youth coping as a moderator. Results: Adolescents' experiences of cultural stress were positively related to their own perception of relational conflict but not their mother's. Amid higher maternal discrimination experiences, higher youth shift-and-persist coping was related to lower youth-reported relational conflict. Higher youth discrimination experiences were correlated with higher reports of youth support-seeking, but youth support-seeking did not moderate the relation between cultural stress and relational conflict. Conclusions: Shift-and-persist coping may play a critical role in exacerbating or mitigating the harmful relations between cultural stress and relational conflict, depending upon whether the cultural stressor is external (i.e., foreigner-based discrimination) or family-based (acculturation gap conflict).