The Latino Acculturation and Health Project is a longitudinal, dual-site study that uses quantitative and qualitative assessments to examine how acculturation stressors and coping strategies, family dynamics, social networks, and cognitive processes are related to aggression, suicidal ideation, and alcohol, tobacco, and substance use in U.S.-born and foreign-born adolescents. We began conducting quantitative assessments in January 2005, and we will finish the last wave of data collection in Spring 2007. Over the course of three years, we will have conducted four quantitative assessments with 230 Latino adolescents and their parents in North Carolina and 150 Latino adolescents and their parents in Arizona.
Quantitative assessments are administered orally in Spanish or English, depending upon the participant’s preference, to adolescents and parents in their homes. The quantitative assessments include multiple measures of acculturation, family dynamics, depression, an array of health behaviors, and the Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self Report forms.
Qualitative interviews are also conducted in Spanish or English in the participants’ homes. Participants are asked questions about their experiences of adapting to the life in the United States, their relationships with family members, their experiences of living with two cultures, and experiences of discrimination.
