Psychological/Social Science

Danielle Rodriguez, danielle_rodriguez2@baylor.edu
Baylor University, with Dr. Karenna Malavanti

Empowered through Experience: Wisdom from Trailblazing Women of Color
This project aims to honor and preserve the lived experiences of pioneering women of color in psychological science through oral history. These trailblazers have made many significant contributions to the field despite navigating systemic challenges. Our objective is to conduct a comprehensive literature review, which will include an analysis of selected scholars’ personal histories and pioneering research, to guide our qualitative research. Our goal with this review is to identify sources of resilience and how patterns may emerge from one trailblazer’s journey to another. This project highlights the common themes that shape both the challenges and strengths these women bring to the field such as overcoming adversity, their perseverance, building community, and the benefits of mentorship. This review provides a foundation for our research as we will later conduct a series of interviews with these trailblazers and use thematic analysis to code and analyze each of the narratives. Our future goal is to create an accessible resource that shares these invaluable insights and the lessons learned that these women offer to current and incoming students at Baylor University. Ultimately, this project will bring awareness to the doctoral work of these trailblazers and increase the accessibility for those who wish to follow in the footsteps of these role models. This work also contributes to the movement of working towards equity in academia by centering on voices that have been marginalized in the past.
 

Maria Quino, mariaq2@umbc.edu
University of Maryland Baltimore County, with Dr. Fantasy Lozada & Marcia Winter

African American Parents' Emotional Beliefs and Youths' Emotional and Mental Health
This study aimed to understand the influence of African American/Black parents' beliefs about emotion and responses to stress on youths' emotional and mental health. We hypothesized that: (1) greater belief that the Black community/families have a "tough love" approach to emotions will be positively correlated with greater somatic stress responses, and greater belief that the community/families have a "emotions valued" approach will be negatively correlated with greater somatic stress responses; (2) greater parent somatic stress responses will be associated with greater youth emotion suppression; and (3) greater youth emotion suppression will be correlated with more anxiety and depression symptoms. Participants were 23 adolescents and their parents (n=20) from an ongoing cross-sectional, IRB-approved study. Youth were 11-13 years old (M=ll.91, SD=I.00); 57% female, 43% male. All exceptone parent identified as female. All parents and 20/23 adolescents were African American/Black; 2/23 of adolescents were multi-racial. Parents reported their emotional beliefs and somatic stress responses. Youth reported their emotion suppression and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Given the small sample size, hypotheses were tested separately using bivariate correlation analysis in SPSS. Parents who believe the Black community has a more "tough love" approach to emotions reported greater somatic responses tostress (r= .45; p= .06). Results did not support hypotheses 2 and 3. Youth whose parents had higher "emotions valued beliefs" reported less emotion suppression (r= -.59, p< .05). Future longitudinal research with larger samples is warranted.
 

Melanie Lopez, mlope158@depaul.edu
DePaul University, with Dr. Neil Harvey (NMSU), Dr. Jeremy Slack (UTEP), Dr. Carina Heckert (UTEP)

Painting the Picture of Reproductive Care for Pregnant Migrant Women in the Borderlands 
Empirical evidence has demonstrated that Hispanic/Latinx emerging adults are at greater risk for internalizing symptoms due to external stressors (Hargrove et al., 2020), highlighting the need for research to investigate factors that contribute to adjustment. Literature has shown positive relationships between poor psychosocial functioning and forms of acculturative stress (Meca & Schwartz, 2024). However, the impact of acculturative stress may be heightened among sexual minoritized emerging adults (SMEA) (Vega, 2022). The present study aims to examine the differences in acculturative processes and their association with adjustment between heterosexual and SMEA Hispanic/Latinx. The sample was comprised of 1,279 self-identified Hispanic/Latinx participants (Mage=19.09, SDage=1.5, 69.4% Female) of which 326 (25.49%) identified as a SMEA. A series of t-tests were estimated to examine significant differences between heterosexual and SMEA across heritage and U.S. orientation, English and Spanish competency pressures, and pressures to and against acculturation. Results indicated SMEA had significantly lower U.S Orientation (Δx=-0.17) and higher Spanish competency pressure (Δx=0.31), pressure to acculturate (Δx=0.24), and pressure against acculturation (Δx=.02). Utilizing a multivariate path model, results indicated Spanish competency pressure (β=.115, p=.005) and pressure to acculturate (β=.142, p=.226) was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Spanish competency pressure (β=.134, p<.001), and pressure to acculturate, (β=.184, p<.001) was also significantly associated with anxiety symptoms. Results of the present study highlight important avenues for future research.