This study used daily diary methodology to examine associations between cultural factors and daily coping and responses to stress among predominantly low‐income Latino adolescents. A total of 58 middle school students (53% male, mean age = 13.31, 95% Latino) completed baseline measures assessing demographic characteristics, familism, ethnic identity, and family ethnic socialization. They subsequently completed 7 consecutive daily diaries assessing daily stress, coping, and involuntary stress responses. Results yielded main effects of stress, gender, familism, and ethnic identity on adolescents’ coping and involuntary stress responses. In addition, interactions between stress and familism, ethnic identity, and family ethnic socialization emerged. Results suggest that familism may promote adaptive responses to stress, while adolescents who report more family ethnic socialization may rely more on maladaptive responses at high levels of stress. Findings related to ethnic identity were mixed and varied depending on levels of ethnic identity exploration versus commitment.

Low‐income Latino adolescents often face numerous stressors across multiple domains, including acculturative stress, economic strain, family conflict and changes, discrimination, and exposure to violence and victimization (Romero & Roberts, [ 24] ; Santiago & Wadsworth, [ 29] ; Thoman & Surís, [ 34] ). In addition to poverty‐related and acculturative stressors, low‐income Latino youth also experience stressors common to all adolescents, such as academic stress, peer‐related stress, and parent–child conflict (Barrera, Hageman, & Gonzales, [ 1] ; Gonzales, Tein, Sandler, & Friedman, [ 9] ). The accumulation of co‐occurring stressors is particularly harmful for healthy development (Evans & Kim, [ 7] ; Santiago & Wadsworth, [ 28] ). These poverty‐related and acculturative stressors have been tied to a host of negative outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, impaired physical health, and deviant behaviors such as drug use, school refusal, and risky sexual activity (Wadsworth et al., [ 45] ). Further, the day‐to‐day hassles associated with these types of stressors lead to increased risky health behaviors, low self‐esteem, and depression (Edwards & Romero, [ 4] ). Given the number of stressors affecting low‐income Latino adolescents, it is important to study processes that may mitigate or exacerbate their effect, such as coping and involuntary responses to stress, as well as exploring what factors promote adaptive responses to stress.

How adolescents respond to and cope with stress contributes to their psychological functioning, increasing or decreasing risk for internalizing symptoms such as depression and anxiety and externalizing symptoms such as conduct problems (Gonzales et al., [ 9] ; Wadsworth, Raviv, Santiago, & Etter, [ 46] ). The Responses to Stress Model (Connor‐Smith, Compas, Wadsworth, Thomsen, & Saltzman, [ 3] ) separates responses to stress into voluntary coping responses and automatic physiological, cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions to stress. Voluntary coping responses comprise both engagement and disengagement coping. Engagement coping includes both primary control (problem solving, emotional expression, emotional regulation) and secondary control (acceptance, cognitive restructuring, distraction, positive thinking) coping responses that are attempts to engage with or adapt to the stressor (Connor‐Smith et al, [ 3] ). On the other hand, disengagement coping (avoidance, denial, wishful thinking) includes attempts to avoid the stressor.

The involuntary stress responses comprise involuntary engagement (emotional arousal, impulsive action, intrusive thoughts, physiological arousal, rumination) and involuntary disengagement (emotional numbing, cognitive interference, escape, inaction; Connor‐Smith et al., [ 3] ). In the context of poverty‐related stressors, engagement coping is typically associated with better psychological functioning over time (Wadsworth et al., [ 46] ). Conversely, disengagement and involuntary stress responses are often linked to worse psychological functioning in the long term (Santiago & Wadsworth, [ 28] ; Wolff, Santiago, & Wadsworth, [ 48] ).

Though coping is linked to psychological functioning, less is understood about the factors that influence how adolescents cope with or respond to their day‐to‐day stressors. Although Latino adolescents are embedded within a cultural context, little research has focused on how this context influences the utilization of coping or involuntary responses to stress. The current study examines how cultural factors and daily stress influence adolescent coping and responses to stress. Specifically, this study examines familism, ethnic identity, and family ethnic socialization and their association with daily stress and coping.

Familism

There is extensive literature to support the role of familism in psychological functioning among Latino youth (e.g., Kuperminc, Wilkins, Roche, & Alvarez‐Jimenez, [ 13] ). Indeed, familism, the strong identification and attachment to family, has been deemed a central cultural value among Latinos (Reyes & Elias, [ 21] ; Sabogal, Marín, Otero‐Sabogal, Marín, & Perez‐Stable, [ 26] ). Familism has been linked to lower endorsement of internalizing symptoms among Latino youth (Smokowski, Rose, & Bacallao, [ 31] ) and higher self‐esteem and life satisfaction (Piña‐Watson, Ojeda, Castellon, & Dornhecker, [ 19] ). Given the established link of familism to positive mental health, familism may also support adaptive coping among Latino adolescents. Research suggests that familism is associated with less utilization of disengagement coping (Romero & Ruiz, [ 25] ). Moreover, familism coupled with positive family coping is associated with better psychological functioning among low‐income Latino youth (Santiago & Wadsworth, [ 29] ). Therefore, familism may support more adaptive forms of coping (such as engagement coping) and less utilization of disengagement coping and involuntary responses to stress.

Ethnic Identity

Ethnic identity may also affect how youth respond to stress. Ethnic identity is defined in the literature as a sense of ownership of a certain ethnic group and its corresponding knowledge, values, behaviors, and feelings (Bernal, Knight, Ocampo, Garza, & Cota, [ 2] ). Research has proposed that ethnic identity comprises two components: commitment, or a sense of pride and affirmative feelings about one's ethnic group, and exploration, or learning about and becoming involved in one's ethnic group (Phinney, [ 17] ; Phinney & Ong, [ 18] ; Roberts et al., [ 23] ). Both commitment and exploration have been associated with positive outcomes, such as better self‐esteem (Umaña‐Taylor, Gonzales‐Backen, & Guimond, [ 38] ; Umaña‐Taylor & Updegraff, [ 40] ).

In terms of coping, research suggests that ethnic identity commitment is linked to adolescents’ utilization of engagement coping in the face of discrimination (Umaña‐Taylor, Vargas‐Chanes, Garcia, & Gonzales‐Backen, [ 41] ). Similarly, an overall positive sense of ethnic identity has also been linked to engagement coping, such as problem solving and positive thinking among African American youth (McMahon & Watts, [ 15] ). Additionally, a study investigating the role of coping among Asian Americans found that ethnic identity was associated with problem solving but not cognitive restructuring, both of which are types of engagement coping (Yoo & Lee, [ 49] ).

Family Ethnic Socialization

In addition to adolescents’ personal identity, their family's cultural orientation may also provide a context for learning how to respond to stress. Family ethnic socialization is the process by which family members expose children to their culture's behaviors and values (Umaña‐Taylor, Alfaro, Bámaca, & Guimond, [ 37] ). This may occur through actions such as encouraging children to speak in their culture's native language and eating foods, reading books, or listening to music from the family's culture (Hughes et al., [ 12] ). Family ethnic socialization is considered to be a key influence on the development of ethnic identity and pride among youth (Supple, Ghazarian, Frabutt, Plunkett, & Sands, [ 33] ; Umaña‐Taylor, Alfaro et al., [ 37] ).

Moreover, family ethnic socialization appears to have positive implications for psychosocial functioning. For example, mothers’ ethnic socialization is linked to adolescent social competence, academic self‐efficacy, and fewer depressive symptoms through adolescent ethnic identity achievement (Umaña‐Taylor et al., [ 39] ). Family ethnic socialization may also influence children's coping strategies, though research in this area has been limited to examining adolescents’ responses to discrimination (see Hughes et al., [ 12] , for review).

Gender

Utilization of coping strategies and involuntary responses to stress appear to also vary by gender. A previous study found that compared with males, females endorsed higher levels of involuntary engagement (Santiago, Etter, Wadsworth, & Raviv, [ 27] ), which typically negatively affects mental health (Wolff et al., [ 48] ). However, males tend to rely on greater disengagement coping (e.g., avoidance; Eschenbeck, Kohlmann, & Lohaus, [ 5] ), which is also linked to worse mental health functioning. Findings are mixed regarding the utilization of engagement coping—females often rely more on emotional expression, while males use more secondary control coping (e.g., positive thinking; Eschenbeck et al., [ 5] ; Morales Rodríguez, Trianes Torres, & Páez, [ 16] ; Santiago et al., [ 27] ).

Stress

Research suggests that levels of stress also affect coping and involuntary responses to stress. Because coping is an attempt to regulate emotions and behavior under stressful circumstances (Connor‐Smith et al., [ 3] ), youth would likely engage in less overall coping and demonstrate fewer involuntary responses at low levels of stress because they are not mobilized to respond to or manage a stressor. On the other hand, at high levels of stress, when an adaptive response is most needed, youth often respond with disengagement coping or involuntary responses because stress undermines adaptive coping (Gonzales et al., [ 9] ; Wadsworth & Compas, [ 44] ; Santiago et al., [ 27] ). However, youth who have certain protective factors may be able to respond more adaptively to high levels of stress. For example, high levels of familism or ethnic identity may support more adaptive responding, even in the face of high stress.

Current Study

For Latino adolescents, cultural factors may increase or decrease the likelihood that they will use adaptive coping. The current study examines the effect of familism, ethnic identity, family ethnic socialization, and gender on daily coping and responses to stress using a daily diary design to more precisely capture these processes among Latino adolescents. Previous research has encompassed cross‐sectional and longitudinal designs, though little research has focused on how culture may affect day‐to‐day stress and coping. This approach also results in repeated measurements and increased power to detect effects. We hypothesized that higher levels of familism, ethnic identity, and family ethnic socialization would be associated with more utilization of daily engagement coping and less disengagement and involuntary responses to stress, especially at high levels of stress. Further, we hypothesized that females would use more engagement coping and demonstrate more involuntary responses to stress than males, and that males would demonstrate more disengagement coping than females.

METHOD

This research was approved and conducted in compliance with the university's institutional review board and the school district's research review committee.

Participants

The current study included participants recruited from a local parochial middle school, which serves a primarily low‐income Latino population in a large midwestern city. All of the school's seventh‐ and eighth‐grade students were given a presentation on the research protocol and offered the opportunity to participate in the study. Of these 68 students, five did not obtain parental consent, and five did not complete the baseline assessment, yielding a final sample of 58 students (mean [M]age = 13.31; 53% male). According to the school's records, 93% of the seventh‐ and eighth‐grade students were eligible to receive a free or reduced lunch. Among participants, 95% identified as Latino and 5% identified as mixed race/ethnicity (e.g., Latino and African American); 95% were U.S.‐born. Finally, 22% of participants had one immigrant parent, and 47% of participants identified both their parents as immigrants.

Regarding educational attainment for the participants’ mothers, 20 (35%) did not finish high school, 20 (35%) graduated high school or obtained a GED, 14 (25%) attended college and/or obtained a training certificate, associate's degree, or college degree, and three (5%) obtained an advanced degree. Regarding participants' fathers, 23 (40%) did not finish high school, 19 (33%) graduated high school or obtained a GED, and 14 (25%) attended college and/or obtained a training certificate, associate's degree, or college degree. Educational data were missing for one mother (1.7%) and three fathers (5.2%).

Procedure

Participants completed study measures over a 1‐week period. On the first day, participants completed baseline measures assessing cultural factors and demographic variables (baseline completion rate was 100%). Daily diaries that assessed stress, coping, and involuntary responses to stress were administered over the following seven consecutive days (daily diary completion rates ranged from 84% to 98% across the week). Researchers visited the school at the same time on each weekday to administer and collect study materials, and on the weekend participants completed the measures at home. Participants were given a $15 Target gift card for completing the baseline measures and a $5 Target gift card for each completed daily diary.

Measures

Demographic information

Participants reported demographic information at baseline, including gender, age, race/ethnicity, immigration status, and parent education.

Familism

Familism was measured at baseline using the Familism Scale (Gil, Wagner, & Vega, [ 8] ), a seven‐item measure that has been successfully used with Latino samples in past research. Participants were asked to rate how true each statement was for their families on a scale from 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very much true). Items included statements such as “We are proud of our family” and “We share similar values and beliefs as a family.” This measure has been validated in a large nationally representative sample of U.S. Hispanics (Villarreal, Blozis, & Widaman, [ 43] ). Cronbach's alpha for this measure in the present sample was.87.

Ethnic identity

Ethnic identity was evaluated at baseline using the 12‐item Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; Roberts et al., [ 23] ). The participants were asked to rate how much they agreed or disagreed with the statements on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The measure evaluated the commitment and exploration components of ethnic identity. An example item on the commitment subscale was “I feel good about my cultural or ethnic background,” and an example item on the exploration subscale was “I have spent time trying to find out more about my ethnic group, such as its history, traditions, and customs.” This measure was developed and validated with Mexican American adolescents (Roberts et al., [ 23] ). Cronbach's alphas for the commitment and exploration subscales in the present sample were.87 and.68, respectively.

Family ethnic socialization

Family ethnic socialization was assessed at baseline using the Family Ethnic Socialization Measure (FESM: Umaña‐Taylor, Yazedjian, & Bámaca‐Gómez, [ 42] ), which asked the participants to indicate the degree to which their families performed certain actions or activities with regards to their culture/ethnicity. Participants rated the items on a scale from 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very much true). The FESM included items such as “My family participates in activities that are specific to my ethnic group.” This measure was validated among Latino adolescents and young adults (Umaña‐Taylor et al., [ 42] ). Cronbach's alpha for this measure in the present sample was.89.

Daily stress

Adolescents’ stress was assessed daily using a modified version of the Multicultural Events Schedule for Adolescents (MESA; Gonzales et al., [ 9] ). Participants completed 37 items from the original MESA, checking off the stressful events that occurred over the past 24 hours and rating how stressful they were on a scale from 1 (Not at all) to 4 (A lot). Adolescents were also asked to provide a brief description of what actually happened in the stressful event. Stressors were assessed in the following categories: economic stress, violence exposure, family conflict, family trouble/change, discrimination, academic stress, and peer stress. Sample items included “Someone in your family lost a job,” “A friend you trusted did not keep a secret,” and “You did poorly on an exam or school assignment.”

For the scoring we took the sum of the stressful ratings for all events endorsed to more accurately capture the amount of stress experienced each day. Reliability estimates for this measure in the current study were not calculated because this process requires that every student answers the same items. More specifically, each participant indicated whether they experienced a specific stressor, and, if applicable, they indicated a stressfulness rating for that stressor. Participants may have endorsed different items in different domains of stress, so they did not always endorse a stressfulness rating across the same items. Standard measures of reliability, such as Cronbach's alpha, would therefore not be appropriate indicators of reliability. However, the MESA was developed and validated using an ethnically diverse (including African American, European American, and Hispanic adolescents), low‐income population and has demonstrated adequate test‐retest reliability (r =.71).

Students were asked to indicate which of the stressors that occurred each day was the most stressful for them. Students identified stressors as being most stressful across various domains: academic stress (26%), peer stress (24%), economic stress (15%), family trouble/change (8%), family conflict (8%), violence (4%), and discrimination (1%). Across the week, the rate of missing data for indicating the most stressful event was 14%.

Daily coping and involuntary responses to stress

Coping was measured daily using a modified version of the Responses to Stress Questionnaire (RSQ; Connor‐Smith et al., [ 3] ). The RSQ assesses both voluntary and involuntary responses to stress, including responses that involve both engagement with and disengagement from the source of stress. The RSQ consistently demonstrates good reliability and validity including with Spanish‐speaking populations (Connor‐Smith et al., [ 3] ). The original RSQ contains 57 items, but to maximize compliance with daily diary completion in the present study, we administered a 19‐item modified version.

Engagement coping comprised seven items measuring both primary and secondary control coping responses (e.g., “I try to think of different ways to change the problem or fix the situation” and “I think about the things I'm learning from the situation, or something good that will come from it”). Disengagement coping comprised three items (e.g., “I try to stay away from people and things that make me feel upset or remind me of the problem”). Involuntary responses to stress comprised nine items (e.g., “I keep remembering what happened or can't stop thinking about what might happen”). Students were instructed to complete the RSQ while thinking about how they would manage the stressor that they identified as the most stressful from that day.

For daily diary measures, Shrout and Lane ([ 30] ) recommend evaluating both between‐person reliability (an extension of the Cronbach's alpha) and reliability of change (the ability to detect change in daily constructs). Engagement coping showed good between‐person reliability (.96) and good reliability of change (.80). Involuntary stress responses showed good between‐person reliability (.97) and adequate reliability of change (.67). The between‐person reliability was strong for disengagement coping (.93). However, several participants showed inconsistent responding for disengagement, which substantially affected the reliability of change for this three‐item scale. When these five cases were removed, reliability of change improved to.59 (from <.10). Thus, the scores on disengagement for these five cases were excluded from the analyses.

Analytic Strategy

Because of the nested nature of the data (seven daily diaries nested within each student), hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was conducted with HLM 6.08 (Raudenbush, Bryk, & Congdon, [ 20] ). Data were checked for skewness and kurtosis and extreme outliers. Intraclass correlations ranged from.65 to.67, demonstrating sufficient variance to move forward with hypothesized model testing. For all models, gender and baseline ratings of familism, ethnic identity, and family ethnic socialization were entered as level 2 independent variables. At level 1, daily stress was entered as an independent variable (seven daily ratings).

Three models were conducted, each with one response to stress domain (engagement coping, disengagement coping, involuntary stress responses) as the dependent variable (each with seven daily ratings). Data imputation was not conducted because this HLM approach capitalizes on all existing data points nested within individuals, handling missing data at level 1 quite well. Thus, listwise deletion does not occur, and all participants are retained in the analysis, increasing power to detect fixed effects across levels. A main effects model was conducted first, followed by a model examining interactive effects across levels. The full engagement coping model (main and interactive effects) equations are presented below (where i refers to person and t refers to the timepoint/day):

Level 1: Daily Engagement Coping ti=π0i+π1i Daily Stress ti+eti Level 2:π0i=β00+β01 Familism i+b02 Ethnic Identity Exploration i+β03 Ethnic Identity Commitment i+β04 Family Ethnic Socialization i+β05 Gender i+r0iπ1i=β10+β11 Familism i+β12 Ethnic Identity Exploration i+β13 Ethnic Identify Commitment i+β14 Family Ethnic Socialization i+β15 Gender i

RESULTS

Preliminary Analyses

See Table [NaN] for correlations and descriptive statistics.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Among Study Variables

Variable	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.
1. Familism	–	.330004	−.02	.19	−.20	.16	−.07	−.18
2. Commitment		–	.420004	.500004	.19	.12	.15	.24
3. Exploration			–	.670004	.24	.21	.23	.26
4. Family ethnic socialization				–	.13	.310004	.290004	.290004
5. Daily stress					–	.16	.520004	.670004
6. Engagement coping						–	.610004	.560004
7. Disengagement coping							–	.860004
8. Involuntary stress responses								–
M	3.69	3.80	3.04	3.47	6.69	2.36	2.14	2.13
(SD)	(0.88)	(0.76)	(0.78)	(0.75)	(6.10)	(0.59)	(0.68)	(0.64)
Actual range	1.29–5	1.71–5	1.20–4.40	1.25–4.83	1.86–30.67	1.35–3.94	1–4	1.10–3.89

· 3 Note

· 4 M = mean; SD = standard deviation.

· 5 Baseline measure.

· 6 Average of seven daily ratings.

· 7 p <.05. **p <.01. ***p <.001.

Hierarchical Linear Models

See Table [NaN] for a summary of HLM models. There were significant main effects of stress on engagement coping, disengagement coping, and involuntary responses such that more daily stress was associated with higher levels of daily responses to stress. A main effect of gender on involuntary responses to stress was also found, showing females demonstrated higher levels of daily involuntary responses. A main effect of familism on involuntary responses to stress was also found, showing that higher levels of familism were associated with fewer daily involuntary responses. Finally, a main effect of ethnic identity commitment was found on involuntary responses to stress, such that higher levels of commitment were associated with more involuntary responses.

Hierarchical Linear Models: Regression Coefficients and Statistical Tests

	Engagement coping	Disengagement coping	Involuntary stress responses
	Coefficient (SE)	df	t‐ratio	Coefficient (SE)	df	t‐ratio	Coefficient (SE)	df	t‐ratio
Intercept	2.36 (.04)	52	66.310002	2.13 (.08)	46	26.350002	2.13 (.06)	52	37.510002
Gender	.01 (.08)	52	.17ns	.24 (.18)	46	1.33ns	.33 (.13)	52	2.600002
Familism	.03 (.05)	52	.58ns	−.07 (.10)	46	−.68ns	−.19 (.08)	52	−2.360002
Ethnic identity exploration	.04 (.06)	52	.65ns	.07 (.16)	46	.47ns	.06 (.08)	52	.77ns
Ethnic identity commitment	−.06 (.06)	52	−1.12ns	.005 (.13)	46	.04ns	.18 (.08)	52	2.120002
Family ethnic socialization	.07 (.07)	52	.95ns	.10 (.17)	46	.62ns	.008 (.10)	52	.08ns
Daily stress	.59 (.02)	352	25.980002	.27 (.05)	309	5.860002	.33 (.05)	352	6.980002
Daily stress x gender	.01 (.05)	347	.30ns	−.02 (.11)	304	−.18ns	.12 (.08)	347	1.50ns
Daily stress x familism	.09 (.03)	347	2.890002	−.02 (.06)	304	−.34ns	.03 (.05)	345	.61ns
Daily stress x ethnic identity exploration	.04 (.04)	347	.95ns	−.23 (.09)	304	−2.550002	−.10 (.07)	345	−1.50ns
Daily stress x ethnic identity commitment	−.03 (.03)	347	−.89ns	−.06 (.06)	304	−.86ns	−.08 (.05)	345	−1.44
Daily stress x family ethnic socialization	.03 (.04)	347	.76ns	.21 (.09)	304	2.450002	.16 (.07)	345	2.270002

· 8 Note

· 9 SE = standard error; df = degree of freedom; ns = not significant. Main effects reported in the top portion of the table reflect models that did not simultaneously test interactive effects. Interactive effects were tested controlling for all main effects.

· 10 **p <.01. *p <.05. +p <.10.

Results also revealed a number of interactions between cultural factors and stress on engagement coping, disengagement coping, and involuntary responses to stress. A significant familism X daily stress interaction emerged for engagement coping (see Figure [NaN] ). Students high in familism used more engagement coping on days when youth reported higher levels of stress, compared to students low in familism. A significant ethnic identity X daily stress interaction emerged for disengagement coping (see Figure [NaN] ). Students with higher ethnic identity exploration engaged in less disengagement coping on days with higher levels of stress compared to students with lower levels of ethnic identity exploration. Significant family ethnic socialization X daily stress interactions emerged for disengagement and involuntary responses, though these were contrary to the hypothesized associations (see Figures [NaN] and [NaN] ). Students reporting more family ethnic socialization showed higher levels of both disengagement and involuntary responses to stress on days with higher levels of stress.

DISCUSSION

This study used daily diary methodology to examine the effects of cultural factors, including familism, ethnic identity, and family ethnic socialization, on Latino adolescents’ daily coping and responses to stress. Results indicated that variability in familism, ethnic identity, and family ethnic socialization was associated with differential responses to stress, particularly on days when youth reported higher levels of stress. A gender difference in involuntary responses to stress was also identified.

Although familism has frequently been identified as a positive influence for Latino children and adolescents, few studies have examined whether familism may serve as a resource when responding to stress. Consistent with our hypothesis that familism may support adaptive responses to stress, this cultural value was associated with more daily utilization of engagement coping on days in which youth reported higher levels of stress. Youth high in familism also showed fewer daily involuntary responses to stress. Adolescents who are confident that they have family closeness and support may be better equipped to face and actively manage stressors they encounter on a daily basis. Previous research has suggested that familism may enhance how a family adaptively manages stress (Santiago & Wadsworth, [ 29] ), and these findings suggest familism may also be a resource for adolescents when managing stress on their own.

The current study revealed that Latino adolescents with higher levels of ethnic identity exploration engaged in less disengagement coping on days with higher levels of stress, which could support the notion of exploration as a resource. Instead of avoiding or denying instances of high stress, these Latino adolescents may rely on active exploration of their ethnic identity to help them combat difficult times. This is consistent with previous research that links ethnic identity to positive psychological functioning and self‐esteem (e.g., Rivas‐Drake et al., [ 22] ; Umaña‐Taylor, Gonzales‐Backen, et al., [ 38] ) and as a resource for managing economic and family stress (Stein, Kiang, Supple, & Gonzalez, [ 32] ; Williams, Aiyer, Durkee, & Tolan, [ 47] ). Notably, youth experiencing high economic stress who actively explore their identity show increases in self‐esteem over time (Stein et al., [ 32] ).

In contrast to ethnic identity exploration, higher levels of commitment were linked with more daily involuntary responses to stress, despite previous research suggesting commitment is often associated with better mental health functioning (e.g., Rivas‐Drake et al., [ 22] ; Torres & Ong, [ 35] ). Research posits that the protective nature of commitment is dependent on prominence, centrality, and context in a youth's life (Umaña‐Taylor et al., [ 39] ). Past research has found that low‐income youth who held a higher level of commitment endorsed more depressive symptoms in the long run (Stein et al., [ 32] ), and it was posited that youth might view their poverty as a result of their identity, contributing to poor psychological functioning (Hammack, [ 11] ; Stein et al., [ 32] ). Hence, individuals with a high sense of commitment may show involuntary responses in the context of accumulating and uncontrollable stress.

Contrary to expectations, on days with higher levels of stress, adolescents who endorsed higher levels of family ethnic socialization reported using more disengagement coping and demonstrated higher involuntary responses to stress relative to their peers. As these types of responses to stress are generally viewed as maladaptive, these findings are contradictory to those of previous studies, in which parents’ ethnic socialization was associated with positive outcomes among adolescents (see Hughes et al., [ 12] , for review). Previous research has found that the association between family ethnic socialization and adolescents’ ethnic identity affirmation (i.e., a positive sense of belonging to one's ethnic group) is moderated by parenting behaviors and neighborhood risk, suggesting that the benefits of family ethnic socialization may be context dependent (Supple et al., [ 33] ).

Specifically, in more stressful contexts (e.g., harsher parenting, less parental involvement, and higher neighborhood risk), family ethnic socialization and ethnic affirmation were negatively associated. Thus, family ethnic socialization may not be helpful in highly stressful contexts, possibly because adolescents may view their stressful circumstances as linked to their cultural heritage or ethnic belonging, undermining positive identity development and healthy functioning. Because youth participating in this study were low‐income, family ethnic socialization may have also encouraged maladaptive responses to stress in this stressful context.

In addition to the effect of cultural factors, females demonstrated higher levels of involuntary responses than males in this study. This finding is consistent with previous research showing that females tend to display higher rates of involuntary stress responses, such as physiological arousal, intrusive thoughts, and rumination, than males (Santiago et al., [ 27] ). This finding is concerning because both involuntary engagement and involuntary disengagement have been found to magnify the detrimental effect of stress on mental health over time (Wadsworth et al., [ 46] ; Wolff et al., [ 48] ). When this involuntary stress reactivity occurs repeatedly over time, it is one mechanism through which chronic stress is linked to mental health problems (Essex et al., [ 6] ; Gunnar & Quevedo, [ 10] ; McEwen & Tucker, [ 14] ).

Further, research has shown that involuntary stress responses undermine the utilization of future adaptive coping (Santiago et al., [ 27] ). For females, this added risk factor of involuntary stress responses may be particularly harmful because rates of mental health problems such as depression increase during adolescence and do not decline thereafter (Twenge & Nolen‐Hoeksema, [ 36] ).

Main effects of stress were found such that on days with more stress, youth also reported more engagement coping, disengagement coping, and involuntary responses to stress. This finding is consistent with past research indicating that youth tend to report more disengagement coping and involuntary stress responses at high levels of stress (Santiago et al., [ 27] ). However, the present study also suggests that daily stress is linked to more engagement coping. This is inconsistent with most past research showing either no association or negative associations between stress and adaptive coping strategies (Santiago et al., [ 27] ; Santiago & Wadsworth, [ 28] ; Wadsworth et al., [ 46] ).

Although day‐to‐day stressors may mobilize coping resources, both adaptive and maladaptive, over time chronic stress undermines engagement coping. In fact, a positive association between stress and engagement coping has been found in research using a cross‐sectional design (Edwards & Romero, [ 4] ). Thus, current or daily stress may be linked to increases in both adaptive and maladaptive responding, while accumulation of stress erodes adaptive responding and encourages maladaptive responses over time.

Using a daily diary design, this study contributes to the literature by exploring how cultural variables are related to daily coping and responses to stress in the context of daily stress.

Limitations

Despite its novel findings, there are some limitations that are important to discuss. This study used a small sample, which may limit the ability for results be replicated or extended to other samples. Despite the small sample size, using daily diary methodology allows for repeated measurements, yielding greater power and ability to detect significance. Still, the current study focused on low‐income Latino adolescents; hence, these findings may not be generalizable to other populations.

Furthermore, the study examined stress and coping over one week, and consequently the findings may differ based on stress that spans longer than one week. In addition, possible bidirectionality of associations between stress and coping cannot be teased apart, thereby limiting the interpretations of these data. In addition, research clarifying when and how family ethnic socialization and ethnic identity might be resources or risk factors is needed to understand how these constructs operate in context.

Conclusion

Despite the study's limitations, the findings contribute to the current understanding of how stress, coping, and cultural factors affect the daily lives of Latino adolescents. The results highlight the role that cultural factors play in daily coping and the importance of evaluating contextual factors in relation to the utilization of adaptive or maladaptive forms of coping. Specifically, familism was linked to more engagement coping and fewer maladaptive responses to stress in the face of high levels of daily stress. On the other hand, family ethnic socialization emerged as a risk factor, while findings for ethnic identity were mixed, suggesting that this construct may operate differently depending on the context. Explicating the role culture plays in daily coping and responses to stress is especially relevant when constructing evidence‐based and culturally sensitive interventions. Interventions that incorporate familism or family support may bolster Latino adolescents’ ability to adaptively cope in the face of high stress.

Footnotes

1 We thank Donna Flores, Anna Ros, Christine Weingarten, Fernando Gonzalez, and Jefferson Uriarte for their assistance with data collection and management, the school that partnered with us on this research, and the students who participated.

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Graph: Interaction between familism and daily stress on engagement coping.

Graph: image%5ft/jcop21814-fig-0001-t.gif

Graph: Interaction between ethnic identity exploration and daily stress on disengagement coping.

Graph: image%5ft/jcop21814-fig-0002-t.gif

Graph: Interaction between family ethnic socialization and daily stress on disengagement coping.

Graph: image%5ft/jcop21814-fig-0003-t.gif

Graph: Interaction between family ethnic socialization and daily stress on involuntary stress responses.

Graph: image%5ft/jcop21814-fig-0004-t.gif

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By Catherine DeCarlo Santiago; Stephanie A. Torres; Stephanie K. Brewer; Anne K. Fuller and Jaclyn M. Lennon

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