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Acculturation, Social Support, and Maternal Parenting Stress among U.S. Hispanic Mothers

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Abstract

Objectives

Few studies have examined racial-ethnic differences in parenting stress and findings have been inconsistent on how Hispanics fare on this issue. This paper is the first to examine these differences among US Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black mothers, as well as the mediating role of acculturation and social support.

Method

Using nationally-representative data from the first two waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, our analysis employs multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models of 1096 Hispanic and Black mothers.

Results

We find that both foreign-born and native-born Hispanic mothers have significantly lower levels of maternal parenting stress compared to Black mothers. Using multidimensional measures, we provide evidence that both acculturation and social support influence maternal parenting stress. However, neither of these fully mediate the relationship between race-ethnicity and maternal parenting stress.

Conclusion

Thus, this study demonstrates support for a Hispanic paradox for maternal parenting stress that is unexplained by acculturation or social support.

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Author Contributions

N.D.: designed and executed the study, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, and edited the final manuscript. N.S.A.: collaborated with the design of the study, writing of the paper, and editing of the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, 1200 President Clinton Ave, Little Rock, AR, 72201, USA

    Nichola Driver

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock, AR, 72204, USA

    Neveen Shafeek Amin

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  1. Nichola Driver
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Correspondence to Nichola Driver.

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Conflict of Interest

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. We have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Ethical and Informed Consent

The dataset is publicly available and has been stripped of any identifying information, thus it does not constitute research on human subjects requiring IRB approval. Participants consented to the data collection as well as the use of their data in future research projects. Data are free to download from Princeton University’s Office of Population Research (OPR) data archive at http://opr.princeton.edu/archive/ff/.

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Driver, N., Shafeek Amin, N. Acculturation, Social Support, and Maternal Parenting Stress among U.S. Hispanic Mothers. J Child Fam Stud 28, 1359–1367 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01351-6

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