This study used data from 210 undocumented college students (74.8 % women, 24.3% men, 1.0% other). Their ages ranged from 18 to 29 years (M = 22.3 , SD = 4.0).

Self-report, survey data were collected via Qualtrics. A mass email was sent out through the university’s dream center. Additionally, snowball sampling methods were used by encouraging participants to forward the survey to other undocumented college students.

To assess perceived financial stress a visual analog scale was created to measure stress due to financial struggles within the family (Bakhtiari et al., 2018). The following question was asked “What is your family’s level of financial stress?” Respondents were presented with the following end points: 0 = no financial stress and 100 = extreme financial stress and gridlines placed at 10 point intervals on a sliding bar.

Thus, this study examined ethnic discrimination, family cohesion, and ability to manage stress in relation to mental health of undocumented college students. It was hypothesized ...

Ethnic discrimination was significantly and negatively correlated to mental health (r = -.36, p < .001). Family cohesion (r = .29, p < .001) and ability to manage stress (r = .38, p < .001) were significantly and positively correlated to mental health.

Consistent with previous studies, the results of this study found ethnic discrimination undermined mental health. This is likely because feeling discriminated against can increase feelings of frustration, helplessness, and hopelessness, all of which can harm mental health.

Most respondents in this study came from one university in Southern California, a state that provides support and resources for undocumented students; thus, the findings may not generalize to undocumented students from states that are less supportive and provide fewer resources. Also, the cross-sectional design of this study makes it difficult to assess temporal priority between the variables.

Future research may want to collect additional data from focus groups or interviews for more in-depth understanding. Also, studies should collect data from other states to increase generalizability.

The study assessed depressive symptoms by using the 10-item short-version (Kohout, Berkman, Evans, & Cornoni-Huntley, 1993) of the Center for Epidemiologic Study's Inventory for depressed mood (Radloff, 1977). Participants responded how often they felt a certain way in the past seven days. A sample item follows, “I felt sad.” Response choices ranged from 0 = rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day), to 3 = mostly or all of the time (5-7 days). A Cronbach’s alpha of .86 was found in the current study.

Because this study found supportive behaviors were correlated to secure romantic attachment and a decreased risk of developing depressive symptoms, family life educators (e.g., parent educators) should continue to advocate warm and nurturing behaviors from parents. Emerging adults could be taught to recognize parental attempts at support, even when parents are demonstrating their support in less effective ways. Mental health professionals working with depressed emerging adults might help them reframe perceived psychologically controlling behaviors into attempts to communicate care

Students in upper-division, general education courses were administered a paper-pencil survey at the beginning of their class by trained research assistants. These students were not given credit in the course, but they were asked to help with the research. For the paper surveys, trained research assistants coded the data and then verified the coding. Next, they entered the data into an Excel file, and then teams of students verified the data entry. Next, the data were transferred into SPSS.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived parental behaviors, covert inter-parental conflict, secure romantic attachment, and depressive symptoms in emerging adults. Because male and female emerging adults may perceive family interactions differently, these relationships were investigated across genders.

Many participants were not currently involved in a romantic relationship at the time they completed the survey. Thus, many participants retrospectively answered the items inquiring about romantic attachment. This is potentially problematic because those participants may have forgotten how they felt about certain items, but still provided an answer. Also, some participants were never involved in a romantic relationship. Thus, the secure romantic attachment scale may not apply to those participants.

The model fit for was poor as suggested by a significant chi-square 𝜒2(df = 247) = 1345.54, p < .001, CFI = .84, RMSEA = .08, and SRMR = .15. The chi-square (χ²) test of fit for the SEM was rejected, 𝜒2(df = 242, N = 1938) = 114.45, p < .001, suggesting that the model did not have a good fit.

The current study found that higher levels of insecure romantic attachment were related to increased risk of depressive symptoms. It is likely that individuals with insecure-anxious attachment seek high levels of validation from their partner. Individuals with insecure-anxious attachment may feel invalidated by their partner; thus, their self-worth, self-esteem, and confidence may be diminished. The individuals may start ruminating over whether or not their partner cares about the relationship in the same way that they do. Continuous rumination can foster increased feelings of anxiety and stress, ultimately inducing depression.

The sample consisted of 1267 female participants (67.0%) and 671 male participants (33.0%). Within the sample, 50.8% were freshmen, 26.2% were sophomores, 14.8% were juniors, 8.1% were seniors, and 0.1% were graduate students. In regard to ethnicity, 52.8% self-identified as Latino/Hispanic, 13.7% as Asian or Pacific Islander, 11.9% as European American, 5.4% as Black, 4.4% as Middle Eastern, 3.8% as Armenian, 0.1% as Native American, and 7.9% as other/mixed ethnicities.