Externalizing behaviors among adolescents continue to concern researchers and clinicians nationwide, especially among Latinos who are part of the largest and fastest growing minority population in the U. S. This dissertation begins by describing an eco-developmental model, which provides the theoretical framework used to conceptualize the systemic factors being studied and by reviewing the relevant literature regarding the influence of parental warmth, parental behavioral control, the adolescent-teacher relationship, and academic achievement on externalizing behavior among Latino adolescents. This study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health survey (Add Health) data to analyze direct and indirect effects of parenting and school-related factors on externalizing behavior among Latino adolescents over four waves of time. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), latent growth curve modeling, bootstrapping, and latent scoring were all employed to test the hypothesized models. Results indicated that higher levels of maternal warmth, the adolescent-teacher relationship and academic achievement were all negatively associated with initial levels of externalizing behavior and in some cases negatively predicted the rate of change of externalizing behavior. Paternal warmth, behavioral control and academic achievement were all found to be positively associated with academic achievement. In terms of indirect effects, paternal warmth negatively predicted initial levels and the slope of externalizing behavior through academic achievement. Behavioral control was also negatively predictive of initial levels and the slope of externalizing behavior through academic achievement. Finally, direct and indirect effects were found between the adolescent-teacher relationship and both initial levels and the slope of externalizing behavior through academic achievement. Implications for these findings are discussed according to an eco-developmental framework, and culturally appropriate recommendations for clinicians and educators are offered to facilitate the increase of parental warmth and behavioral control in Latino families and for improving the adolescent-teacher relationship in school systems. A culturally adapted parenting training model and a strong evidence-based, family therapy intervention is recommended to clinicians to address these issues in Latino families and critical race theory (CRT) and Latino critical race theory (LatCrit) are implemented to inform recommendations offered to educators to address the academic-specific factors influencing externalizing behaviors among Latino adolescents.

This study addresses existing gaps in the literature concerning the undergraduate experiences of Latino men students as examined through an intersectional and masculinities-based lens. Due to a dearth in literature centering the exclusive study of Latino men in higher education, researchers are challenged to offer a comprehensive understanding of their postsecondary experiences and outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how currently enrolled Latino men undergraduate students make meaning of their undergraduate experiences. Relying on the lived experiences of Latino undergraduate men, this study collected data through three sets of interviews (Seidman, 2013). The examination of data was considered through the Multilevel Model of Intersectionality (Núñez, 2014a), which allowed for the participants’ lived experiences to be examined at multiple levels of intersectionality and centered in social oppression and privilege. The findings center the role of the Latino family, navigating and overcoming pan-ethnic discrimination, and evolved understandings of masculinity. Recommendations include the incorporation of the Latino family into the postsecondary experiences of Latino men, discontinuing the study of Latino masculinities as a homogenous concept, and equity based institutional policies that center the intersectional needs of Latino men undergraduate students related to academic and personal success. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This dissertation examines the impact of city-level characteristics (immigration-friendliness index, unemployment rate, and the percentage of Democrat Party votes) on the psychological resiliency of Latino immigrants. In the light of increased attention on the immigrant issue throughout the world, this study aims to develop our understanding of the factors that have the effect on the resiliency of immigrant populations. This dissertation examines these different characteristics by examining five different cities in Texas: Austin, Dallas, Fort-Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. The survey was distributed through the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to those individuals who define themselves Hispanic or Latino. Results suggest that the city characteristics have a significant impact on the resiliency of Latino immigrants suggesting that local governments have a potential capability to increase the resiliency of the immigrant groups in the United States by embracing the notion that immigrants should be integrated into the fabric of the local community.

Adolescent immigrant students face many challenges upon entering public schools for the first time, especially in rural areas where schools may not have the resources and cultural competence to meet their needs. Background factors like culture, previous schooling, and socioeconomic status combine with contextual factors in the learning environment, which further affect their academic outcome. The qualitative tradition of phenomenology was used to explore and describe the experiences and challenges of thirteen Spanish-speaking immigrant or newcomer youth who entered East Tennessee public middle or high schools within the last fifteen school years. The findings indicated that parents’ perspectives and understanding of American schools and their own academic background affect how they support their children and what they expect of them. In addition, students’ experiences affect their attitude toward the learning environment and their peers, and can cause them language anxiety that hinders English language acquisition. Students who are successful in schools are motivated by personal goals and have parents (primarily mothers) who advise them to do well in school, support them emotionally, and make sacrifices for their child’s benefit. Parent support and personal motivation encourage perseverance. These students succeed in schools where diversity is respected and with patient and understanding teachers who assume they are capable learners despite gaps in knowledge. Personal relationships with teachers and their English-speaking peers are also essential for Hispanic and Latino adolescent newcomers.

Thesis advisor: Karen D. Arnold / People of African and Latinx descent are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a result of systematic marginalization and bias. While there is a great deal of research that investigates the problems underlying underrepresentation, there is less research that centers the perspectives of African and Latinx people about what they believe was influential and supportive as they moved in and out of STEM education and career spaces. This study focuses on a group of 23 adult participants of Latinx and African descent who completed internships with the Institute on Climate and Planets (ICP), a NASA-based science youth research program in operation between 1994-2004. Participants work in STEM, STEM-related and non-STEM fields. The study utilizes interviews and an education and career journey visual mapping exercise to elicit perspectives on any role the ICP program had in their journey. The study also explores identified influences, supports, challenges and experiences across education and career journeys. The study utilizes purpose and love as strengths-based theoretical guideposts to understand the development and support that takes place within participant journeys. Using a thematic narrative analysis, the study identified several themes. Families played an important and proactive role in affirming participants' abilities to achieve and cultivating a value of education and high expectations. Nonfamilial influential relationships were characterized by authenticity, commitment to a strengths-based view of the participant and to supporting the participant’s success and wellness. For many students ICP offered a supportive relational context to engage in meaningful real-world STEM work. They described it as related to enriched efficacy, confidence, and aspirations, as well as career capital that expanded education and career opportunities. Findings also reveal ways that participants push against the sociocultural boundaries of STEM and non-STEM professions and institutions to enact purpose and expand their institutional impact. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Given that neurocognitive impairment is a frequent complication of HIV-1 infection in Spanish-speaking adults, the limited number of studies assessing HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) in this population raises serious clinical concern. In addition to being appropriately translated, instruments need to be modified, normed, and validated accordingly. The purpose of the current study was to examine the diagnostic utility of the HIV Dementia Scale (HDS) and International HIV Dementia Scale (IHDS) to screen for HAND in Spanish-speaking adults living with HIV infection. Participants were classified as either HAND (N = 47) or No-HAND (N = 53) after completing a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Receiver operating characteristic analyses found the HDS (AUC =.706) was more sensitive to detecting HAND than the IHDS (AUC =.600). Optimal cutoff scores were 9.5 for the HDS (PPV = 65.2%, NPV = 71.4%) and 9.0 for the IHDS (PPV = 59.4%, NPV = 59.1%). Canonical Correlation Analysis found the HDS converged with attention and executive functioning. Findings suggest that while the IHDS may not be an appropriate screening instrument with this population, the HDS retains sufficient statistical validity and clinical utility to screen for HAND in Spanish-speaking adults as a time-efficient and cost-effective measure in clinical settings with limited resources.

Hispanic American Catholics are a growing immigrant population in the United States, with Hispanic cultures and Catholicism woven together in unique ways. This situation presents a window through which can be examined the dynamic between individualism and religiosity. Four logistic regression models were estimated utilizing data from the Pew Research Center 2013 Survey of U.S. Latinos, in order to investigate the correlates of Hispanic American Catholic support for women in the Catholic priesthood. Religious individualism (self-determination) was measured in two dimensions, while cultural individualism (acculturation) was measured in one dimension. The first three regression models test three hypotheses related to religious and cultural individualism, while the fourth model factors in all of the variables used. Findings generally supported the saliency of religious individualism over against the hierarchal dogma of the Catholic Church, but not the saliency of cultural individualism. However, findings also exposed the complexities inherent in both Catholic religiosity and acculturation among Hispanic American Catholics.

Peut-on faire de la philosophie dans l'art ? Nous n'en donnons pas une réponse négative ou affirmative ; nous proposons plutôt trois zones d'indiscernabilité entre art et philosophie : le concept, l'écriture, la praxis. Le concept : nous étudions la question du concept à partir de la conceptualisation que Luis Camnitzer en fait principalement dans son livre "Didáctica de la liberación. Arte conceptualista latinoamericano". Dans ce texte Camnitzer cherche à décentrer la lecture du conceptualisme en partant de l'Amérique Latine. Nous essayons d'étudier les conséquences philosophiques de ce décentrement qui implique de revoir la relation entre des termes comme esthétique, concept, intellect... L'écriture : pour Camnitzer, un précurseur du conceptualisme artistique serait le philosophe vénézuélien Simon Rodríguez (1771-1854) le maitre de Bolívar. Rodríguez savait que la libération politique de l'Amérique devait être accompagné par une décolonisation culturelle. Ainsi Rodríguez se proposa de décoloniser la philosophie à travers l'écriture. L'écriture du philosophe vénézuélien rompt avec l'espace linéaire et homogène de la page typographique qui répond au modèle classique du discours : un discours linéaire, hiérarchique et irréversible sur lequel, selon Rodríguez, se fonde la pensée coloniale. Praxis : deux sens de la relation entre philosophie et praxis nous intéressent ici : la philosophie comme "exercice spirituel" (comme dirait Pierre Hadot), comme "esthétique de l’existence" (comme dirait Michel Foucault) et la philosophie comme praxis politique / Can we make philosophy in art ? We do not give a negative or affirmative answer ; rather, we propose three zones of indistinguishability between art and philosophy : the concept, the writing, the praxis.The concept : we study the question of the concept from the conceptualization that Luis Camnitzer does mainly in his book "Conceptualism in Latin American Art. Didactics of liberation". In this text Camnitzer seeks to decentralize the reading of conceptualism based in Latin America. We try to study the philosophical consequences of this decentering which involves reviewing the relationship between terms such as aesthetics, concept, intellect ...Writing : for Camnitzer, a forerunner of artistic conceptualism would be the Venezuelan philosopher Simon Rodríguez (1771-1854) the master of Bolívar. Rodríguez knew that the political liberation of America had to be accompanied by cultural decolonization. Thus Rodríguez proposed to decolonize philosophy through writing. The writing of the Venezuelan philosopher breaks with the linear and homogeneous space of the typographic page that responds to the classical model of discourse : a linear, hierarchical and irreversible discourse on which, according to Rodríguez, colonial thought is based. Praxis : two senses of the relationship between philosophy and praxis interest us here : philosophy as "spiritual exercise" (as Pierre Hadot would say), as "aesthetics of existence" (as Michel Foucault would say) and philosophy as political praxis

The present study aimed to evaluate (a) the extent to which different impulsivity measures would be related to each other and to a risk taking measure, (b) the extent to which impulsivity, risk taking, time perception and time perspective are related to each other, and (c) the extent to which these processes differ in Latino and White American students. Experiment I was conducted at Utah State University. One hundred and fortythree participants were exposed to the delay discounting, probability discounting and temporal bisection procedures, and answered the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI). Results showed that (a) the AUC for delay discounting was related to the scores on the BIS-11 scale, (b) the AUCs for delay and probability discounting were positively and significantly correlated, (c) the mean of the temporal bisection procedure was correlated with the AUC of the delay discounting procedure, (d) the scores on the ZTPI were correlated with the impulsivity measures, and (e) the scores on the ZTPI subscales were also correlated with the risk taking measure. These results suggest that different impulsivity measures may be evaluating similar decision-making processes, that impulsivity and risk taking may be different decision- making processes, and that time perception and time perspective are related to impulsivity and risk taking. Experiment II was conducted at Washington University in St. Louis, with 18 Latinos and 16 White Americans. Results show that while Latinos were more impulsive in the delay discounting procedure, their scores did not differ from the White Americans on the BIS-11. Interestingly, Latinos and White Americans did not differ on time perception, but they did differ on time perspective: Latinos scored higher on fatalism compared to White Americans.

This study used the qualitative technique of focused interviewing to understand the educational and occupational aspirations of ten Latino youth and their parents in a small town in rural Utah. The qualitative nature of this study allowed for an in-depth look into each parent's aspirations for themselves and for their youth, each youth's aspirations, the barriers to aspirational attainment for both parents and youth, the perceived parental support in these families, and their perceived needs for aspirational attainment. This study used two open-ended interview forms and a 12- question demographic questionnaire to collect data from each of the 30 persons. This sample was made up of primarily Mexican immigrants, with five youth of each sex and a mean age of 14.6 years. Using modified analytic induction and the organizational capabilities of QSR NUD*IST, a qualitative software package, themes and subthemes were created from the interview transcripts. These themes were examined as to their interrelatedness within families, and in relation to all the families in the study. Most Latino parents' aspirations were found to transfer to their youth. However, only half of the parents were aware of their youth's aspirations, and few parents had discussed them with their youth. Though all parents wanted their youth to go to college, they did not know how to get them there. Parents felt that a lack of understanding of the pathway to their aspirations, a lack of English proficiency, and a lack of time were real barriers to realizing their aspirations. Youth and their parents indicated that parental educational support was rather limited due to parents' insufficient English abilities. Parents indicated that they needed education and access to information to achieve the aspirations they had for themselves. Continued work needs to be done to provide Latino families with additional education and training so that these families may attain their aspirations. Programs for youth and families are needed to help foster these aspirations and the understanding of how to achieve them.