Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / Students in doctoral education view mentoring as the most important aspect of their educational experience (Golde et al., 2005). Mentoring can affect student retention and dissertation completion (Cronan-Hilllix et al., 1986) and is typically received from the student's advisor. However, many Black and Latinx doctoral students do not receive the critical feedback they need from faculty to develop their academic skills (Williams, 2018). Given reported problematic faculty interactions within the traditional mentoring model (Johnson-Bailey et al., 2008), peers offer an alternative source of support. Few empirical studies examine the effects of peer mentoring for doctoral students of color. This qualitative study examines how six Latinx and Black doctoral students engage in peer mentoring and how they perceive its effects on their doctoral experience. The maximum variation sample includes students in five disciplines who were enrolled in one of three research universities in the Northeast. Critical race theory (Bell, 1992; Crenshaw et al., 1995) was employed to frame institutions of higher education as sites of deeply ingrained racism that inform how Black and Latinx doctoral students receive support from formal institutional sources (e.g., faculty, institutional offices). During semi-structured interviews, students discussed how they drew on their own community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) to create networks of support with peers, and the ways that peers provided them with much-needed guidance. Findings reveal how peers played a profoundly important role in helping students overcome significant challenges in their program while providing key information. Students often received multiple, simultaneous forms of support from a single peer, including social/emotional, academic, and financial-related. Peers provided different forms of navigational capital (Yosso, 2005) to students, pairing them with tools and resources needed to maneuver through complex systems that were not designed for their success. Data also illuminated how students received resistant capital (Yosso, 2005) in order to manage numerous challenges. Findings point to the benefits of facilitating peer mentoring for Latinx and Black doctoral students, along with significant improvements in institutional support services and advising structures. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

In this article, I draw on secondary interview data with LatinX immigrants in Cache Valley, Utah, an emerging new destination site in the Inter-Mountain West. While immigrants are drawn to new destinations by employment opportunities, quality of life, or low cost of living, they face many challenges in integrating socially into fairly homogenous communities, which can be particularly challenging for immigrant women. This thesis analyzes the ways in which gender affects social integration in the specific cultural and demographic context of Cache Valley. Using interviews with 16 men and women, I examine gender differences in perceptions of the community, experiences of discrimination, and plans to continue to reside within the community. I find high levels of integration among both men and women. Although discrimination and racism are common experiences, many of the respondents were quick to downplay these experiences and focused instead on their overall positive assessment of the community. Women were more attuned to the experience of racism and less willing to downplay it. They also were less likely to have a long-term plan to remain in the community, but this appeared to be more related to their consideration of other family members’ long-term plans, rather than due to their experiences of discrimination. Women’s integration in Cache Valley seems less problematic than in other new destinations, which may be related to demographic, geographic, and cultural factors.

Thesis advisor: Andrew F. Miller / This qualitative case study of a single district explored how Latinx educational leaders made sense of their practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and our nation’s recent racial reckoning. The district in this study claimed a commitment to anti-racist practice through their mission, vision, and public commitment. To respond to the research question, a culturally responsive leadership conceptual framework from Khalifa et al. (2016) and Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth theory adapted from critical race theory was used. Who is in front of students matters—their identification with teachers and school leaders can have a significant impact on their outcomes (Ladson Billings, 2021; Tatum, 2017). In Massachusetts, Latinx students make up over 21% of the population, yet only 3% of educators identify as Latinx (NCES, 2018). To respond to the research question, qualitative methodology was used to collect data through six semi-structured interviews of educational leaders who identified as Latinx. The participants in the study held a variety of impactful yet non-traditional leadership roles within their schools and district. Findings revealed two important distinctions in the analysis of the data: (a) the challenges Latinx leaders face in their practice compares to national trends; and (b) participants were leading from classrooms and across the organization beyond traditional leadership roles. Furthermore, all participants had a clear understanding of the equity-centered initiatives and efforts put forth by the district to promote the district’s anti-racist commitment. This provided commonality in language across all six interview participants when making sense of their practice within the context of their work in the district. Nonetheless, incongruencies persist in how these educators perceived the impact of their leadership practice—specifically during the last two years—which exposes a disconnect between the district’s stated commitment to equity and the participants’ understanding of their practice. Additionally, a critical finding suggested that each interview participant identified strongly with their diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds as assets to supporting students. Understanding the experiences of these Latinx educational leaders—namely their challenges, biases, and microaggressions—can help develop culturally responsive schools and districts and build educators’ skill sets around supporting Latinx students. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

In this project, I endeavor to bridge the gap between these two by analyzing "Latinx" as a symbol that functions distinctly when employed as a personal or group identity. My argument for this thesis can be broken into two main parts: its significance as an identity, and its tangibility. As a group identity, I argue "Latinx" represents a social movement for liberation, visibility, and minority allyship. While this is not unconnected to its personal meaning, individual embodiment of the term involves the performance and realization of the intersectional. In other words, it gives those with overlapping queer and Latina/o identities a space to exist without compromising the validity of either identity. In addition to this, I argue that instead of representing the unknowable, "Latinx" is made tangible through the community it names. As such, the term itself, its symbolism, and controversial reception have all only been viable because of the agency of the individuals that have adopted "Latinx" as a way to communicate their identities. My analysis considers the relation between these two parts in order to understand "Latinx" as a symbol and community.

No description available.

As children grow and age, they often look toward the people in their household for love and support. However, sometimes support at home can be impeded by things like witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV). It can include verbal attacks, yelling, intimidation, ridiculing, physical altercations, fighting, and sexual assault. Unfortunately, the prevalence of IPV may not be accurate since it often goes unreported. Specifically, most of the violence and maltreatment happing in the Latinx community has been unstudied and overlooked in research. Thus, it is important to further study why suicidal ideation and violence seem to co-occur and we need more data to understand how to support those being harmed by IPV.

Thesis advisor: Rocio Calvo / Racial choice, an aspect of racialization via racial categorization, may position Latinx individuals into differential pathways to well-being or distress. The psychological distress rates of Latinxs differ by ethnic group, racial choice and Medicaid coverage. However, little is known about how these factors relate to one another to impact psychological distress. The three studies of this dissertation use nine years of pooled data (N=34,201) from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 2010-2018. The NHIS is a national and annual survey that is telephonically administered to track the health and mental health status of individuals living in the United States. Study 1 examined the relationship between racial choice (Black, Other vs. White) and psychological distress (moderate, serious levels vs. low) among panethnic and ethnic group (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican) samples of Latinx individuals. Findings revealed that Black racial choice is significantly related to higher levels of distress for Mexicans and Cubans, but not for Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. Study 2 examined the moderating role of ethnic group in the relationship between Medicaid coverage, racial choice and psychological distress. Findings revealed that Medicaid coverage decrease the odds of distress for Black-Puerto Rican and -Dominican respondents compared to Black-Mexicans and -Cubans. Study 3 examined whether immigrant status and socioeconomic status (SES) are significant correlates to racial choice. Findings revealed that immigrant status and low SES have significant but different associations with choosing Black as a race over White. These findings show that racial choice matters in the lives of Latinxs and may create pathways to different levels of distress. Special attention on the reasons behind Latinx racial choice is needed to further understand the impact of racialization on Latinx mental health. The findings of each study are further discussed in their corresponding chapters. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Problematic Internet use (PIU) and problematic video gaming (PVG) are associated with various negative health outcomes and are increasingly concerning behavioral health issues among youth. While market research indicates that US Latinx use the Internet and video games more frequently than non-Latinx US youth, research on PIU and PVG among this historically understudied population is lacking. Accordingly, data on PIU, PVG, parental monitoring, sleep quality, substance use, anxiety, depression, parental attachment, acculturation, and positive future orientation were collected using validated standardized measures from three separate samples of US Latinx and non-Latinx youth. The aims of this research were to explore the associations between PIU, PVG, and family, cultural, and individual wellbeing outcomes in a community sample of US Latinx and non-Latinx black adolescents. The first study (N = 159) examined the incidence of PVG among youth and found that younger elementary school aged males (ages 6-11) had the highest PVG scores, followed by middle school aged males (ages 12-14), and high school aged males (ages 15-18). Building off previous research, the second study collected data (N = 247) examined PIU as a mediator of the association between parental monitoring and academic achievement, sleep quality, substance use, anxiety, and depression. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to estimate the relationships between the variables, controlling for adolescent’s age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Results revealed that PIU is a significant mediator between parental monitoring and low academic achievement, sleep quality, substance use, anxiety, and depression. A third study was conducted to examine if PIU and PVG mediate the relation between family, cultural, individual constructs and academic achievement. Two separate simple mediation models were tested using PROCESS© macro v3.0 for SPSS 25. Results from the hypothesized mediation models were not significant. Suggestions for future research to examine critical Latinx cultural values and their influence on behavioral health is discussed.

This thesis analyzes at how Latinx Hip Hop artists from Chicago act as organic intellectuals within their community and how they use their platform as artists to challenge the narratives created by government officials that aim to criminalize their community in an effort to normalize and justify the policing of their neighborhoods.

abstract: This study explores how a teen center within a local police department in California impacts the lives of local Latinx youth. Through a mixed methods approach of surveys, focus groups, and interviews, the study explores Mexican American youth, the most populous Latinx youth in the United States who are uniquely challenged by varying immigration statuses, mental health, and academic barriers. Theoretically, the study draws out intersections unique to the Latinx youth experiences growing up in America and engages in inter-disciplinary debates about inequities in health and education and policing practices. These intersections and debates are addressed through in-depth qualitative analysis of three participant groups: current youth participants of the teen center’s Youth Leadership Council (YLC), alumni of the YLC, and adult decision makers of the program. Pre- and post-surveys and focus groups are conducted with the youth participants over the span of a full year, while they take part in the teen center program, capturing how the teen center directly impacts their academic achievements, feelings of belonging, mental health, and attitudes towards law enforcement, over time. Interviews with alumni and key decision makers of the teen center further reveal broader patters in how the YLC program positively impacts the lives of Latinx youth and the challenges it faces when federal immigration enforcement complicates local policy relations with local communities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Justice and Human Rights 2019