Understanding Latino Children and Families’ Well-being Requires Data Disaggregated by Birth Within or Outside the United States

Nearly 1 in 5 people in the United States are Hispanic, and Latino children and families’ well-being varies according to a number of factors—including whether they were born inside the United States or outside it, in their country of heritage. Disaggregated data that compare the lived experiences and outcomes of Hispanic children and families born in the United States to those born outside the country are needed to understand disparities in education, child care and health care access, employment opportunities, and other key areas that affect U.S. Hispanic children and families’ well-being.

This brief builds on previous findings and on our previous work showing that the challenges, opportunities, and lived experiences of Latinx individuals vary significantly by their nativity status—a term used to distinguish people who were born in the United States from those who were born outside it—^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} and that these differences are tied in significant ways to their and their children’s well-being. These differences should be considered when examining how policies and programs support the diverse needs of Latino individuals.

The brief has three main parts. First, we describe theoretical perspectives that support a disaggregated approach—that is, examining different Latino subgroups separately—to understanding Latino individuals’ well-being by considering their nativity status. Second, we use a strength-based approach to summarize existing research on how Latino families vary by nativity status in their family processes (i.e., co-parenting and parenting), psychological functioning (i.e., mental health), stressors (e.g., poverty), promotive factors (factors such as optimism and bicultural identity that are related to positive outcomes), protective factors (factors that might mitigate the negative effects of risks on outcomes), and children’s well-being. Third, we discuss implications of our findings and review important policy and program considerations.

Summary of Key Findings and Implications^a

Key findings from the literature on how Latino individuals’ experiences and outcomes vary by birth within or outside the United States

The research on Hispanic individuals’ diverse experiences and outcomes by nativity status reveals three overall insights. First, there are differences in family processes, psychological well-being, stressors, protective factors, and outcomes between Latino children and families born in the United States and those born outside it. Second, the bulk of the research has primarily emphasized adversity and hardships rather than strengths, making it difficult to present a balanced view of these groups’ capabilities and the barriers to their well-being. Third, because some of the differences between the groups are small and there is substantial variation within each group, future research and practice should focus on understanding how variation relates to these groups’ experiences and outcomes.

Family processes and psychological well-being

• There are both similarities and differences between the parenting behaviors of Latino parents who were born inside versus outside the United States. Both groups report similarly high levels of warm interactions with their children, and U.S.-born Latino fathers report being more involved in the day-to-day care of their children than fathers born outside the United States. Latine parents do not spank their children very often, and those born outside the United States report spanking less frequently than their U.S.-born counterparts.
• Latine parents, overall, tend to favor raising bicultural children; they aim to retain the traditions of their Latino culture while embracing American parenting ideas and practices such as the value of independence.
• U.S.-born Hispanic parents are more in agreement about co-parenting than their counterparts born outside the United States, reflecting more egalitarian and shared parenting roles.
• Compared to U.S.-born parents, Latino parents born outside the United States report better mental health; however, non-U.S.-born Latina mothers report higher levels of parenting stress.

Children’s well-being

• Young children of U.S.-born Latinx parents have higher cognitive scores from 24 months through kindergarten than the children of parents born outside the United States. But children whose parents were born outside the United States exhibit faster academic growth in math and reading during early grades, potentially allowing them to catch up to or surpass their peers.
• Young children of Mexican mothers who were born outside the United States and immigrated as adults scored lower on externalizing behavioral problems than the children of U.S.-born Mexican mothers or of mothers who immigrated when they were young.

Social and economic stressors

• As a group, Latino parents born outside the United States are likely to experience acculturation- and immigration-related stressors such as language barriers, which can negatively affect their access to information and resources, educational opportunities, and job prospects.
• Despite having high employment rates, Latine parents who were born outside the United States face significant economic stressors related to working in jobs with low wages, lack of access to health care, and exploitation. These stressors are more salient among Latino immigrants who are unauthorized.
• Although U.S.-born Hispanic parents know the cultural norms and values of the United States and are native English speakers, they still experience discrimination and face economic challenges such as poverty, inadequate housing, and inadequate health care.

Potential promotive and protective factors

• Research comparing promotive and protective factors in U.S.-born Latino individuals versus non-U.S.-born Latino individuals is scant and typically points only to factors related to positive outcomes in one or both groups, but does not identify factors that mitigate risks experienced by U.S.-born or non-U.S.-born Latinx individuals specifically.
• Access to educational opportunities, bicultural identity, and bilingualism are important promotive factors for all Latino individuals, regardless of whether they were born in the United States.
• Social and cultural factors that promote better outcomes for Latine individuals born outside of the United States include a strong sense of community and social support networks within ethnic enclaves; the presence of a safety net for help; the sharing of resources; and the preservation of cultural practices.
• Psychological promotive factors for Hispanic parents born outside the United States include higher levels of optimism and a strong ethnic identity, which are positively related to their children’s developmental outcomes.

Implications for research, policy, and practice

• Disaggregating data by nativity status for Latino populations is an essential first step toward understanding and addressing their diverse needs, strengths, and experiences.
• To better understand and document the heterogeneity among Latine individuals, future data collection efforts should prioritize gathering information on family processes, including co-parenting, relationship quality, and father involvement—from both mothers’ and fathers’ perspectives—and on where they were born and other elements of diversity.
• Future research should further explore links between promotive and protective factors and family and child outcomes in different domains, as being born in or outside of the United States is not uniformly related to better outcomes.
• To comprehensively capture the diversity among Latino individuals, it is critical that researchers consider intersecting identities, such as race, ancestry, citizenship status, English proficiency, time in the United States, country of origin, parents’ country of origin, languages spoken at home, and proficiency in both English and native languages.
• Program developers and policymakers should consider the specific needs and strengths of Latinx individuals—including those born within and outside the United States—to ensure that policies and practices are efficient and impactful.

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^aDisclaimer: Early drafts of this product used ChatGPT to extract key findings from the results presented in this brief. The published version presents the authors’ main points and interpretations, although some language may overlap.