Growing Up Hispanic ─ Health and Development of Children of Immigrants

"With one in five children in the United States today being raised by immigrant parents, understanding the conditions that foster or impede their success is a top priority for both social science research and public policy. Growing Up Hispanic cogently weaves together a remarkable group of interdisciplinary studies that shed new light on the experiences of Hispanic children in immigrant families. Covering such topics as cultural diversity, family relationships, and the larger contextual influences that shape child outcomes, this volume will become a standard reference."-Emilio A. Parrado, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

""Growing Up Hispanic represents a valuable addition to the growing literature on the experiences of Latino immigrants to the United States. The book brings together prominent scholars from different disciplines to discuss four topics relevant to Latino children, :their neighborhoods, families, schools, and experiences with the health care system. Strengths include the comprehensive coverage, interdisciplinary approach, timeliness of the topic, and explicit attention to research and policy considerations."-Marcela Raffaelli, Professor, Department of Human and Community Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"This is one of those rare books that captures the big picture. Growing Up Hispanic brings together eminent experts who document a disconcerting disjunction between the high hopes and aspirations of Hispanic immigrant families and the often forbidding economic, educational, health, and social challenges they face. Every chapter presents the most up-to-date social science research along with thoughtful and detailed policy recommendations. By delving deeply into the lives of Hispanic families, Growing Up Hispanic shows why their future prospects are of crucial consequence to American society as a whole."-Lene Arnett Jensen, Associate Professor, Clark University, and Author Bridging Cultural and Developmental Approaches to Psychology

"Timely and well writtenuprominent scholars discuss several major social, family, and individual issues (immigration, neighborhoods, health, education, language) facing Latinos in the United States. The end product is a compendium of provocative, state-of-the-art findings, theories, and social policy and service recommendations."-Gustavo Carlo, Carl A. Happold Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Associate Editor, Developmental Psychology

"Growing Up Hispanic should be of considerable value to researchers and policymakers concerned with the future of children and youth in Hispanic immigrant families. It is well organized around major themes of social context, structures, and processes related to adaptation, schooling effects, and health disparities. The volume identifies gaps in knowledge and directions for future research while supplying a range of perspectives on the issues."-Mary J. Levitt, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, Florida International University

Nancy S. Landale is professor of sociology and demography and director of the Population Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University.Dr. Landale’s areas of interest include family demography, immigration and immigrant incorporation, the Hispanic population, and children's health. She is widely known for her research on the implications of migration to the U.S. mainland for family processes and maternal/infant health among Puerto Ricans. Her current work focuses on the educational and health outcomes of Mexican children of immigrants. A major issue addressed in this work is how migration and assimilation affect key aspects of the family environment (socioeconomic status, family relationships, and health practices), thereby influencing children’s outcomes. Dr. Landale is also currently conducting a study of academic achievement among children of legal immigrants. Dr. Landale served as a member of two panels of the National Research Council that are relevant to the present volume: “The Health and Adjustment of Immigrant Families and Children” (1996–98) and “Transforming Our Common Destiny: Hispanics in the U.S.” (2003–05).Susan McHale is director of the Social Science Research Institute and The Children, Youth, and Family Consortium and professor of human development at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on children’s and adolescents’ family roles, relationships, and daily experiences and how these family dynamics are linked to youth development and adjustment. She is particularly interested in gender dynamics in families. Dr. McHale has studied how differential family roles and experiences of sisters and brothers are linked to the choices they make in education, work, and family formation. Dr. McHale’s research also investigates the cultural contexts of family dynamics including how parents’ and youths’ sociocultural values, practices, and daily experiences have implications for family life and youth adjustment in African American and Mexican American families. Most recently, she has extended her research to examine the role of family dynamics, particularly family stressors, in youths’ physical health.Alan Booth is Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Human Development & Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. He has been a senior scientist in Penn State’s Population Research Institute since 1991. Dr. Booth has co-organized the university’s National Symposium of Family Issues since its inception in 1993. He is the author of more than 100 scholarly articles and 4 books, and editor of 16 volumes. He was editor of Journal of Marriage and the Family from 1985 to 1991. Dr. Booth directed a 20-year study of marital instability in a national sample of 2,000 married people. The project has been the basis for many studies on the causes of divorce; the effects of divorce on children’s well-being; remarriage and step families; and the effects of having a nonresident parent on psychological distress, educational achievement, romantic relationships, and family formation. A major focus of Booth’s research is on hormones (e.g., testosterone and cortisol) and family relationships (i.e., parent-child relationship quality, peer relationships, and marital happiness).