Park, Irene J. K.Du, HanWang, LijuanWilliams, David R.Alegría, Margarita2019-08-022019-08-022018-04Park, I., Du, H., Wang, L., Williams, D. R., & Alegría, M. (2018). Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Mental Health in Mexican-Origin Youths and Their Parents: Testing the "Linked Lives" Hypothesis. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 62(4), 480–487. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.10.010https://hdl.handle.net/1805/20146PURPOSE: Using a life course perspective, the present study tested the concept of "linked lives" applied to the problem of not only how racial/ethnic discrimination may be associated with poor mental health for the target of discrimination but also how discrimination may exacerbate the discrimination-distress link for others in the target's social network-in this case, the family. METHODS: The discrimination-distress link was investigated among 269 Mexican-origin adolescents and their parents both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. It was hypothesized that parents' discrimination experiences would adversely affect their adolescent children's mental health via a moderating effect on the target adolescent discrimination-distress link. The converse was also hypothesized for the target parents. Multilevel moderation analyses were conducted to test the moderating effect of parents' discrimination experiences on the youth discrimination-distress link. We also tested the moderating effect of youths' discrimination experiences on the parent discrimination-distress link. RESULTS: Parents' discrimination experiences significantly moderated the longitudinal association between youths' discrimination stress appraisals and mental health, such that the father's discrimination experiences exacerbated the youth discrimination-depression link. Youths' discrimination stress appraisals were not a significant moderator of the cross-sectional parent discrimination-mental health association. CONCLUSIONS: Implications of these findings are discussed from a linked lives perspective, highlighting how fathers' discrimination experiences can adversely affect youths who are coping with discrimination, in terms of their mental health.en-USPublisher PolicyAnxietyDepressionLife courseLinked livesMental healthMexican-origin adolescents and parentsRacial/ethnic discriminationArticle