Psychological Distress among Latina/o College Students: the Roles of Self-Concealment and Psychological Inflexibility

Hadrian Mendoza, Bradley L. Goodnight, Nicole E. Caporino, Akihiko Masuda

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is a dire need to understand behavioral health outcomes in U.S. Latina/o individuals. Following the psychological flexibility model of behavior change, the present cross-sectional study investigated the role of self-concealment in a range of distress variables in a U.S. Latina/o college sample. Participants (N = 83, 76 % female, range = 17–50 years old) completed self-report measures online. Results revealed a direct effect of self-concealment on depression and large indirect effects of self-concealment on general distress, somatization, and anxiety through psychological inflexibility. These findings suggest that maladaptive cognitive and emotion regulation processes in general, and psychological inflexibility in particular, contribute to distress in the present Latina/o sample. Future research should examine whether psychological inflexibility and self-concealment predict onset, recurrence, and/or maintenance of psychological distress among Latina/o individuals over time.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)172-179
Number of pages8
JournalCurrent Psychology
Volume37
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Keywords

  • Latina/o
  • Psychological distress
  • Psychological inflexibility
  • Self-concealment

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