Acculturative orientations among Hispanic/Latinx caregivers in the ABCD Study: Associations with caregiver and youth mental health and youth brain function

Background Population-based neuroscience offers opportunities to examine important but understudied sociocultural factors, such as acculturation. Acculturation refers to the extent to which an individual retains their cultural heritage and / or adopts the receiving society’s culture and is particularly salient among Hispanic/Latinx immigrants. Specific acculturative orientations have been linked to vulnerability to substance use, depression, and suicide and are known to influence family dynamics between caregivers and their children. Methods We investigated first- and second-generation Hispanic/Latinx caregivers in the ABCD Study and examined how caregivers’ acculturative orientation impacts their mental health, as well as the mental health of their children. In addition, we evaluated how caregiver orientation is associated with adolescent socio-affiliative neural function in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, insula, and temporoparietal junction. Results We identified two caregiver acculturation profiles: bicultural (retains heritage culture while adopting US culture) and detached (discards heritage culture and rejects US culture). Bicultural caregivers exhibited fewer symptoms of depression, avoidant behaviors, and inattention compared to detached caregivers; further, youth exhibited similar internalizing effects across caregiver profiles. Moreover, youth with bicultural caregivers displayed increased resting-state brain activity in the left insula; however, differences in long-range functional connectivity were not significant. Conclusions Caregiver acculturation is an important familial-environmental factor in Hispanic/Latinx families linked to significant differences in caregiver and youth mental health and youth insula activity. Future work should examine sociocultural and neurodevelopmental changes across adolescence to assess health outcomes and determine whether localized, corticolimbic brain effects are ultimately translated into long-range connectivity differences.