Afro-Caribbean mother-adult daughter relationships and its association to risk communication and risk behavior

Abstract

Acculturation level is a predictor of risk outcomes for immigrant families. Parent-child relationships have been shown to mediate the relationship between acculturation and risk outcomes, but few studies have observed how these concepts differ between first and secondgeneration Afro-Caribbean women. The following two manuscripts investigate the effect of familial factors and assimilation processes on Afro-Caribbean immigrants’ risk health behaviors and protective factors. Manuscript one addresses the Mother Adult Daughter Measure (MAD) to determine the generalizability of mother-daughter relationships between first and second-generation Afro-Caribbean women. The goal of this study was to determine 1) if the MAD subscales are invariant across generational status, 2) If the MAD subscales can be accounted for by one common underlying higher order construct called Mother Adult Daughter Relationship Quality, and 3) if the higher order factor was also invariant across generational status. Results suggest that MAD subscales (interdependence, trust in hierarchy, and connectedness), as well as the higher order structure of Mother Adult Daughter Relationship Quality, may apply to and may operate similarly across first and second-generation Caribbean women. Manuscript two tested associations between daughters’ acculturation, transnational behavior, risk behavior and protective outcomes. Only indirect associations were significant for all models. Results indicate that transnational behavior was associated with positive motherdaughter relationships and lower reports of risk behavior for first and second-generation Afro- Caribbean women. Daughters’ report of high acculturation was associated with daughters’ report of lower risk behavior in the more parsimonious model (model that includes first and second-generation women) and in the first generation model. Also, acculturation predicted decreased connectedness and reports of increased interdependence to mother for secondgeneration daughters. Chapter four will provide a summary of the two manuscripts, theoretical considerations, and clinical implications for research and clinical work with this population.