Theses and Dissertations

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Date of Award

1-1-2026

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

First Advisor

Lourdes Suarez-Morales

Keywords

Latino; moderation model; parental accommodation; parental acculturation; youth anxiety

Abstract

Latinos constitute a significant portion of the United States (U.S.) population. With Latino youth at increased risk for developing anxiety disorders, it is necessary to examine factors related to Latino youth anxiety as this population continues to grow. Youth anxiety has been linked to parenting behaviors theorized as contributing to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. Parental accommodations, a group of behaviors enacted with the intention of decreasing youth stress or anxiety, have been associated with increased severity and duration of youth anxiety in samples of majority White populations. However, the literature has yet to investigate this relationship alongside cultural factors among Latino parents. Parental acculturation has been linked to both Latino youth anxiety and accommodation-like constructs (i.e., parental overprotection and control). The present study aimed to establish the prevalence and typology of Latino parental accommodation and utilize one-sample t-tests to compare accommodation with previously published rates among White and Latino samples. A model examined the moderating role of parental acculturation and birth status in the relationship between Latino parental accommodation and youth anxiety. Research was conducted in SPSS using a data repository of a sample of 288 Latino parents with children between 3 and 17 years old recruited from Miami-Dade County, Florida. Half of the sample completed questionnaires in English, and the other half in Spanish. Results indicated that compared with White, non-Latino samples, the present sample of Latino parents exhibited significantly lower rates of parental accommodation than previous clinical samples, but significantly higher rates than previous samples of parents with non-anxious children. Reassurance was identified as the most common Latino parental accommodation, with Latino parents exhibiting similar rates of participation and modification accommodations compared to White populations. When compared to a previous sample of Latino parents, the present sample demonstrated overall lower parental accommodations. Although the moderated-moderation model was not supported, independent relationships between Latino parental accommodation with youth anxiety, and Latino parental acculturation with youth anxiety, were supported. Results from the study provide foundational understanding of parental accommodation and cultural factors among Latino families. Future studies should examine parental accommodation among clinically anxious Latino youth.

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