The Role of Acculturation and Intimate Partner Violence on Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Among Hispanic Youth With Child Welfare Contact

Research suggests that Hispanic youth with intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure report fewer trauma symptoms compared with youth from other racial/ethnic groups. However, no study has examined possible explanations for this finding. Our objective was to study the association between acculturation, IPV, and post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms among Hispanic youth and to test whether acculturation moderates the relationship between IPV and PTS symptoms. This analysis used data from 271 Hispanic youth aged 8 years or older participating in the second cohort of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW II). We conducted multiple linear regression analyses to achieve our study aims. We did not find a statistically significant relationship between IPV exposure and PTS symptoms among Hispanic youth (B = 0.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [−0.09, 0.52]), or that acculturation moderated this relationship (B = 0.04, 95% CI = [−0.23, 0.32]). However, we found a significant relationship between PTS symptoms and acculturation level. Specifically, higher levels of acculturation were associated with more reports of PTS symptoms (B = 1.03, 95% CI = [0.13, 1.93]). These study results highlight the need to consider the role of acculturation when working with Hispanic youth involved with child welfare.