Designing and Implementing Parenting Interventions With Latino Immigrant Families: Challenges and Strategies

Parenting interventions have shown to be effective in improving parenting behaviors quality, reducing child behavior problems, and increasing overall family well-being. However, the majority of research on the effectiveness of parenting interventions has been conducted with a focus on White and Western populations. As a result, intervention designs and guidelines often fail to address the unique characteristics and experiences of Latino immigrant families, which in turn are likely to impact the implementation and effectiveness of parenting interventions. The current article identifies challenges and discusses strategies that we have found to be effective with respect to our experience implementing a parenting intervention with low-income Latino immigrant mothers in the United States. These include (a) language barriers, (b) recruitment of families, (c) retention of families, (d) building trust and community, and (e) integrating culture into parenting interventions.

Latino Immigrant Parents’ Experiences With Discrimination: Implications for Parenting in a Hostile Immigration Policy Context

A growing anti-immigrant context has increased the discrimination Latino immigrant families confront in the United States. This study examines the relationship between discrimination and Latinos’ parenting practices. Using cross-sectional data on parenting practices, discrimination, immigration-related factors, and protective factors among Latino immigrant families, we conduct a latent profile analysis to (a) identify profiles of perceived discrimination, (b) assess the role of protective mechanisms in predicting discrimination profiles, and (c) examine the relationship between discrimination profiles and parenting outcomes. The findings revealed a four-class solution, Low Discrimination, Institutional and Language Discrimination, Moderate Discrimination, and High Discrimination. Parents in the High Discrimination profile experienced lower levels of monitoring, consistent discipline, and higher levels of harsh disciplining compared with the other profiles. Overall, this article has implications for effective family functioning given that parental discrimination may influence parenting practices, which has direct consequences on parent–child relationships.