Measurement Invariance in the Assessment of Mood Between American and Mexican Community Studies

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a principal source for American public health research, has numerous global sister studies. Harmonization efforts seeking to establish measurement equivalence amongst these various datasets, is a critical prerequisite to cross-cultural research. Given well-known cultural variability in depressive symptom endorsement, the purpose of this study was to assess measurement invariance in a brief mood measure used in the HRS and the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS). Total sample size using both groups was 15,319 participants (10,931 HRS; 4,388 MHAS) who were 65 and older from Waves 6 to 13 in the HRS and Waves 1 to 4 in the MHAS. MPlus Version 8.4 was used to conduct CFA analyses of measurement invariance. A contemporary approach with categorical data calls for examining threshold invariance first while establishing configural invariance, before examining invariance tests of thresholds, loadings, and intercepts in a second step. Results were that measurement invariance was not supported in this series of two steps with four out of six indices showing model fit in the first model and none of the indices showing model fit in the second model. These findings implied that there were differences in ways of responding to the brief mood measure between HRS and MHAS participants at the conceptual level. Thus, comparisons based on these measures may result in misleading findings and should be interpreted very conservatively. This study adds to the growing body of literature guiding harmonization efforts from the Program on Global Aging, Health and Policy.

The U.S. Latino Voters and the Immigration Overhaul: Case Study of Current Mexican Immigration to the U.S.

This article deploys descriptive case study to explore Mexican immigration to the US in the first 100 days of Joe Biden’s presidency. Firstly, the expanding voting size of Latino/Mexican community in the US is being recognised, and consequently, its influence on shaping immigration laws. Secondly, the immigration documents are being analysed to study their implications for Mexican immigration. In some cases, the contrast between Trump’s and Biden’s immigration circumstances are being highlighted. Even though immigration changes have been introduced formally, most of their practical applications are yet to be seen.

Evaluation of the validity of the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire in a Mexican sample and their correlation with empathy and alexithymia

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is widely used to measure the individual differences in two emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In this study, we examine the psychometric properties of the ERQ (Spanish version) in a Mexican community sample (N = 792). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the traditional two-factor model (comprising cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression factors) was replicable and an excellent fit to the data. ERQ cognitive reappraisal (α = 0.81) and expressive suppression (α = 0.76) scores had acceptable levels of internal consistency reliability. As expected, women tend to use less expressive suppression than men. We also assessed the correlations of both strategies with alexithymia and empathy. Cognitive reappraisal scores were negatively correlated with alexithymia and positively correlated with higher empathy measures, whereas expressive suppression scores were positively correlated with personal distress and alexithymia, and negatively correlated with cognitive empathy scales and empathic concern. We conclude that, similar to previous findings, the ERQ has strong psychometric properties in a Mexican community sample and can be used in a confident manner with other tests to complement the assessment of affective traits. In addition, considering previous suggestions of the association between emotional regulation strategies and different components of the empathic response, the correlations between empathy measures and the emotional regulation strategies shown in this study opens a pathway to further research such interactions.

Thinking About Blackness in the Pacific

Anthony Jerry discusses the history and challenges for recognitions of Black Mexico and the broader Pacific region of Latin America. Jerry describes his research on a Black Mexican community of Costa Chica and its complex racial identity development. Responding to Jerry’s presentation, Alex Borucki describes the potential value of conducting comparative research that connects the movements of, as well as the locations where, Black communities developed in the Pacific regions of Latin America. Sabrina Smith suggests more attention to the transpacific slave trade, as well as the emergence of significant social and racial contestations by Afro-Mexicans in both historical and contemporary contexts.