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Toward a Typology of Transnational Communication among Venezuelan Immigrant Youth: Implications for Behavioral Health

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Abstract

We identify subtypes of Venezuelan youth based on patterns of technology-based communication with friends in their receiving (US) and sending (Venezuela) countries and, in turn, examine the behavioral health characteristics among different “subtypes” of youth. Using data from 402 recently-arrived Venezuelan immigrant youth (ages 10–17), latent profile analysis and multinomial regression are employed to examine the relationships between technology-based communication and key outcomes. We identified a four-class solution: [#1] “Daily Contact in US, In Touch with Venezuela” (32%), [#2] “Daily Communication in Both Countries” (19%), [#3] “Weekly Contact: More Voice/Text Than Social Media” (35%), and [#4] “Infrequent Communication with US and Venezuela” (14%). Compared to Class #1, youth in Classes #2 and #3 report elevated depressive symptomatology and more permissive substance use views. Findings suggest that how youth navigate and maintain transnational connections varies substantially, and that technology-based communication is related to key post-migration outcomes.

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Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers DA030310 and AA026645. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Boston University, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Christopher P. Salas-Wright, Mariana Cohen, Rob Eschmann & Rachel John

  2. Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Prevention Science & Community Health, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Pablo Montero-Zamora & Seth J. Schwartz

  3. School of Social Work, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Michael G. Vaughn

  4. Graduate School of Social Welfare, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Michael G. Vaughn

  5. School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Trenette Clark Goings

  6. College of Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Cory L. Cobb & Seth J. Schwartz

  7. Raíces Venezolanas, Doral, FL, USA

    Patricia Andrade & Kesia Oliveros

  8. Iglesia Episcopal Jesús de Nazaret, Orlando, FL, USA

    José Rodríguez

  9. College of Health and Human Performance, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Milded M. Maldonado-Molina

  10. School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Christopher P. Salas-Wright

Authors
  1. Christopher P. Salas-Wright
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  2. Michael G. Vaughn
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  3. Trenette Clark Goings
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  4. Cory L. Cobb
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  5. Mariana Cohen
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  6. Pablo Montero-Zamora
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  7. Rob Eschmann
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  8. Rachel John
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  9. Patricia Andrade
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  10. Kesia Oliveros
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  11. José Rodríguez
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  12. Milded M. Maldonado-Molina
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  13. Seth J. Schwartz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher P. Salas-Wright.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Boston University IRB (protocol # 4993E) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Prior to participation, all youth provided informed assent and parents/guardians informed consent.

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Salas-Wright, C.P., Vaughn, M.G., Goings, T.C. et al. Toward a Typology of Transnational Communication among Venezuelan Immigrant Youth: Implications for Behavioral Health. J Immigrant Minority Health 23, 1045–1052 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-01099-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-01099-y

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