School Psychology Quarterly

Contribution of Schools to Mental Health and Resilience

in Recently Immigrated Youth
Amanda Venta, Cassandra Bailey, Carla Muñoz, Estrella Godinez, Yessica Colin, Aleyda Arreola,
Anna Abate, Joshua Camins, Monico Rivas, and Sally Lawlace
Online First Publication, July 30, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000271

CITATION
Venta, A., Bailey, C., Muñoz, C., Godinez, E., Colin, Y., Arreola, A., Abate, A., Camins, J., Rivas, M., &
Lawlace, S. (2018, July 30). Contribution of Schools to Mental Health and Resilience in Recently
Immigrated Youth . School Psychology Quarterly. Advance online publication.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000271
 School Psychology Quarterly
© 2018 American Psychological Association 2018, Vol. 1, No. 999, 000
1045-3830/18/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000271

Contribution of Schools to Mental Health and Resilience in Recently

Immigrated Youth

Amanda Venta, Cassandra Bailey, Carla Muñoz, Monico Rivas and Sally Lawlace
Estrella Godinez, Yessica Colin, Aleyda Arreola, Liberty High School, Houston, Texas
Anna Abate, and Joshua Camins
Sam Houston State University
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

Given the high risk of psychopathology among recently immigrated Central American adolescents, the
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

aim of this study was to examine several putative protective factors: parental attachment, peer attach-
ment, and school engagement. Based on prior research with other immigrant groups, parental and peer
attachment were expected to correlate with reduced mental health problems, increased prosocial behav-
ior, and increased resilience. However, the current study sought to add to existing data regarding putative
protective factors by testing the incremental contribution of school engagement over and above existing
support from parents and peers. The present study included 78 recently immigrated adolescents from
Central America who were enrolled at a public high school for recent immigrants. Findings revealed that
school engagement made a significant, positive contribution to mental health and resilience for youth
above and beyond the effects of parental and peer attachment. Specifically, school engagement (i.e.,
subscales Behavioral Engagement, Emotional Disaffection, and Active Behavioral Disaffection)
uniquely contributed to models predicting externalizing psychopathology, prosocial behavior, and
resilience. In sum, the findings of this study preliminarily suggest that fostering school engagement may
have protective effects for recently immigrated youth above and beyond traditional (i.e., peer, family)
supports.

Impact and Implications

The present study included recently immigrated adolescents from Central America, and results
suggested that for this highly vulnerable group, school engagement was related to reduced external-
izing mental health problems and higher prosocial behavior and resilience above and beyond other
forms of social support (e.g., parent, peer attachment). Findings suggest that school engagement may
be an important avenue for future research and intervention given high risk for mental health
problems in this immigrant group and the loss of other forms of social support that often accompany
migration.

Keywords: immigrant, adolescent, school, engagement, attachment

Public debates have surged regarding “exponential growth” in
the population of recently immigrated adolescents from Central
America—particularly El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—in
Amanda Venta, Cassandra Bailey, Carla Muñoz, Estrella Godinez, Yes-
sica Colin, Aleyda Arreola, Anna Abate, and Joshua Camins, Department
of Psychology and Philosophy, Sam Houston State University; Monico
Rivas and Sally Lawlace, Liberty High School, Houston Independent
School District, Houston, Texas.
This study was funded by Sam Houston State University FAST Grant
and Enhancement Research Grant and the American Psychological Asso-
ciation of Graduate Students.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Amanda
Venta, Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Sam Houston State
University, Campus Box 2447, Huntsville, TX 77341. E-mail: aventa@
shsu.edu
the United States (Rosenblum, 2015), an increase that has been
called a “humanitarian emergency,” with an estimated 131% in-
crease between 2015 and 2016 (United States Customs and Border
Protection, 2016a). Despite calls to provide mental health care for
high-risk immigrant adolescents and enhance societal supports
(Raphel, 2014), there is a gap between this area of public debate
and empirical research. Thus, the broad aim of this study was to
examine the effect of putative protective factors, including parental
attachment, peer attachment, and school engagement, on psycho-
pathology, prosocial behavior, and resilience among Central
American minors. The data analytic methods were specifically
designed to test whether school engagement makes an incremental
contribution to these outcome measures above and beyond other
forms of social support (i.e., peer and parental attachment).
This study seeks to address gaps in existing research with
recently immigrated adolescent groups. First, much of the pub-
lished research on immigrant mental health predates unprece-

1
 2 VENTA ET AL.
dented increases in violence in Central America and therefore does
not necessarily represent the mental health needs of more recent
waves of migrants. Increasing violence in Central America is
recent, with Honduras reporting the highest homicide rate globally
in 2011; 2013 marking the end of a truce between major gang
powers in El Salvador; and crime victimization cited as a major
reason for Central American migration in 2014 (Hiskey, Córdova,
Orcés, & Malone, 2016). Dramatic increases in rates of violence in
Central America have corresponded to large increases in reports of
psychopathology among recent waves of Central American immi-
grants (United States Conference on Catholic Bishops, 2014).
Second, Central American immigrants are distinct from many
immigrant groups (e.g., Cubans) who have been the subject of
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prior research because of both their exposure to violence and,
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often, undocumented immigration status. Critically, rampant re-
gional gang and cartel violence in Central America is not recog-
nized by current immigration policies as representing persecution
or warfare, and adolescents being targeted for gang recruitment or
sexual exploitation are not necessarily granted refugee or asylum
relief from deportation in the United States. Thus, Central Amer-
ican adolescents in the United States face the unique challenges of
undocumented status and related discrimination (Potochnick &
Perreira, 2010), making them distinct from many of the displaced
youth included in existing research who received special refugee
legal and social protections (Fazel, Reed, Panter-Brick, & Stein,
2012; Reed, Fazel, Jones, Panter-Brick, & Stein, 2012).
The National Institutes of Health (2011) has noted particular
vulnerability among undocumented Hispanic adolescents. Bolster-
ing the view that these immigrant youth will be vulnerable to
mental health problems is a broader literature indicating that
immigrants to the United States from countries in which regional
violence and economic hardship are present experience high rates
of severe emotional and behavioral disturbances (Perreira & Or-
nelas, 2013; Potochnick & Perreira, 2010). Together, this research
suggests that Central American adolescents are unlike other im-
migrant groups, who paradoxically experience diminished risk of
psychopathology, and are instead at high risk (Pair Project, n.d.).
The influx of adolescents from Central America has dramati-
cally increased the number of recently immigrated Hispanic youth
in American public schools, and, based on data suggesting very
high rates of psychopathology in this group, schools have become
key players in their well-being (Chiu, Pong, Mori, & Chow, 2012).
Recently immigrated youth face unique stressors in adapting to
and succeeding in traditional secondary schools, which often fail to
meet their developmental, pragmatic, and acculturative needs (e.g.,
C. Suárez-Orozco, Onaga, & de Lardemelle, 2010; M. Suárez-
Orozco, 2001) due partially to the uniqueness of their circum-
stances and partially to a broader lack of resources in immigrant
communities. Because of the large number of immigrants in sec-
ondary schools and society, the academic trajectory of immigrant
youth has substantial implications not only for the immigrant
community but also for the broader host community as well
(Masten, Liebkind, & Hernandez, 2012; Motti-Stefanidi & Mas-
ten, 2013). Indeed, the Center for Immigration Studies, utilizing
Census Bureau Data, indicates that, in 2015, one in four public
school students came from an immigrant household, with even
higher concentrations (i.e., two thirds of students) in parts of
Florida, New York, Texas, California, Virginia, and New Jersey
(Caramota, Griffith, & Zeigler, 2017). Students from immigrant
households are likely to live in areas where 41% of their peers are
also from immigrant households, indicating that there are districts
disproportionately attending to the needs of immigrant youth (Car-
amota et al., 2017). Still, native students are likely to attend a
school in which 17% of students are from immigrant backgrounds,
suggesting that even school districts in areas that are not densely
populated by immigrants must address the needs of this demo-
graphic group (Caramota et al., 2017).
Investigating the putative protective role of school engagement
in this context has important implications. First, any school-based
supports do not rely on immigrant families as the target of inter-
vention and therefore bypass many previously identified barriers to
intervention like parental hesitation to engage with school person-
nel; parental language, time, or financial barriers; and parental lack
of knowledge regarding U.S. academic norms (C. Suárez-Orozco
et al., 2010). Second, if school engagement can act as a buffer to
mental health problems, it can exert this effect even among youth
who experience familial separation—which affects roughly 85%
of recently immigrated Hispanic youth (C. Suárez-Orozco, Todo-
rova, & Louie, 2002) and has been identified as a risk factor for
psychopathology. Third, school engagement among students in the
U.S. public education system can be bolstered by existing staff
(i.e., teachers) with a vested interest in student success rather than
necessitating funds for hiring mental health professionals. Because
immigrant students are bound to attendance by immigration and
visa-related stipulations, schools are a critical avenue to consider
in mitigating risk for mental health problems.
The aim of this study was to examine the incremental contribu-
tion of school engagement, over and above parental and peer
attachment, in relation to psychopathology, prosocial behavior,
and resilience among recently immigrated adolescents from Cen-
tral America. In the approach of this study, we are primarily
guided by Reed and colleagues’ (2012) “conceptual framework to
understand the ecological and chronological determinants of men-
tal health in forcibly displaced children” (p. 258; see also Fazel et
al., 2012). This ecological systems theory model (Bronfenbrenner,
1979) was empirically derived based on research with more than
11,500 youth immigrants, though not one single study focused on
recently immigrated youth from Central America. Specifically,
three of the most well-established protective factors identified by
Reed and colleagues (Fazel et al., 2012; Reed et al., 2012) were
selected as candidate protective factors for examination: family
support, peer support, and school engagement. Second, the current
study utilizes attachment theory, which posits that in early devel-
opment, the emotional and physical needs of a child, and whether
or not they are met, inform the development of internal working
models of the self and others that subsequently underlie self-
reliance and social competence (Bowlby, 1969, 1973). Attachment
theory is used as a broad framework acknowledging that parents
play a critical role in mental health, prosocial behavior, and resil-
ience across the life span, with attachment to peers of growing
importance across adolescence (Venta & Sharp, 2015; Venta,
Shmueli-Goetz, & Sharp, 2014). Finally, the three potential pro-
tective factors examined in this study fall within National Institute
of Mental Health’s (2018) Research Domain Criteria Systems for
Social Processes and thus warrant interpretation through a social
capital lens. From this perspective, migration is viewed as leading
to deficits in social capital (e.g., number and quality of social
connections), and thus maintenance or enhancement of social
 PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF SCHOOLS FOR IMMIGRANT TEENS
relationships has a protective effect, increasing postmigration pos-
itive outcomes (Garcia-Reid, Peterson, & Reid, 2015; C. Suárez-
Orozco et al., 2010). In other words, migration interferes with
typical adolescent social connections, which places youth at risk
for psychopathology after migration. Thus, students with higher
levels of school engagement postmigration will theoretically ex-
perience reduced mental health risk related to the compensatory
social capital role of school relationships.
In sum, the aim of this study was to test whether school
engagement, defined as student perceptions of connection with
their school, can buffer the gap migration causes in typical forms
of social support (i.e., parent and peer attachment). It was hypoth-
esized that in accordance with ample prior research following from
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attachment theory, higher parent and peer attachment would be
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associated with reduced psychopathology, increased prosocial be-
havior, and increased resilience. Further, we expected that school
engagement would make a significant, incremental contribution to
mental health above and beyond these other forms of social sup-
port. Internalizing and externalizing forms of psychopathology
were examined as outcomes in light of aforementioned research
documenting high, transdiagnostic risk for mental health problems
in recently immigrated youth. The same predictors (i.e., parent
attachment, peer attachment, and school engagement) were also
examined in relation to prosocial behavior and resilience out-
comes. It is well documented that trait resilience measures predict
mental health adaptation following adversity (e.g., Hunter & Chan-
dler, 1999); likewise, prosocial behavior has been causally linked
to peer acceptance, well-being, and academic achievement (Ca-
prara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, Bandura, & Zimbardo, 2000; Lay-
ous, Nelson, Oberle, Schonert-Reichl, & Lyubomirsky, 2012). In
this context, identifying potential predictors of resilience and
prosocial behavior in recently immigrated teens has substantial
implications for their broader adaptation following migration.
Method
Participants
Data for this study represent the first wave of data collection in
an ongoing, longitudinal study. Participants were recruited from a
public high school specifically for recently immigrated adolescents
in the Southwestern United States. Data from the school indicate
that the student body is primarily Hispanic (92%) and serves
Grades 9 to 12. The modal number of self-reported years spent
living in the United States was approximately 2 years at the time
of data collection. The most frequent countries of origin were
reported as El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. The over-
whelming majority of students are English Language Learners
(93%) and receive Free and Reduced Price Lunch (78%); a mi-
nority of students earn satisfactory marks on the annual reading
(STAAR, 5.6% in 2015) and math (STAAR, 50% in 2015) bench-
mark exams. Together, these aspects of the school profile indicate
that it is a representative sample of recently immigrated youth in
the Southwestern United States, who are predominantly Central
American and report limited English proficiency, socioeconomic
disadvantage, and serious academic difficulty.
All students at the school (approximate enrollment ⫽ 300) were
invited to participate in the study. Of these, 118 returned signed
informed consent provided by their legal guardian (47% from a
3
parent and 53% from another relative like an aunt, uncle, or
sibling). Of these, 19 did not provide their assent following an
explanation of study procedures, 13 were immigrants from non-
Central American countries, and eight revoked consent. Thus, the
present analyses included 78 recently immigrated high school
students (i.e., freshman to senior) from Central America. The
average age of the youth was 19 years (SD ⫽ 2). Participants
self-reported demographics—59.9% of participants were male,
with the racial breakdown as follows: 26.9% White, 6.4% Black,
6.1% mixed race, and 61.5% marked “other” (e.g., indigenous,
Moreno/a, Guatemalan, Salvadorian) or chose not to answer. Re-
garding sexual orientation, 91% indicated that they were hetero-
sexual, 2.6% homosexual, 2.6% bisexual, and 3.8% selected
“other.” Students’ current academic performance was as follows:
16.4% mostly As, 47.9% As and Bs, 12.3% mostly Bs, 15.1% Bs
and Cs, 2.7% mostly Cs, 1.4% mostly Ds, and 4.1% marked “don’t
know.”
Measures
Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Gallarin
& Alonso-Arbiol, 2013). The IPPA was used as both a measure
of parent and peer attachment. An existing Spanish translation,
previously published by Gallarin and Alonso-Arbiol (2013), was
administered individually to adolescents who selected whether
they would rather read the items independently or have them read
aloud. Virtually all adolescents selected to have the measure read
aloud. The IPPA contains 25 items (each) to assess attachment to
mother, father, and peer attachment. Items are scored on a 5-point
Likert scale (ranging from 1 ⫽ almost never or never true to 5 ⫽
almost always or always true), with high scores indicating higher
attachment. Each set of 25 items yields a total score and three
subscales: Communication, Alienation, and Trust. Sample items
drawn from the Trust scale include “My father/mother respects my
feelings” and “My friends accept me as I am.” From the Commu-
nication scale, sample items are “My father/mother listens to what
I have to say” and “I share my thoughts and feelings with my
friends.” Lastly, from the Alienation scale, sample items include “I
feel angry with my father/mother” and “I wish I had more friends.”
The IPPA has demonstrated adequate reliability and validity in
Spanish (Gallarin & Alonso-Arbiol, 2013). According to the IPPA
instructions and mirroring prior psychometric studies, adolescents
were instructed to answer parental attachment items about their
mother and father, who may not necessarily be their current or
temporary guardians. In the current study, internal consistency was
adequate with Cronbach’s alphas as follows: .79 for mother, .85
for father, and .97 for peer.
Engagement versus Disaffection with Learning Scale (Lloyd,
2014). The Engagement versus Disaffection with Learning Scale
was used as a self-report measure of school engagement. The
existing Spanish translation was utilized, and adolescents largely
elected to have the 33-item measure read aloud to them. Items are
scored on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from not at all true to very
true. This questionnaire contains subscales assessing (a) behav-
ioral engagement, (b) emotional engagement, (c) behavioral dis-
affection, (d) emotional disaffection, and (e) active behavioral
disaffection. Behavioral engagement is defined as behaviors that
facilitate learning (e.g., “In class, I work as hard as I can”); the
direct opposite is behavioral disaffection (“In class, I do just
 4 VENTA ET AL.
enough to get by”; Lloyd, 2014). Active behavioral disaffection is
defined as behavior that is disruptive or restless during learning
(e.g., “When I’m in class, I talk a lot with my classmates”; Lloyd,
2014). Emotional engagement is defined as feeling positive emo-
tional states during learning (e.g., “When we work on something in
class, I feel interested”), whereas emotional disaffection is defined
as the opposite (e.g., “When I’m doing work in class, I feel
bored”). This measure was initially developed by Skinner, Kin-
dermann, Connell, and Wellborn (2009) without the Active Be-
havioral Disaffection scale. The five-scale version utilized in this
study was created and translated into Spanish by Lloyd (2014). In
the current study, Cronbach’s alphas by subscale were as follows:
.87 for Behavioral Engagement, .65 for Emotional Engagement,
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.50 for Behavioral Disaffection, .38 for Emotional Disaffection,
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and .79 for Active Behavioral Disaffection. Though alphas were
lower than desired for the Emotional Engagement (five items),
Behavioral Disaffection (five items), and Emotional Disaffection
(five items) scales, this was likely a result of the small number of
items on each scale, as evidenced by adequate interitem correla-
tions (i.e., exceeding .15; Clark & Watson, 1995) on those scales.
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman,
2001). The SDQ was used in this study as a self-report metric of
internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. The SDQ was
developed as a population screen for psychopathology and con-
tains 25 items. Items are scored on a 3-point Likert scale ranging
from not true to certainly true. The measure contains five sub-
scales measuring emotional problems, conduct problems, hyper-
activity, peer problems, and prosocial behavior. The Emotional
Problems subscale contains items that question about fears, wor-
ries, misery, nerves, and somatic symptoms; the Conduct Problems
subscale inquires about tantrums, obedience, fighting, lying, and
stealing; the Hyperactivity subscale encompasses restlessness,
fidgeting, concentration, distractibility, and impulsivity; the Peer
Problems subscale items include questions about popularity, vic-
timization, isolation, friendship, and ability to relate to children
compared with adults; and the Prosocial Behavior subscale covers
consideration of others, ability to share, kindness to younger
children, and helpfulness when other children are distressed and
willingness to comfort. The SDQ has been translated and used in
more than 50 languages (Sharp, Croudace, Goodyer, & Amtmann,
2005). It is ideal for use in school settings because it is short, free
to use, and can be completed by multiple informants (Goodman,
Renfrew, & Mullick, 2000). The previously published SDQ trans-
lation to Spanish utilized in this study has demonstrated excellent
psychometric properties (e.g., Ortuño-Sierra, Fonseca-Pedrero,
Paino, Sastre i Riba, & Muñiz, 2015; total internal consistency ⫽
.75; adequate fit for hypothesized five-factor structure; measure-
ment invariance by age and gender). In the current study, internal
consistency of these scales was adequate with Cronbach’s alphas
as follows: .62 for Emotional Problems (five items), .37 for Con-
duct Problems (five items), .56 for Hyperactivity (five items), .38
for Peer Problems (five items), and .46 for Prosocial Behavior
(five items). Alphas were likely suppressed by the small number of
items on each scale given adequate interitem correlations (i.e.,
exceeding .15; Clark & Watson, 1995) on all scales.
Resilience Scale (RS; Wagnild & Young, 1993). The RS
was used in this study as a self-report measure of resilience. The
RS was developed with a large sample of community-dwelling
young adults and contains 25 items rated on a 7-point Likert scale
(i.e., disagree to agree). The English version of the RS has
demonstrated adequate internal consistency, concurrent validity,
and construct validity (Wagnild & Young, 1993). Sample items
include “I usually take things in stride,” “I can get through difficult
times because I’ve experienced difficulty before,” and “I can
usually look at a situation in a number of ways.” The measure has
been utilized in several studies with adolescents (Black & Ford-
Gilboe, 2004; Hunter & Chandler, 1999; Rew, Taylor-Seehafer,
Thomas, & Yockey, 2001) that demonstrate adequate internal
consistency (alphas ⫽ .72–.91) and convergent validity. For the
current study, translation and back translation from the English
version was undertaken according to the guidelines of Alegria et
al. (2004). In the current study, internal consistency was adequate
with Cronbach’s alpha of .76.
Procedures
Institutional review board and school district approvals were
sought prior to data collection. A Certificate of Confidentiality
from the National Institutes of Health was also obtained. Informed
consent from the adolescents’ caregivers was collected first via
letters and consent forms sent home with each student. If a com-
pleted consent form was returned, assent from the adolescent was
obtained in person. A completed consent form included the child’s
name, birthdate, parent’s name, and a phone number. Procedures
were carefully designed to protect adolescents and their families.
Specifically, both adolescents and their guardians were provided
documentation in Spanish and all study procedures were under-
taken in Spanish. Additionally, typical protections regarding con-
fidentiality as well as augmented protections provided by the
Certificate of Confidentiality were detailed to adolescents and their
caregivers. All students were assured that their answers would not
be shared with immigration officials—a right protected by the
Certificate of Confidentiality—and would not affect their school
performance. Indeed, signed consent and assent forms were placed
in a sealed box and handed over directly to the research team, not
school personnel, in order to avoid identifying whether students
had elected to participate. No school-based incentives were offered
in order to avoid the appearance of the study being linked to grades
or other school-based outcomes. Following written informed con-
sent and assent, adolescents were assessed in private by the lead
author and/or bilingual graduate student research assistants. Ado-
lescents completed all measures with the one-to-one assistance of
a trained research assistant. Caregivers were interviewed in Span-
ish by phone.
Data Analytic Strategy
Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were conducted to
determine bivariate relations between independent (i.e., parental
attachment, peer attachment, and school engagement) and depen-
dent (i.e., each SDQ subscale and resilience) variables and test
whether any covariates (i.e., gender and age) should be added to
multivariate analyses as control variables. These covariates were
considered in light of prior research indicating that mental health
risk postmigration is affected by both gender and age (Fazel et al.,
2012). To examine the incremental contribution of school engage-
ment, controlling for parent and peer attachment as well as cova-
riates, a series of hierarchical linear regressions with covariates
 PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF SCHOOLS FOR IMMIGRANT TEENS 5

entered at Step 1; mother, father, and peer attachment entered at
Step 2; and school engagement entered at Step 3 were carried out
for the various outcome variables.
Results
Correlations between key study variables are presented in Table 1
and indicate that various aspects of school engagement were signifi-
cantly associated with psychopathology and prosocial behavior
(SDQ), with significant correlations ranging from .27 to .52 (absolute
value). Both behavioral and emotional engagement were significantly
positively correlated with resilience as well. Age was not significantly
associated with any outcome variable. Likewise, independent samples
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5.97, p ⫽ .001, but school engagement variables made a signifi-
cant incremental contribution in Step 2 (⌬F ⫽ 3.59, p ⫽ .006),
with all variables together accounting for 30% of the variance.
Results of this model are presented in Table 3 and indicate that
active behavioral disaffection was significantly positively associ-
ated with hyperactivity, with a moderate effect size.
Using peer problems as the outcome variable, familial and peer
social support accounted for 16.6% of the variance, F(72) ⫽ 5.79,
p ⫽ .001, and there was no evidence that school engagement
variables made a significant incremental contribution in Step 2
(⌬F ⫽ .26, p ⫽ .93).
With prosocial behavior as the outcome, familial and peer social
support accounted for a nonsignificant 4.8% of the variance,

t tests did not provide evidence of significant gender differences in F(72) ⫽ 2.20, p ⫽ .096, yet school engagement variables made a
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outcome variables. Therefore, neither age nor sex was included as a
control variable in subsequent analyses, and one step was eliminated
from the planned models.
To examine the incremental contribution of school engagement,
above and beyond peer and parent attachment, on psychopathol-
ogy, a series of hierarchical linear regressions with mother, father,
and peer attachment entered at Step 1 and school engagement
entered at Step 2 were carried out for the various outcome vari-
ables. Separate models were conducted for each outcome variable
(i.e., SDQ subscale). Detection tolerance and the variance inflation
factor (VIF) were used to assess multicollinearity among all pre-
dictors; evidence of multicollinearity was not detected with toler-
ance greater than .2 and VIF less than 4 in all cases (Aiken &
West, 1991; Holmbeck, 2002).
With emotional symptoms serving as the outcome variable,
familial and peer attachment accounted for 15% of the variance,
F(72) ⫽ 5.37, p ⫽ .002, and school engagement did not make a
significant incremental contribution in Step 2 (⌬F ⫽ 1.55, p ⫽
.188).
Regarding conduct problems, familial and peer attachment ac-
counted for 14.6% of the variance, F(71) ⫽ 5.09, p ⫽ .003, but
school engagement variables made a significant incremental con-
tribution in Step 2 (⌬F ⫽ 4.105, p ⫽ .003), with all variables
together accounting for 30.3% of the variance. Results of this
model are presented in Table 2 and indicate that emotional disaf-
fection and active behavioral disaffection were significantly pos-
itively associated with conduct problems, with approximately
small to moderate effect sizes.
Examining hyperactivity as the outcome variable, familial and
peer attachment accounted for 17.1% of the variance, F(72) ⫽
significant incremental contribution in Step 2 (⌬F ⫽ 2.77, p ⫽
.025), with all variables together accounting for 15.6% of the
variance. Results of this model are presented in Table 4 and
indicate that emotional engagement was significantly positively
associated with prosocial behavior, with a moderate effect size.
Finally, to examine the incremental contribution of school en-
gagement, above and beyond other forms of social support, on
resilience, hierarchical linear regressions with family and peer
attachment entered at Step 1 and school engagement entered at
Step 2 were carried out, with the Resilience scale total score as the
outcome variable. Regarding resilience, familial and peer social
support accounted for a significant 16.1% of the variance, F(72) ⫽
5.61, p ⫽ .002, yet school engagement variables made a significant
incremental contribution in Step 2 (⌬F ⫽ 3.06, p ⫽ .015), with all
variables together accounting for 27% of the variance. Results of
this model are presented in Table 5 and indicate that behavioral
engagement was significantly positively associated with resilience,
with a moderate effect size.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to examine the incremental contribu-
tion of school engagement, over and above parent and peer attach-
ment, in relation to psychopathology, prosocial behavior, and
resilience among recently immigrated adolescents from Central
America. Notably, the aim of this study was not to contradict prior
research conducted on immigrant youth (e.g., Fazel et al., 2012;
Reed et al., 2012), which shows that social support from family
and peers is an important protective factor; instead, we sought to
examine whether school-based factors made a significant incre-

Table 1
Correlations Between Key Study Variables and Subscales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Key study variables Emotional problems Conduct problems Hyperactivity Peer problems Prosocial behavior Resilience
ⴱⴱⴱ ⴱⴱ ⴱⴱ ⴱⴱ
IPPA Mother total ⫺.40 ⫺.32 ⫺.33 ⫺.32 .03 .31ⴱⴱ
IPPA Father total ⫺.28ⴱ ⫺.24ⴱ ⫺.02 ⫺.34ⴱⴱ .11 .17
IPPA Peer total ⫺.18 ⫺.32ⴱⴱ ⫺.29ⴱ ⫺.32ⴱⴱ .30ⴱⴱ .36ⴱⴱ
School behavioral engagement .11 ⫺.11 ⫺.02 ⫺.01 .32ⴱⴱ .37ⴱⴱⴱ
School emotional engagement ⫺.05 ⫺.19 ⫺.10 ⫺.1 .44ⴱⴱⴱ .38ⴱⴱⴱ
School behavioral disaffection .21 .27ⴱ .27ⴱ .12 ⫺.22 ⫺.16
School emotional disaffection .32ⴱⴱ .52ⴱⴱⴱ .27ⴱ .26ⴱ ⫺.25ⴱ ⫺.15
School active behavioral disaffection .14 .45ⴱⴱⴱ .49ⴱⴱⴱ .15 ⫺.17 ⫺.12
Note. IPPA ⫽ Inventory of Peer and Parent Attachment.
ⴱ
p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .01. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.
 6 VENTA ET AL.

Table 2 Table 4
Regression Results With Conduct Problems as the Regression Results With Prosocial Behavior as the
Outcome Variable Outcome Variable

Key study variables ␤ t p Key study variables ␤ t p

Step 1 8.38 <.01 Step 1 5.31 <.01

IPPA Mother total ⫺.27 ⫺2.34 .02 IPPA Mother total ⫺.01 ⫺.12 .91
IPPA Father total ⫺.04 ⫺.35 .73 IPPA Father total .00 .01 .99
IPPA Peer total ⫺.26 ⫺2.21 .03 IPPA Peer total .30 2.38 .02
Step 2 2.78 .01 Step 2 1.83 .07
IPPA Mother total ⫺.19 ⫺1.76 .08 IPPA Mother total ⫺.05 ⫺.45 .65
IPPA Father total ⫺.07 ⫺.57 .57 IPPA Father total .02 .14 .89
IPPA Peer total ⫺.09 ⫺.78 .44 IPPA Peer total .20 1.54 .13
Behavioral engagement ⫺.02 ⫺.12 .90 Behavioral engagement .08 .59 .56
Emotional engagement .06 .45 .65 Emotional engagement .36 2.51 .02
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Behavioral disaffection ⫺.03 ⫺.21 .84 Behavioral disaffection .00 .03 .98
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

Emotional disaffection .35 2.68 .01 Emotional disaffection ⫺.02 ⫺.16 .88
Active behavioral disaffection .24 2.04 .05 Active behavioral disaffection ⫺.02 ⫺.11 .91
Note. Effect sizes were interpreted as follows: ⫾.1 ⫽ small; ⫾.3 ⫽ Note. Effect sizes were interpreted as follows: ⫾.1 ⫽ small; ⫾.3 ⫽
moderate, and ⫾.5 ⫽ large. p values ⱕ.05 appear in bold. IPPA ⫽ moderate, and ⫾.5 ⫽ large. p values ⱕ.05 appear in bold. IPPA ⫽
Inventory of Peer and Parent Attachment. Inventory of Peer and Parent Attachment.

mental contribution to youth mental health given the aforemen-
tioned practical utility of fostering protective effects in the school
setting for immigrant youth. Overall, findings indicated that as-
pects of school engagement play an important role in externalizing
behavior problems and may play a role in the development of
resilience and prosocial behavior.
First, in examining peer and parent attachment, findings broadly
supported prior research conducted in immigrant youth document-
ing the importance of these protective factors (e.g., Fazel et al.,
2012; Reed et al., 2012). Indeed, attachment to mother was sig-
nificantly negatively associated with all forms of psychopathology
and significantly positively associated with resilience (but not
prosocial behavior). Attachment to father was significantly nega-
tively associated with all forms of psychopathology other than
hyperactivity but neither prosocial behavior nor resilience. Attach-
ment to peers was significantly negatively associated with all
forms of psychopathology and positively linked to prosocial be-
havior and resilience. The fact that attachment to peers was asso-
ciated with all outcome variables examined likely reflects a devel-
opmental process wherein adolescents—particularly the older
adolescents represented in this sample— become increasingly re-
liant on peers and romantic partners for emotional support (Venta
et al., 2014). Still, it is important to note that low parental attach-
ment was significantly associated with mental health problems in
this sample despite participants’ age. As the first study, to our
knowledge, to assess attachment to parents among recently immi-
grated youth in the United States, these findings preliminarily
suggest that attachment disruption may be an important risk factor
in this population, perhaps resulting from high rates of parental
separation (C. Suárez-Orozco et al., 2002).
Second, although findings confirmed that attachment to parents
and peers has a significant relation to all forms of psychopathol-
ogy, results also indicated that school engagement uniquely con-
tributed to these models with regard to externalizing psychopa-
thology (i.e., conduct problems and hyperactivity). Specifically,
emotional disaffection and active behavioral disaffection were

Table 3 Table 5
Regression Results With Hyperactivity as the Outcome Variable Regression Results With Resilience as the Outcome Variable

Key study variables ␤ t p Key study variables ␤ t p

Step 1 7.96 <.01 Step 1 2.27 .03

IPPA Mother total ⫺.36 ⫺3.16 <.01 IPPA Mother total .28 2.43 .02
IPPA Father total .22 1.83 .07 IPPA Father total ⫺.06 ⫺.46 .65
IPPA Peer total ⫺.32 ⫺2.72 .01 IPPA Peer total .34 2.86 .01
Step 2 2.76 .01 Step 2 ⫺1.10 .28
IPPA Mother total ⫺.33 ⫺3.03 <.01 IPPA Mother total .31 2.81 .01
IPPA Father total .22 1.87 .07 IPPA Father total .00 ⫺.01 .99
IPPA Peer total ⫺.23 ⫺1.91 .06 IPPA Peer total .27 2.26 .03
Behavioral engagement .08 .61 .54 Behavioral engagement .29 2.28 .03
Emotional engagement .07 .55 .59 Emotional engagement .19 1.44 .16
Behavioral disaffection .19 1.50 .14 Behavioral disaffection ⫺.05 ⫺.34 .73
Emotional disaffection ⫺.05 ⫺.41 .69 Emotional disaffection .18 1.33 .19
Active behavioral disaffection .37 3.13 <.01 Active behavioral disaffection .03 .22 .83
Note. Effect sizes were interpreted as follows: ⫾.1 ⫽ small; ⫾.3 ⫽ Note. Effect sizes were interpreted as follows: ⫾.1 ⫽ small; ⫾.3 ⫽
moderate, and ⫾.5 ⫽ large. p values ⱕ.05 appear in bold. IPPA ⫽ moderate, and ⫾.5 ⫽ large. p values ⱕ.05 appear in bold. IPPA ⫽
Inventory of Peer and Parent Attachment. Inventory of Peer and Parent Attachment.
 PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF SCHOOLS FOR IMMIGRANT TEENS
significantly positively associated with conduct problems, and
active behavioral disaffection was significantly positively associ-
ated with hyperactivity, with moderate effect sizes. It is important
to note that active behavioral disaffection is defined as behavior
that is disruptive or restless during learning (e.g., “When I’m in
class, I talk a lot with my classmates”; Lloyd, 2014), and thus it is
not surprising that the two related constructs were linked in this
study. Emotional disaffection (e.g., “When I’m doing work in
class, I feel bored”) was also associated with conduct problems and
draws a parallel between emotional disaffection and the more
blatant, active disaffection typically associated with externalizing
psychopathology. Third, only school engagement variables, and
not familial or peer attachment, were significantly associated with
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prosocial behavior, and school engagement played a unique role in
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
resilience. Specifically, emotional engagement was significantly
positively associated with prosocial behavior, and behavioral en-
gagement was significantly positively associated with resilience.
The fact that these relations were unique (e.g., emotional engage-
ment was not significantly associated with resilience) in the cur-
rent study is surprising in light of the literature linking prosocial
behavior and resilience in youth (e.g., Alvord & Grados, 2005).
However, examining the theorized nature of the emotional and
behavioral dimensions of engagement provides some insight. For
instance, Skinner and Pitzer (2012) stated, “the behavioral dimen-
sion of engagement includes effort, intensity, persistence, deter-
mination, and perseverance in the face of obstacles and difficul-
ties” (p. 24)—a definition that clearly alludes to resilience in the
face of adversity and may explain why those two constructs were
linked in the current study (e.g., perhaps because of overlapping
item content). Likewise, they defined emotional engagement as
including enjoyment and enthusiasm—affective states that likely
underlie prosocial behavior in school. Unfortunately, the current
study cannot speak to developmental or causal paths between these
forms of engagement and their apparent correlates (i.e., resilience
and prosocial behavior) as a result of the cross-sectional nature of
the data collected. Further, it is outside the scope of the current
study to unpack the conceptual similarities and differences be-
tween the aforementioned constructs. However, given gaps in the
available research, both of these limitations are important direction
for future research aimed at identifying mechanism by which
school engagement may contribute to youth well-being.
That school engagement, particularly disaffection across emo-
tional and behavioral domains and emotional engagement, relates
to mental health above and beyond familial and peer attachment
echoes literature regarding the importance of these variables for
the academic success of recent immigrants and extends this liter-
ature to the mental health and resilience contexts. Indeed, existing
longitudinal research suggests that school engagement declines
following youth migration (Green, Rhodes, Hirsch, Suárez-
Orozco, & Camic, 2008). Decreased school engagement among
immigrant youth has been widely cited as a key factor in this
academic decline after migration. Indeed, immigrant and Latino
(Li & Lerner, 2011) youth are at a particularly high risk for
decreased school engagement, likely because they experience
alienation and segregation at higher levels than nonimmigrant
youth (C. Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2009). In
particular, using data from 41 countries, Chiu et al. (2012) dem-
onstrated that immigrant youth experienced decreased emotional
engagement and weaker relationships with teachers, which led to
7
poorer educational outcomes. Critically, the current study suggests
that decreased behavioral (active or otherwise) engagement is a
crosscutting risk factor, with implications for both poor academic
outcomes (e.g., Li & Lerner, 2011) and mental health problems
(i.e., conduct problems and hyperactivity), whereas increased emo-
tional and behavioral engagement may be a crosscutting protective
factor captured in both resilience and prosocial behavior.
The current study did not include explicit measures of teacher
connection or attachment, as that has been well-established as a
protective factor in previous research. However, that existing re-
search base bolsters the broad conclusions of this study, as emo-
tional engagement is often parameterized as connectedness to
teachers (C. Suárez-Orozco et al., 2002). In prior research, sup-
portive school relationships have been linked to increased school
engagement more broadly and increased academic performance
among recently immigrated youth (C. Suárez-Orozco, Pimentel, &
Martin, 2009). Existing data suggest that by enhancing a student’s
sense of belonging and support, the adversity associated with
adapting to a new school context is reduced (Levitt, Guacci-
Franco, & Levitt, 1994)—a critical factor for recently immigrated
adolescents who face elevated acculturative stress. Indeed, over a
5-year longitudinal study of Hispanic immigrated youth, increased
relational engagement predicted enhanced cognitive and behav-
ioral engagement at school, which had long-term effects on edu-
cational attainment (C. Suárez-Orozco et al., 2002). Qualitative
research echoes the conclusion that strong relationships between
Hispanic immigrant youth and teachers is linked to behavioral and
academic success (Conchas, 2001). Critically, teacher support is
uniquely associated with increased school engagement and de-
creased behavior problems, even in the absence of parental support
(Rosenfeld, Richman, & Bowen, 2000). Much of this research is
interpreted through the aforementioned social capital lens, which
suggests that teacher–student relationships mitigate social capital
deficits associated with migration and thus increase positive out-
comes (Garcia-Reid et al., 2015; C. Suárez-Orozco et al., 2010).
Taken together with this broader context, the current findings point
to the need for future research examining mechanistic models in
which teacher support is examined as a predictor of psychopathol-
ogy, resilience, and prosocial behavior, with school engagement
variables tested as mediators. The current study contributes,
importantly, to illustrating the link between school engagement
and many of these outcomes, for the first time, in recently
immigrated youth, although the path from teacher support was
not tested.
Indeed, the current study is unique in documenting that that
school engagement—specifically, emotional engagement, emo-
tional disaffection and active behavioral disaffection—is a signif-
icant factor in mental health outcomes as well as the academic
outcomes that have been previously evaluated. Moreover, findings
indicate that this contribution is above and beyond the contribution
of traditional forms of social support. Although preliminary be-
cause of the cross-sectional nature of this data, findings suggest
that schools play a role in mental health problems (in the exter-
nalizing domain) as well as prosocial behavior and resilience
above and beyond well-established risk and protective effects from
parent and peer attachment. The latter has critical public health
relevance given increasing rates of youth migrating from Central
America without a guardian, increasing rates of adult parent de-
portation in the United States (United States Border Patrol, United
 8 VENTA ET AL.
States Customs and Border Protection, 2016b), and well-
documented difficulties faced by immigrant youth in integrating
with peers in mainstream classes.
Discussion of Implications for Practice
From policy and intervention standpoints, however, the extent to
which school engagement can be enhanced in immigrant groups
remains unexamined despite calls to provide care for high-risk
immigrant adolescents through preventative efforts (Raphel,
2014). Indeed, broad school-based preventative efforts have been
suggested by researchers focusing on recently immigrated youth
and include building immigrant-friendly campuses with a multi-
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cultural focus, increasing mentoring, and, most often, enhancing
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
the strength of teacher–student relationships (Goh, Wahl, McDon-
ald, Brissett, & Yoon, 2007; Green et al., 2008; C. Suárez-Orozco
et al., 2010; C. Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, et al., 2009). These
interventions, theoretically, would enhance school engagement,
with potential consequences for externalizing psychopathology,
resilience, and prosocial behavior. However, no such programs
have been developed and empirically tested, to our knowledge.
Further, there is a similar dearth of information regarding what
teachers can do to facilitate engagement in adolescent students
who might otherwise experience disaffection. The findings of the
current study suggest, preliminarily, that enhancing engagement (if
possible) would have positive consequences for mental health,
prosocial behavior, and resilience among recently immigrated
youth. However, the broad school engagement literature that in-
cludes metrics of specific teacher behavior is lacking in overall
number of studies and inclusion of high school students (Hirn &
Scott, 2014). Moreover, literature regarding specific teacher be-
haviors that foster emotional engagement is sparse, with studies
conducted primarily in elementary (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002)
and middle school students (Matsumura, Slater, & Crosson, 2008;
Voelkl, 1995). Many of these researchers utilize an “extended
attachment perspective” to conceptualize student–teacher relation-
ships, noting that teacher behaviors like sensitivity, closeness, and
reliability put students in an ideal position to explore new frontiers
with a secure base, thereby enhancing academic and mental health
outcomes (Roorda, Koomen, Spilt, & Oort, 2011). A recent meta-
analytic study of teacher–student relationships across development
noted that additional data from secondary school students were
needed, particularly because teacher–student relationships appear
to grow in their predictive power as students grow older (Roorda
et al., 2011). This is a critical finding given existing literature
noting that school engagement generally decreases in high school
(Marks, 2000), amid increases in mental health problems during
that developmental stage (Weir, Zakama, & Rao, 2012).
The current study highlights the importance of this issue by
documenting the significant role of school engagement in student
well-being with a sample that is quite a bit older than samples
included in previous research. Indeed, it may be that school en-
gagement plays a particularly large role for older students who
might be graduated or not enrolled in school at all if not for
immigration issues. To date, no study has examined which teacher
behaviors stand to enhance emotional engagement among recent
immigrants, and only a small literature base has examined similar
constructs in adolescents. Future research examining teacher be-
haviors that enhance student relational engagement in adolescents
is particularly important given that adolescence is a unique period
of social reorientation (Crone & Dahl, 2012), a window of oppor-
tunity for changing attachment strategies resulting from the ado-
lescent’s growing cognitive and emotional freedom (Allen, 2008),
and a particularly vulnerable time for the emergence of psycho-
pathology (e.g., Weir et al., 2012) and risk taking (e.g., Steinberg,
2007). The necessity for future research is even more critical
among recent immigrant adolescents given the aforementioned
risk for declining school engagement after migration and corre-
lated decline in academic achievement and mental health.
Limitations
The current study is not without limitations. It makes use of a
small sample of recently immigrated youth across a fairly large age
band—reflecting public school admittance to high school in the
state of data collection. The measures utilized were completed in
Spanish because of available research personnel with Spanish
fluency, although the participants’ Spanish fluency was not for-
mally assessed. This omission may have been particularly relevant
considering that, for some Central American immigrants, Spanish
is a second language and assessment in a local indigenous lan-
guage may have been more comfortable for the participants. Fur-
ther, many students stated that they could not read the question-
naires independently and requested that a graduate student read the
items and response choices out loud to them in a private room.
Although this level of support allowed the current sample to
include otherwise difficult-to-reach participants, it also introduces
response bias associated with orally answering items. Addition-
ally, the findings reported make use of cross-sectional data, and
replication utilizing follow-up data, when available, is needed.
Conclusions
Notwithstanding limitations, this study examined a sample that
is difficult to recruit, has been the subject of very little empirical
research, and has a high clinical need. Additionally, the current
study, although preliminary, has broad implications for other vul-
nerable groups. Specifically, identifying risk and protective factors
for psychopathology in this group (and intervening) may have
implications for American-born Hispanics, which represent a
growing 16.3% of the U.S. population (Ennis, Rios-Vargas, &
Albert, 2011). Finally, the present study may serve as a model for
future research addressing the mental health needs of other migrant
groups, a pressing need in light of current global crises of unprec-
edented Middle Eastern and North African youth migration in
Europe as well as the United States.
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Received February 28, 2018
Revision received June 5, 2018
Accepted June 7, 2018 䡲