Internalized and Externalized Mental Health Symptoms among Latinx Children:A Comparison between Rural Latinx Farmworker and Urban Latinx Low-Income Families Living in North Carolina

Abstract

This study examined mental health symptoms among 8-11-year-old children of Latinx farmworkers in rural North Carolina (N = 76) and urban children of Latinx parents (N = 65). All had household incomes of 200% below the poverty line. A Spanish version of the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) for children aged 6–18 assessed internalized (anxious/depression) and externalized (aggression) mental health symptoms. CBCL scores obtained at baseline and subsequent follow-up evaluations approximately one year and two years after the first evaluation were analyzed with multi-level regression to determine if the CBCL outcomes changed over time. Children from farmworker families showed lower levels of anxious/depressive symptoms at baseline (mean = 50.59) than urban children (mean = 54.74), but these differences diminished with age. The mean depression score for the urban sample decreased by -1.17 points each year after the initial assessment. Both rural (mean = 44.15) and urban Latinx children (mean = 49.92) developed increased externalized aggressive symptoms over time, and rural children's aggression increased faster than urban children. The rural children showed a statistically significant increase with a mean linear rate of change of + 3.63 over time. This study contributes to the current research on how community settings may affect children's socio-emotional development, and suggests further examination into the impact of social, physical, and economic disadvantages on children's mental health.