Is Maternal Engagement Protective for Children In Immigrant Families Facing Material Hardship?

Background and Purpose: Immigrant families are at disproportionate risk of poverty due to their limited access to resources. The present study, involving mothers from immigrant families in the U.S., examines the relationship between material hardship and child mental health, considering the role of maternal engagement. Prior research shows that while material hardship has a negative impact on child mental health, parental engagement might serve as a protective factor that mitigates that relationship. However, past research has not explored these dynamics in immigrant families, which is an important gap in the literature considering that immigrant populations may experience better mental health outcomes even under conditions of poverty and limited resources (i.e., the immigrant paradox).

Methods: The present study used Wave 5 data from the Future of Families & Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), collected when the focal child was nine-year-old. The analytic sample included mothers who were primary caregivers of a U.S.-born child with at least one immigrant parent and who had complete data on the variables of interest (N=447). On average, mothers were 35.89 years old. The sample was predominantly Hispanic (61.5%). About half of the children were boys (52.9%).

Material hardship was assessed using 10 items, capturing whether families experienced economic deprivation in the past 12 months. Child mental health problems (CMHP) were assessed using 111 items from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and included eight subscales. Maternal engagement was measured using 10 items assessing the frequency of daily activities between mothers and children. We tested whether maternal engagement moderated and/or mediated the association between material hardship and CMHP using hierarchical regression analysis (moderation) and structural equation modeling (mediation). Child sex, presence of other adults in the household, maternal race/ethnicity, and maternal age were included as control variables.

Results: Approximately 38.3% of the sample experienced at least one form of material hardship. CMHP was positively correlated with material hardship and negatively correlated with maternal engagement. Preliminary analysis of the moderation model showed that material hardship (B=0.016) and maternal engagement (B=-0.032) were each significantly associated with CMHP, but their interaction was not significant. Preliminary analysis of the mediation model showed acceptable model fit (MLR). Although the path from material hardship to maternal engagement was not significant, paths from material hardship (β=0.151) and from maternal engagement (β=-0.120) to CMHP were significant after accounting for control variables. An indirect effect of maternal engagement was not supported. Final results using the imputed dataset will be presented.

Conclusion and Implication: Material hardship emerged as a significant risk factor for child mental health among immigrant families, while maternal engagement was protective regardless of material hardship levels. Material hardship was not significantly associated with maternal engagement, suggesting that mothers may sustain engagement even under adverse economic conditions, which is a pattern consistent with the immigrant paradox. These findings underscore the importance of family-level protective processes in interventions for immigrant families. Future research should examine cultural protective factors, such as familismo and extended family support, that may further buffer against hardship and explain this resilience.