SOCIALIZATION AND FAMILY CORRELATES OF MENTAL-HEALTH OUTCOMES AMONG HISPANIC AND ANGLO-AMERICAN CHILDREN - CONSIDERATION OF CROSS-ETHNIC SCALAR EQUIVALENCE

Recently there has been concern over the need for developmental resear ch within ethnic minority populations and interest in socialization an d family variables within, and variability across, ethnic groups. This study reports analyses designed to: compare several socialization, fa mily, and mental health variables among Hispanic and Anglo American 8- 14-year-old children and mothers; examine the regression equations pre dicting mental health indicators with the socialization and family var iables; and evaluate the cross-ethnic scalar equivalence of these soci alization and family measures. The findings indicate that there are et hnic differences in several socialization and family variables; severa l of the socialization and family variables are related to the mental health variables, and these relations are very similar across ethnic g roups; and the socialization and family measures appear to have suffic ient cross-ethnic scalar equivalence for English-speaking, largely Mex ican American Hispanic samples. Further, these findings suggest some c aution regarding the use of the Child Depression Inventory in Hispanic samples.