Redefining communities: The association between deferred action, online and offline social capital and depressive symptoms among undocumented young adults

Preventive Medicine Reports

Amanda Landrian¹  May Sudhinaraset²  Hye Young Choi²  Irving Ling³ 

[1] Corresponding author.;Community Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA;Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA;

关键词: Undocumented immigration;    Young adults;    Social capital;    Online social capital;    Mental health;    Deferred action for childhood arrivals;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

An explosion in Internet use, social networking sites, and COVID-19 has promoted a new concept in health – online social capital, defined as linkages to online social networks that promote trust and group norms. Particularly for the 1.3 million undocumented young adult immigrants who “live in the shadows,” the Internet may serve as a place of support and information. This study examines the association between documentation status (defined as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status), offline social capital, online social capital, and depressive symptoms among foreign-born Latino and Asian and Pacific Islander young adults in California (N = 208) using data from an internet-based survey conducted in 2017. This study found that those without DACA status had higher online social capital (p < 0.001) and increased depressive symptoms (p = 0.01) than those with DACA status. Using linear regression, we found evidence of online social capital potentially mediating the relationship between DACA status and depressive symptoms. This study also found that as offline social capital increases, the association between online social capital on depressive symptoms decreases. This study points to the power of offline communities and the importance of increasing access to community resources, particularly to those without documentation status who may only have online social networks.

【 授权许可】

Unknown