Psychological Science Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-13-2026
Abstract
Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms are well-documented health disparities in Latinx migrants, explaining a diverse array of physical and mental health complaints as well as role limitations for both youth and adults. Few studies have examined the influence of the migration journey on PTS in Latinx migrants. We examined the added effect of migration-related predictors, above and beyond general trauma exposure, of PTS in two samples of Latinx migrants with the broad aim of uncovering unique predictors of PTS in this high-risk population. Both studies investigated predictors of posttraumatic distress using information collected about individuals’ demographics (e.g., age, gender, country of birth) and migration journey to the U.S., while controlling for pre-migration trauma exposure. The current studies used one sample of Latinx adult migrants seeking asylum (N = 276) collected at the Texas-Mexico border and one sample of recently immigrated Latinx youth (N = 69) collected at an urban school in the Southwestern United States. Across both samples, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that witnessing or experiencing something frightening during migration (p = 0.009 in youth; p < 0.001 in adults) predicted PTS, even after controlling for general trauma exposure. Our results underscore the importance of routinely screening Latinx migrants for migration-related trauma in clinical and community settings. As the U.S. halts asylum processing as part of its sweeping immigration enforcement actions, our findings highlight the urgent need to expand legal paths to entry to prevent migrants from being forced into traumatic and dangerous routes.
Recommended Citation
Frederick, R. M., Barron, M. C., Patel, S. G., Bautista, A., Oconnell, D., Mercado, A., ... & Venta, A. (2026). Migration-related predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms in two samples of Latinx immigrants. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-026-00675-1
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Journal of Behavioral Medicine
DOI
10.1007/s10865-026-00675-1
Comments
Copyright © 2026, The Author(s). This article is available under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license and permits non-commercial use of the work as published, without adaptation or alteration provided the work is fully attributed.