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Fortaleza Mexicana

Mexico is the second most populated country in Latin America with over 12.7 million rural indigenous people (World Population Review, 2019), however, there is a dearth of research examining Mexican rural families. This mixed methods study, Fortaleza Mexicana (Mexican Resilience) Study explored Mexican families' experiences with violence. Specifically, this research project focused on 200 parent-adolescent dyads residing in a low-income, rural neighborhood in Mexico and included 200 parent-adolescent surveys and 32 individual semi-structured interviews.

Explore Mexican parents’ educational beliefs, aspirations, and expectations for their adolescents
Assess Mexican parent and adolescents’ mental health outcomes (i.e. perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and PTSD symptoms)
Explore Mexican parent and adolescents’ experiences with violence exposure, coping strategies, and their communication about violence
Explore families’ determinants of and barriers to mental health service utilization.
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Fortaleza Mexicana Publications

Medrano, A. S., Davila, S. A., Labrousse, D., Adame Montelongo, E. S., & Williams, E.-D. G. (2025). Disentangling machismo and caballerismo: Mental health help-seeking in rural Mexico. Journal of Rural Mental Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/rmh0000291

Davila, S. A., Martinez, A., & Medrano, A. S. (2025). Navigating familial and economic stressors: Examining resilience and cohesion as protective factors for rural Mexican adolescents. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000754 

Mora, A. S., Gutiérrez, L. M., & Ceballo, R. (2024). The role of parent-adolescent communication among youth exposed to neighborhood violence in rural Mexico. Families in Society, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894231222942