# Gendered Pandemic-Related Disparities in Latinx Immigrant Mental Health: Understanding the Social Context of Caregiving Roles, Social Support, and Access to Resources

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO · 2022 · $22,824

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Graduate student Alejandra Lemus’ long-term goal is to become a NIH-funded researcher engaged in high
impact, innovative research that examines the effects of multilevel interventions (including policy change) on
reducing social inequities and mental health disparities experienced by Latinx immigrants. Almost 14% of the
U.S. population are immigrants (28% of the population when including U.S.-born children of immigrants), with
Latinx immigrants comprising 40% of the immigrant population. Due to long-standing structural inequities, the
COVID-19 pandemic has disparately impacted immigrants, particularly those who are Latinx and low-income.
The parent grant aims to test a multilevel approach to reduce adverse consequences of the COVID-19
pandemic with disparate impacts on Latinx and Black immigrants and refugees by observing and implementing
three nested levels of intervention. This Diversity Supplement will further advance mental health disparities
research through intersectional analyses of the mental health, daily stressors, and economic distress of Latina
immigrant mothers, which is critical because recent research that has shown that women have experienced
more severe mental health, daily stressor, and economic impacts of the pandemic. These disparities are likely
due to multiple factors, such as higher caregiving responsibilities and lower income compared to men, and high
rates of exposure to political, structural, and intimate partner violence. These gendered experiences highlight
the importance of intersectional approaches which focus on gender and caregiving responsibilities, in addition
to immigration status, SES, and race/ethnicity, to understand the pathways and intersecting positionalities that
are contributing to mental health disparities. The longitudinal mixed methods data collected from 1140 Latinx
immigrants for the parent study will be leveraged to conduct a mixed methods study with an innovative
sequential design, in which initial quantitative analyses to describe gender disparities in mental health, daily
stressors, and economic precarity among Latinx immigrants (Aim 1) will be followed by qualitative analyses of
interviews conducted with a subsample of participants to provide explanation and elaboration on differences in
these outcomes (Aim 2), and then subsequent quantitative analyses to test potential moderators and
mechanisms suggested by the qualitative findings that may be contributing to gendered disparities (Aim 3). In
addition to the proposed research activities, Ms. Lemus will engage in a comprehensive training plan that
advances her expertise in 4 key areas: mixed methods and advanced qualitative and quantitative analyses;
policy and structural analyses; community-engaged research; and intersectional transnational gender
analyses. Guided by a primary mentor and 4 co-mentors, her training includes directed readings, coursework,
mentored research activities, and writing and submission of 3 conference abs...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10599005
- **Project number:** 3R01MH127733-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
- **Principal Investigator:** JESSICA R GOODKIND
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $22,824
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-08-16 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10599005

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10599005, Gendered Pandemic-Related Disparities in Latinx Immigrant Mental Health: Understanding the Social Context of Caregiving Roles, Social Support, and Access to Resources (3R01MH127733-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10599005. Licensed CC0.

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