DESPIERTA: Developing Educational Strengths, Promoting Individual Responsible Teen Awareness
Principal Investigator: Mary Lou de Leon Siantz
Funder: Research Program on Migration and Health
Award: $39,590
Period: Sep. 1, 2014 to Aug. 31, 2015
The purpose of this exploratory project is to investigate the migration experience and its impact on the depression and pregnancy rates among the 14 to 18-year-old migrant adolescent girls of Mexico and Mexican migrant adolescent girls in the U.S. This project proposes a qualitative and quantitative approach to explore and compare risk for depression, pregnancy and access to care between those who migrate to the San Joaquin Valley of California and those who do not migrate from Jalisco, Mexico. Mary Lou de Leon Siantz’ specific goals are to determine the rates and severity of depression, as well as pregnancy rates, in Mexican migrant adolescent girls, compare the rates in non-migrant girls in Jalisco and inform binational health policies.


Improving health outcomes for women and immigrant populations

The health of migrant women is rarely examined through research, though more than 20 million immigrant woman live in the United States. Mary Lou de Leon Siantz conducts research that focuses on the well-being of Hispanic immigrant adolescents to determine what education will contribute to better outcomes.