Multiple, convergent risk factors place Latina youth at disproportionate risk for mental and sexual health issues. Yet, their firsthand perspectives and experiential knowledge of how to navigate mental and sexual health challenges is rarely the subject of scholarly inquiry. This article presents a multi-modal content analysis of themes and messages conveyed by two digital zines created by Latina young adults for Latina teens through an arts-based research project. In this arts-based research, zines functioned as both data and method, capturing Latina youth’s nuanced perspectives and lived experiences of mental and sexual health. We identified six themes in their works—acknowledging and breaking mental health stigma, straddling two worlds, celebrating strengths, relationship values and expectations, redefining womanhood, and exploring and embracing sexuality. Findings are interpreted through a model of socioecological resilience to reveal the processes through which participants navigate adversity and foster resilience. This study highlights how Latina young people use creative expression to assert their agency in matters of mental and sexual health despite multi-level barriers, offering novel insights and practical implications for health promotion.
AragónACooke-JacksonA (2021) The sex talk was Taboo..So was wearing a tampon: sexual and menstrual health conversations among young Latina and Latinx women and gender minorities. In: RubinskyVCooke-JacksonA (eds) Communicating Intimate Health. Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 33–52.
2.
AragónACooke-JacksonAOlivaJ, et al. (2023) Setting the agenda: Latina/x tri-generational family communication about reproductive and sexual health toward wellbeing. Journal of Family Communication23(2): 171–178.
3.
ArmasDJuarezIAyalaJ, et al. (2023) Painting, talking, rapping and healing: U.S. Latine youth and young adults define wellbeing through arts-based PAR. Youth3(3): 1030–1052.
4.
BakerSCantillonZEvansC (2024) Zine-making for critical cultural justice inquiry: a qualitative multi-method approach to reimagining Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area, Norfolk Island. Qualitative Research25(5): 1112–1139.
5.
BaqueroBGoldmanSSimanF, et al. (2014) Mi Cuerpo, Nuestra Responsabilidad: using Photovoice to describe the assets and barriers to sexual and reproductive health among Latinos in North Carolina. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice7(1): 65–83.
6.
BateyJ (2020) Are you okay? Mental health narratives in art zines from the zineopolis collection. Information, Medium, and Society: Journal of Publishing Studies18(1): 1–12.
7.
BiagioliMPässiläAOwensA (2021) The zine method as a form of qualitative analysis. In: Beyond Text: Learning Through Arts-based Research. Intellect. Available at: https://www.intellectbooks.com/beyond-text (accessed 31 January 2025).
8.
CabralJCuevasAG (2020) Health inequities among Latinos/Hispanics: documentation status as a determinant of health. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities7(5): 874–879.
9.
CalaVCSoriano-AyalaE (2021) Cultural dimensions of immigrant teen dating violence: a qualitative metasynthesis. Aggression and Violent Behavior58: 101555.
10.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2024) 1991-2023 High school youth risk behavior survey data. Available at: https://yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov/ (accessed 1 October 2024).
11.
CheneveyL (2021) Embodied care: exploring mental health zines as feminist health resources. Epub ahead of print 2021.
12.
Clonan-RoyK (2019) Latina girls’ sexual education in the (New) Latinx Diaspora. Girlhood Studies12(2): 65–81.
13.
CoemansSHannesK (2017) Researchers under the spell of the arts: two decades of using arts-based methods in community-based inquiry with vulnerable populations. Educational Research Review22: 34–49.
14.
Fiddian-GreenAGubriumACPetersonJC (2017) Puerto Rican Latina youth coming out to talk about sexuality and identity. Health Communication32(9): 1093–1103.
15.
GulbasLEZayasLH (2015) Examining the interplay among family, culture, and Latina teen suicidal behavior. Qualitative Health Research25(5): 689–699.
16.
GulbasLEGuzSHausmann-StabileC, et al. (2019) Trajectories of well-being among Latina adolescents who attempt suicide: a longitudinal qualitative analysis. Qualitative Health Research29(12): 1766–1780.
17.
GuzzettiBJ (2021) Voices from the margins: Latinx and Chicanx/Filipina women writing ephemeral texts for representation and resistance. In: GuzzettiBJ (ed) Genders, Cultures, and Literacies: Understanding Intersecting Identities. Routledge.
18.
Hausmann-StabileCGulbasLE (2021) Latina adolescent suicide attempts: a review of familial, cultural, and community protective and risk factors. In: MirandaRJeglicEL (eds) Handbook of Youth Suicide Prevention: Integrating Research into Practice. Springer International Publishing, pp. 261–278 (accessed 7 July 2022).
19.
KapkeTLGraceMAGerdesAC, et al. (2017) Latino early adolescent mental health: examining the impact of family functioning, familism, and global self-worth. Journal of Latina/o Psychology5(1): 27–44.
20.
LathamJMCookeS (2020) (Im)patient narratives: peer-to-peer health information transfer in the LGBTQ+ community via zines from the queer zine archive project (QZAP). In: St JeanBJindalGLiaoY, et al. (eds) Roles and Responsibilities of Libraries in Increasing Consumer Health Literacy and Reducing Health Disparities. Advances in Librarianship. Emerald Publishing Limited, pp, 241–261 (accessed 22 April 2022).
21.
LightfootAFThatcherKSimánFM, et al. (2019) “What I wish my doctor knew about my life”: using photovoice with immigrant Latino adolescents to explore barriers to healthcare. Qualitative Social Work18(1): 60–80.
22.
LillyJM (2025) “I learned to bottle up my feelings from a young age”: a narrative analysis of Latina young people’s family mental health socialization. Families in Society106(1): 135–157.
23.
LillyJMPaceSREmerickMC (2023) “¿Y tu novio? Where’s your boyfriend?”: a cultural-ecological analysis of Latinas’ narratives of teen dating experiences. Journal of Adolescent Research40(6): 1352–1379.
24.
LillyJMEmerickMCTice-BrownD, et al. (2025a) “How to make it out alive”: a strengths-based analysis of Latinas’ adolescent sexual health experiences. Community Health Equity Research & Policy45(2): 153–165.
25.
LillyJMAlmanzarDPaceSR (2025b) Digital zines as mental and sexual health communication tools for Latina teens: format and content acceptability and initial findings. Health Promotion Practice26(5): 926–945.
MannES (2016) Latina girls, sexual agency, and the contradictions of neoliberalism. Sexuality Research and Social Policy13(4): 330–340.
28.
MartínezN (2018) Femzines, artivism, and altar aesthetics: third wave feminism Chicana style. Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures2(2): 45–67.
29.
Morales-AlemánMMScarinciIC (2016) Correlates and predictors of sexual health among adolescent Latinas in the United States: a systematic review of the literature, 2004–2015. Preventive Medicine87: 183–193.
30.
NairRLRocheKMWhiteRMB (2018) Acculturation gap distress among Latino youth: prospective links to family processes and youth depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and academic performance. Journal of Youth and Adolescence47(1): 105–120.
31.
NelsonE (2024) “I’ll Be Here:” reflections on representation and research communication through zine work. GeoHumanities10(2): 472–483.
PaceSRLillyJMEmerickMC (2024) Latina young people’s perspectives on healthy romantic relationships: a strengths-based, qualitative inquiry. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy23(2): 79–96.
34.
QuerdasiFRBacioGA (2021) Suicidal behaviors among Latina adolescents: an ecodevelopmental approach and narrative review. Journal of Adolescence93(1): 161–176.
35.
Ramdarshan BoldM (2017) Why diverse zines matter: a case study of the people of color zines project. Publishing Research Quarterly33(3): 215–228.
36.
RomoLFHurtadoA (2022) “Know your worth and play it safe:” messages to daughters from Mexican-origin mothers in conversations about dating and romantic relationships. Culture, Health and Sexuality24(6): 812–826.
ShafferCMCoronaRSullivanTN, et al. (2018) Barriers and supports to dating violence communication between Latina adolescents and their mothers: a qualitative analysis. Journal of Family Violence33(2): 133–145.
39.
StaffordAMDrauckerCB (2020) Barriers to and facilitators of mental health treatment engagement among Latina adolescents. Community Mental Health Journal56(4): 662–669.
40.
SzlykHSGulbasLZayasL (2019) “I just kept it to myself”: the shaping of Latina suicidality through gendered oppression, silence, and violence. Family Process58(3): 778–790.
41.
Terrazas-CarrilloESabinaC (2019) Dating violence attitudes among Latino college students: an examination of gender, Machismo, and marianismo. Violence & Victims34(1): 194–210.
UngarM (2011) The social ecology of resilience: addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity of a nascent construct. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry81(1): 1–17.
44.
ValliC (2021) Participatory dissemination: bridging in-depth interviews, participation, and creative visual methods through interview-based zine-making (IBZM). Fennia - International Journal of Geography199(1): 25–45.
45.
VaughnLMDeJonckheereM (2021) The opportunity of social ecological resilience in the promotion of youth health and wellbeing: a narrative review. Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine94(1): 129–141.
46.
WatsonABennettA (2021) The felt value of reading zines. American Journal of Cultural Sociology9(2): 115–149.
47.
ZapfHBoettcherJHaukelandY, et al. (2023) A systematic review of the association between parent-child communication and adolescent mental health. JCPP Advances4(e12205): 1–20.
48.
ZhaoRRiceK (2024) Exploring uses of visual arts-based interventions for mental health of marginalized populations: a scoping review. Arts & Health1–19.
49.
ZhuoM (2024) “I feel my inner child out”: zine-making as a data collection tool in narrative inquiry. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics3(3): 100131.
