There is “a positive association between acculturative stress and a variety of internalizing behaviors, including low self-esteem, symptoms of depression, and increased suicidal alienation” (Potochnik & Perreira, 2011). However, acculturation can also have positive effects, as adolescents are better able to interact with the broader American culture and succeed in the educational and social systems. These individual effects are complicated by the acculturation gap that can sometimes form between adolescents and their parents and by their communication levels. According to Schwartz's study on acculturation, the gap between “American practices and ethnic identity, and perceptions of a negative host context, predicted impaired parent-adolescent communication,” which in turn promoted increased unsafe sexual activity and drug and alcohol use (Schwartz, et al. al, 2012). These factors leave children at various levels of acculturation in danger of not connecting with either peers or family, the stress of which can leave them “at increased risk for suicide, substance abuse, academic failure and dropout, health problems and crime". activities” (McCarthy, n.d., p.