Second generation Hispanic Bilingual Family Focus

A research paper by LoLyn

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
David R. Moyerman and Bruce D. Forman, University of Miami partnered to engage in a Meta-analytic study of 49 reports studying the relationship between acculturation and various forms of adjustment. It was their goal to “categorize the studies into several different classes of adjustment” (165) They attempted to examine all published studies as well as dissertions published after 1979 regarding this correlation. “All relevant studies identified by the searches were considered for inclusion in the meta-analysis” (166).
The categories included:
• Extroversion and self-disclosure,
• Self-esteem and self-concept
• Internal locus of control
• Career conflict
• Addictions
• Affective and impulse control disorders
• Field independence
• Family conflict
• Anxiety disorders and stress
• Intelligence and achievement
• Psychosocial and health problems.

The authors concluded:
The most notable aspect of the results is that there does not appear to be a consistent unidirectional effect of acculturation on adjustment.. . .The lack of validity generalization indicated by the unbiased variance components implies that the effect of acculturation on various adjustment constructs is not known and cannot be known without serious consideration of each unique acculturation and adjustment situation” (177).

During that same year, Charles Negy and Donald J. Woods (1992), of Texas A&M University, provide a “brief review of empirical studies that have addressed the role of acculturation across a variety of psychosocial variables:
• Family socialization
• Social support networks
• Alcoholism and psychosocial adjustments
They contend the universality of methodological weaknesses include “the lack of a satisfactory scale to assess the complex construct of acculturation and the excessive reliance on self-reports for information perceived as “personal” to Hispanics” and proved recommendations to assist future researchers in correcting this weakness (224), along with a list of possible research topics in the field (243).
In the same issue of Hispanic Journal of behavioral Sciences these authors present “A note on the relationship between acculturation and socioeconomic status” by reporting a study of 339 Mexican American introductory psychology students at a public university required by the course work to complete a survey. Their hunch was confirmed when their study
revealed a significant positive relationship between acculturation level and SES, (socio Economic status) suggesting that the more acculturated subjects come from backgrounds with higher standards of living and better educated parents… . It remains unclear whether being more acculturated facilitates penetration into the mainstream—which would result in better living standards and education—or whether higher socioeconomic status facilitates becoming more acculturated. Naturally these two possibilities could be simultaneously influential” (250).




Various Scales of Acculturation
Many of the journal articles were a review of existing measusres of acculturation, and correlations between the measures with other cultural factors. The common result throughout the literature of this decade is that the language factor is the most significant in determining acculturation and that this factor does have an effect on the functioning of the immigrant families, even into third generation.

Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans
Gary T. Montgomery (1992), University of Texas. introduces a 238-item acculturation rating scale for Mexican Americans. The scale was designed to test cultural orientation as well as comfort with cultural identity. Internal validity and consistency are corroborated. Having reviewed many acculturation scales Montgomery indicates most calculate only one score, but postulates that a scale would be more effective to use multiple scales in order to include “level of perceived satisfaction versus marginality”(202).
Considering that an ongoing question among therapists and researchers deals with acculturation stress finding an accurate and inclusive measure would prove to be important in the field. The rating scale is included with the report.

Cultural Life Style Inventory
Four years later, another study published in Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences describes the Cultural Life Style Inventory (CLSI) attempts to differentiate the
dimensionality of the various domains of behavior, values, and preferences (latent contstructs) assessed in most measures of acculturation from the dimensionality associated with the way maesaures of acculturation are scored. Scoring reflects acculturation theory insofar as it suggests whether acculturation is conceptualized as unidimensional movement from native to host culture or allows for retention of the native culture as well, that is biculturalism. Implications of the second meaning of dimension are explored by examining the importance of the way acculturation instruments are scored. Unidimensional and bidimensional scoring systems are differentiated, and a secondary analysis of data is presented to demonstrate the utility of bidimensional scoring (Magana, j. R.., Rocha, O, Asel, J.,Magana, H. A., Fernandez, M. I., &Sarah Rulnick. 1996, 444).


The Brief Acculturation Scale for Hispanics
The Brief Acculturation Scale for Hispanics is another scale demonstrated and discussed at length. The test consists of four behavioral areas, measuring acculturation with a four item interview format which focuses on language spoken read, thinking and socially. A formula for generation The Brief Acculturation Scale for Hispanics variable is described. Interviewers were trained to provide internal consistency and face to face interviews were conducted in homes or other private settings. Reliabilty and validty were determined determining correlation by subjects self reported comfort levels and their responses to the scales (Norris, A. E., Ford, K.,Bova, C. A. (1996).

The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics
The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (BAS) is examined by Gerardo Marin and Raymond J. Gamba (1996). “the scale provides a acculturation score for two major cultural dimensions (Hispanic and non-Hispanic domains) by including 12 items (per cultural domain) that measure three language-related areas. A random sample of 254 adult Hispanics was surveyed to develop and validate the scale. The scores obtained with the BAS show high internal consistency and high validity coefficients. The scale works will with Mexican Americans and with Central Americans” (297). Validity and reliability are examined and the test is included.

Other Acculturation Instruments
Another overview of acculturation scales is given by Richard H Dana of Portland State University. He suggests that the use of the information gained from such measures helps in selecting “standard psychological tests or culture specific instruments” as well as indicating information for clinical diagnosis, personality description, therapeutic assessment and psychotherapy. He describes and compares several acculturation instruments in detail: ARSMA,ARSMA-II, CLSI, B/MEI, HAS and the MOC and BIQ. Recommendation for studies to “compare the relative usefulness of the measures” are made and provides further recommendations for using the existing instruments in the absence of such research. As the instruments differ greatly in the information they provide from the simplest label of Hispanic American.
Self report and self judgment scales “are a poor substitute for psychometrically adequate acculturation instruments” and the information provided “is useful only for gross categorization of acculturation status and may even be insufficient for research purposes.”

A review of the literature provides “several issues including
(a) direct versus indirect measurement of acculturation,
(b)potential confounding of acculturation and accculturative stress, and
(c) the adequacy of assessing subgroup cultural distinctiveness using acculturation measures (324-25).


Language-Culture Variables
A study of Ethnoliguist Vitality related to Ethnic identity is reported in the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences (Gao, G. Schmidt, K. L., Wgudykunst, W.B. (1994). Following Mexican Americans in Phoenix, Arizona ,reported that “first language did not influence vitality perceptions, while ethnic identity had a significant influence on perceived ingroup vitality.”

Mexico’s Folklore, Culture and Language
Wintilo Garcia, (1996) of California State University, authored a chapter of the book Communication In Personal Relationships Across Culture, defining and investigating tradition within Mexico’s folklore, culture and language including culture-specific messages which deal with interpersonal relationships details some of the unique language embedded cultural aspects of Spanish:
Spanish is source of identification and guidance. …message exchange validates and supports the overall culture ( Garcia, 137).

Spanish contains ‘culture specific messages’ in the relational arena. These messages are common to the native speaker and ambiguous to a nonnative speaker (Garcia, 138).

He postulates that class differences among Hispanics actually stem from ancient Greek and Roman civilizations in which the “Greeks considered Romans to be barbarians with no intellectual tendencies consequently Greeks considered themselves members of a ‘high class’ group while categorizing Romans as ‘lower class’ members. Thus a group difference was established where perceived class functioned as a factor of identification” Garcia 137). The class system resulted in limited transactions between Greeks and Romans precursing the very similar society that exists among Mexicans, being based specifically on class distinction,
from the “rich and powerful, who exclude the poor, racially and ethnically diverse, weak, ill educated who in turn discriminate within their ranks to divide into more classes, creating the very basis on which class discrimination among Mexican people was developed.”



Control Mechanisms
According to Garcia, “these lower class systems were control mechanisms condoned by the governing powers. “Several specific terms in Spanish are not directly translatable into English (Garcia 138).
In the early European conquests of the New World, the Spaniards imposed their religion and government on the natives, and destroyed, forbad and punished any worship, art or other activities that did not fit into their own cultural patterns, debasing the indigenous people to the lowest classes of society. Over the last four centuries these practices have continued, hidden from non natives, but apparent in the use of the language (Garcia.140).

The language has developed in a way that keeps the speaker continually conscious of the class distinction in every day conversations creating both a conscious and sub conscious inability to interact with other people of different classes. Transactions between classes are generally initiated by the higher class, and the lower class accommodates this distinction by returning the communication in a subordinate manner. Those who consider themselves to be of a higher class interact in society freely and assume a higher status role. They participate in activities, and may even become friends with lower class, but this does not move the lower class person into a higher position. The meztiso race (the Spanish and indigenous offspring) significantly outnumbers other peoples. Thus there is little reason to confirm or acknowledge other cultures in Mexico. In such a society, such things as ethnic identity culture and language patterns are intuitable. This means that people interact with little uncertainty. Mexicans perceive their communication patterns to be implicit and thus unspoken. Consequently there is no need to seek out such aspects of one’s existence because patterns of communication remain fixed in the overall culture. Indeed, this communicative pattern is not merely a medium of message exchange but rather an extension of a tradition in which culture reflects the lies of the natives. For Mexicans, history and language are symbiotic entities perpetuating a way of life” (Garcia 140).

Garcia proposes that the very culture of Mexico is continued through the reinterpretation of daily activities and transactions which “promote such things as tenacity, passion, love and death through popularly held myths” (Garcia 140). Additionally Mexican folklore perpetuates the very structure of power and control at the higher end of the social ladder, instilling in each generation a sense of both resignation combined with a thread of hope as the stories regale in the long suffering of the Mexican people. Garcia equates the results of this phenomenon as observable in their
reaction to government corruption, in that they respond with resignation to the corruption, but celebrate the patriotic occasions by quoting and reciting long passages or famous statements, which exalt former heroes of the Mexican Revolution, and honor the very public officials who are suspected of corruption,” thus perpetuating the folklore of hope and anticipation of a good outcome from a long history of exploitation (Garcia 142).



Superstitious Beliefs and Black Magic

The very superstitious beliefs and black magic adapted from the aborigines by their conquering Spaniards have intertwined themselves into the religious beliefs and have evolved into rituals of Catholicism, in turn perpetuating the folklore. According to Garcia:
Mexicans widely accept these cultural “truths: to be specific to the culture and not universal elements of human behavior. For this reason, Spanish-speakers who are not natives may find it difficult to identify with a language that is used to transmit more than mere messages. . . In essence folklore transmits the affective element of the Mexican culture to the native Spanish–speaker. Folklore conveys more than entertainment. … it conveys the very values, norms, and rules that are used for daily survival in Mexico. (143). . .creating a system of communication which includes codes that are not readily translated to non native speakers, “consistently implying class and tradition within messages. ... Many of the nuances demonstrated by a native Spanish speaker are aspects fixed in the culture” (Garacia 144).


Class Standing
Class standing among Mexicans includes issues not only of financial standing, but educational levels as well as degree of influence embedded within the Spanish language is a system that allows the user to exclude, classify or identify others” (Garcia 144).
The manner in which nouns are classified female or male, Garcia contends, perpetuates the “distinctive cultural differences.” Additionally the various titles attributed to family members indicate their position in the family as well as their influence in the family structure (Garcia 145).
The two Spanish words for “YOU” are Tú and Usted. Usted is reserved for addressing new acquaintances, older people, professional people and those who hold power. Use of tú implies equal status and is an informal salutation which in the culture is deemed improper and causes discomfort not only for the listeners but the speaker as well, as he will be considered disrespectful for the lack of acknowledging the difference in class. “the word tú implies relational climates of intimacy and status. For Mexicans, tú is an assertion tool. That is used to create a niche within relationships,… grounded in a tradition of history and folklore that condones a hierarchical culture.” The continued use of this distinction continue to reinforce the cultural class distinctions and signals a long tradition of class legacy. The combination of speakers’ use of tú or usted signals various levels of trust, respect and intimacy depending on the exchange (Garcia 148).


Other Cultural and Traditional Mores
Other cultural and traditional mores imbedded in the Spanish language include personalism by which the people are stuck in their economic status, with little chance of moving ahead. The key to Personalism focuses a person on “inner qualities” allowing him to experience self worth regardless of worldly success of failure, in clear contrast to American individualism, which values achievement above all else” (Preto 185)
Respect plays a major role in preserving the network of close personal relationships. Respect for authority is first learned in the home and then expands to the outside society, especially when dealing with superiors. Its rules are complex (Preto pp185 ).

Wintelo Garcia explains the basis of Respeto as being far more than the English equivalent of respect in his discussion “Respeto: A Mexican Base for Interpersonal Relationship.” (137-151). Preto additionally identifies the physical restriction of making direct eye contact with strangers, especially for females and smaller children” (186).
Other such embedded cultural concepts include machismo, emphasizing the male responsibility for looking after and providing for the family, as well as sexual prowess and readiness. Included is the implication of the double standard accepting adultry in men but not in women. The female concept of marianismo elevates women to a higher spiritual plane, capable of enduring any type of hardship or suffering, and implying a repression of female sexual drives. “The cultural message is that if a woman has sex with a man before marriage she will lose his respect so that he will not marry her, and she will bring dishonor to herself and to her family.. . . Hembrismo means femaleness and connotes strength perseverance, flexibility, and the ability to survive. It can be likened to the concept of superwoman, that is, an attempt to fulfill all female roll expectations at home and at work” (Preto 185).
Nydia Garcia-Preto, Family Institute of New Jersey, authored chapters 10 and thirteen of the book, Ethnicity and family therapy 1996. Chapter 10 is an overview of Latino Families and their needs in therapy, and chapter 13 deals specifically with Puerto Rican Families, which have many cultural and family values in common with Mexican families. These chapters are a review of the current literature and include the following conclusions and interpretations by the author.
Puerto Rican families quickly find that some of their cultural attitudes are undermined by US society. Culturally Puerto Ricans learn to be dependent on the group and the community and are rewarded for submissive and respectful behavior. Conflict and anxiety are experienced when they confront a society that frowns on passivity and expects independent individualistic behavior. The rules of respect that bind relationships in Puerto Rico are not understood in the U.S. For instance the concept of machismo has negative connotations that cause conflicts for traditional Puerto Rican men. This culture shock tends to produce significant changes in Puerto Rican family structure.”


Language Brokering
Children are frequently called upon to translate and interpret for their parents in social settings in which children are not usually included, nor especially allowed to participate.

Children have an easier time learning English and often are asked to interpret for their parents. This dependence on their children to express their wishes, concerns, and conflicts often puts Puerto Rican parents in an inferior, powerless position. Asking a child to speak for his or her parents is also contrary to the cultural expectation that children should be quiet in front of strangers. Children caught in conflicts of cultures and loyalties may develop a negative self-image that can inhibit their chances for growth and accomplishment. Parents, not knowing how to respond in the new culture, often feel they have lost control and may give up. They usually react by imposing stricter rules, using corporal punishment and if necessary appealing to the traditionally accepted values of respect and obedience.

A lack of extended family and friends may also precipitate feelings of anxiety, loss, isolation and being overwhelmed and resentful. Individuals may feel obligated to fulfill roles and functions that were previously performed by others in the extended system. Consequently, they may experience extreme anxiety.. . overwhelmed and resentful (Preto pp195).

Preto also considers the language factor may be a major therapeutic issue and barrier. He suggests conducting interviews in Spanish in order to engage the family so family members will not feel humiliated in their attempt to speak English. He further warns “using children as interpreters is problematic because it shifts the family structure by placing children I a superior position. Relying on translators, even Hispanics, introduces distortions that result in limitations and frustrations for both therapist and client.”(195)
Buriel and Perez(1998) provide data to show the positive side of this issue which shows some academic benefits to what they call Language Brokering. Through acting as translators for their parents, children are exposed to a wide variety of cultural situations and conditions as well as advanced vocabulary and skills needed not only to translate but to interpret information and intervene in disputes on their parents’ behalf. This, the authors contend, results in biculturalism, which is positively related to academic performance in their study. This research was reported in 1998, in order to examine a relationship of language brokering with academic performance among ninth and tenth grade students in a predominantly Latino community. Using scale developed by Tse that measures four language brokering dimensions including persons, places, documents and feelings. The Bicultural Involvement Questionnaire measured levels of biculturalism, especially degree of comfort when speaking English and Spanish separately. An Academic self efficacy scale, developed by a focus groups, was used to score student interviews. It was hypothesized that children develop social skills, which boost their self-confidence in social interactions. Self reported grades measured academic performance. They used t tests to compare brokering scores by gender, computed correlation’s between all variables and used multiple regression analyses to examine the “relative contribution of language brokering and the other variables to student’s academic performance.” Demonstrating the results in a Stepwise Multiple regression Analyses Predicting Students Academic Performance along with a correlation between all variables, they reported that all variables were significantly correlated as they had hypothesized leading the researchers to state:
“The correlation between language brokering and biculturalism and their mutual relationship to social self efficacy suggest that interpersonal experiences with two languages and two cultures may impart enhanced feelings of self confidence in social interactions.” 293) They did admit however, “students who have been overburdened by their brokering responsibilities during childhood may have dropped out of school before reaching high school, thus precluding an examination of how their negative brokering experiences may have adversely affected their academic performances and feelings of academic self-efficacy (293).



PsychoSocial Issues
Virtually all sources comment on the family values inherent within Hispanic family culture. Much of this is reported in the introduction chapter, and included in various sections in this chapter. Julian Montoro Rodriguez and Karl Kosloski (1998), report “The impact of acculturation on attitudinal familism in a community of Puerto Rican Americans.” Conclusions from reviewing pertinent literature report that “Hispanics are assumed to be characterized by stronger feelings of famiism, cohesion, intergenerational exchange, and family support than are Anglos (Sabogal, Marin, & Otero-Sabogal , 1987) (376).
…with increasing modernization, familism can be expected to decrease. By implication, with increasing acculturation, the level of familism of Hspanics in the United States can be expected to decline. . .to the extent that acculturation weakens one'’ ethnic identity”(376).

“Given the apparent importance to Hispanics of the cultural value of familism, a more complete understanding of this concept is vital to understand how it might be affeced by such processes as migration, adaptation, and acculturation to Anglo American culture” (377).

In this study respondents were surveyed regarding demographic, attitudinal and behavioral aculturation. Using the Familism scales developed by Bardis (1950) and Triandis, Marin, Betancourt, Lisansky and Chang (1982). Three distinct factors emerged from the familism measure: familial obligations, family as referents, and support from relatives.
"In a preliminary examination of the relationship between acculturation and familism, [examined] the correlations between the first-order factors of familism:
• family obligation
• family support
• family as referents
and the first order factors of acculturation:
• media
• family obligation
• family support
An interesting pattern of relationships emerged. They discuss the problems they had with correlating familism to a relationship a multidimensional factor. And suggest specific steps to take in re-creating an analysis of the relationships. Conclusions differ from previous research in that, “The relationship between acculturation and support from relatives. . .in the present study, . . .was positively related to both family obligations and support from relatives“(387)…contrary to the hypothesis that acculturation in the United States weakens family values, are consistent with a substantial body of findings in family sociology and informal care-giving as is reaffirmed by John, R., Resendiz, R., & de Vargas, L. W. (1997) in “Beyond familism?: Familism as explicit motive for eldercare among Mexican American caregivers.
This research explored eldercare among Mexican American primary family caregivers from Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Although these caregivers expressed feelings of burden, their ethnocultural values of familism placed burden in a broader cultural context in which caregiving was also viewed as an affirmation and fulfillment of core Mexican American cultural values.
Mexican American familism includes expressions of family solidarity, ethnoculturally alien institutions (particularly nursing homes), and a desire to care for the elderly within the family context regardless of the personal cost or consequences. In contrast to recent research, these findings suggest that it is premature to dismiss familism as a continuing and central influence in the lives of Mexican American family caregivers.

Further review of literature and professional experiences with Hispanic families comes from Ethniticity and Family therapy, in which Elia Jaes Falicov presents Chapter 12, “Mexican Families” stressing:
“Perhaps the most fundamental dislocation of migration is the uprooting of a structure of cultural meanings, which has been likened to the roots that sustain and nourish a plant. With the disruption of lifelong attachments, internal and external meanings are severely challenged. New contexts slowly generate new meanings and accommodations (p 170).


Alternation Theory

Falicov also points out the problems of wives and children’s changing roles, females, recurrent separations, changes in the nuclear family and the reincorporating of other family members are symptomatic of posttraumatic stress in situations in which forced or involved trauma decrease with resettlement and language development. She advocates acculturation theory in which the continuation and maintenance of the native culture rather than discarding and forgetting it is what “increases the mental health risk of immigrants,” and challenges the emphasis on acculturation as the “solution to the immigrant’s stress, citing studies that demonstrate:

‘Mexican Americans who try to “Americanize,” or assimilate, actually have more psychological problems and drug use than those who retain their language, cultural ties and rituals. (Ortiz & Arce, 1984; Warheit et al., 1985; Burnam, Hough, Karno, Escobar & Teller 1987) ( p. 170).

She proposes “alternation theory”, encouraging immigrants not to surrender their native language and culture, “but to become bicultural and bilingual in a positive sense as they learn to alternate appropriately between their two worlds.” She reiterates the problems of immigration posed by other authors such a discrimination and persecution, disruptions of emotions supports, and indicates that the Catholic Church provides continuity for many along with public support, parochial schools. She reviews the folk medicine and indigenous spirituality, curanderos, (folk healers) that are factors in therapeutic relationships. She also explains:
Racismo, “internalized self-loathing” which is “common because of racial discrimination in Mexico itself, and is massively aggravated by discrimination in the United States. Disempowerment may lead to depression, low school achievement, learned helplessness or dependence on mental health help.. . 455 school dropout rate among Mexican American adolescents is due to a combination of language difficulties, ethnic discrimination and cultural dissonance.. . many social ills that affect minorities who have been discriminated against such as drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, domestic violence, gangs, and AIDS, are visited upon Mexicans Americans; they appear even more frequently in the second and third generations than in the first (173).

It is these symptoms of Language Shock and the deterioration of the Mexican family value systems which will be explored by the current study. Falicov further states that the social and cultural problems of these immigrants include:
• isolation
• ignorance about community resources
• tensions between home norms and those of the
• school
• peer group
• work situation.”
She confirms previous statements on the family structure and values adding an extensive discussion of three definitive family dimensions:
(1) connectedness and separateness
( 2) gender and generation hierarchies
(3) communication styles and emotional expressivity,
preferences which may remain over several generations, but stir up dilemmas with Anglo American values”(175). Suggestions for family therapy issues and guidelines for working with the Mexican families add important insights to the issues.

Health Issues
Ester Ruiz Rodrigues ( 998) addresses “the needs of diverse racial/ethbic populations” in the book titled The Emerging Role Of Counseling Psychology In Health Care. Defining and identifying acculturation as an important issue in counseling she enumerates many health problems that have been associated with acculturation stress throughout the literature. Problem drinking, depression, and stress among the elderly and among adolescents, “depression and suicidal ideation are positively correlated with acculturative stress, while family support and positive expectations for the future are negatively correlated with acculturative stress”(360).
Multiple factors are correlated with acculturation, including age, gender, migration history, socioeconomic status (Rogler, 1994)), higher education (Negy & Woods, 1992) generation in the United States (Dowsky et al., 1991), and residence in a rural or urban environments (Castro & Gutierres, 1997). This multiplicity of factors emphases the importance of solidity sufficient information to allow health care providers to make accurate assessments regarding the acculturation level of their clients (360).

Padilla, Wagatsuma, and Lindholm (1985) have reported that each generation of Latinos experiences accculturative stress differently. In their research, first generation and third generation Mexican Americans experienced the most stress. While it is understandable that first generation immigrants would experience accculturative stress—they have left their country of origin, with its values, customs, and language—it is harder to explain why Mexican Americans, born and raised in the United States, with parents born in the United States, and who speak English, experience accculturative stress. Hayes-Bautista (1994) provides a plausible explanation. He found that by the third generation whatever psychological and physiologial immunity Latino immigrants possessed was lost. For example, immigrant Mexican women are notorious for not seeking prenatal care, yet have the lowest rates of low-birthweight infants and complications compared to all other racial/ethnic groups and whites. However, by the third generation, smoking and drinking patterns have increased to approximate rates in the mainstream society (Black & Markides, 1993) and the rates of low-birthweight infants and depression in adults have increased as well (Golding, Karno & Rutter, 1990). It would appear that in some ways acculturation is not always beneficial to Latino health. On the other hand several studies have refuted the notion that increasing acculturation increases vulnerability for Latinos. (369)

Some of the factors cited include
• identification
• socioeconomic stress
• extended family and time in residence(369).
Again the issue of strong family values is reviewed in this article. Listing intervention considerations, the author concluded that integration of cultural coping strategies into health treatment will
• enhance the immunocompetence of racial/ethnic individuals
• decrease the ethnocentrism of the United States’ health culture
• begin to address a major limitation of health treatment today—the provision of culturally sound services (386).

Acculturative Stress
Delia H. Saldana, University of Texas Health Science Center discusses “Acculturative Stress: Minority status and distress” using college students of Hispanic background. “This study explores the applicability of a multivariate, transactional framework to understand the experiences and outcome of Hispanic students at a predominantly White university ”(118) using a survey. The Cultural Information Scale was developed to measure transitions in ethnic identity due to demographic and psychological factors”(120). Results reported the “importance of including ethnically relevant measures of identity and stress in understanding the psychological functioning of Hispanic students at a White university” (122).
Julie R. Lucas and Gerald L. Stone (1994¬ at the University of Iowa examine the correlation factors between “Acculturation and competition among Mexican-Americans.” The study attempted to answer psychological questions regarding the adaptation of more competitive values as opposed to the stereotype of cooperative and less individualistic by native culture.


Personality Inventory For Youth
Charles Negay (1998) presents information on the reliability and equivalence of the Spanish version of the Personality Inventory For Youth (PIY), assuring researchers in the field that “it demonstrated internal consistency and temporal stability estimates comparable to their English counterparts.” This inventory is used to assess emotional and behavioral adjustment of children and teens.

Locus of Control
Bobby Guinn (1998) University of Texas reports on “Acculturation and health Locus of Control Among Mexican American Adolescents. “Results indicated that powerful others’ external control belief exerted the strongest explanatory power of locus of control in the culture of origin domain, whereas internal control offered the greatest prediction of health reinforcements in both the mainstream and bicultural domains.



Ethnical and Racial Identity
Jorge Partida, Psy. D., psychologist and administrator at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Chicago, discusses “The effects of immigration on children in the Mexican American community” (1996). Agreeing with all other contributors in this field, he details how the families are torn apart by the necessity to immigrate, and the effects of entering a strange culture and learning a second language. Additionally he details how the shame of the children for the parents’ ignorance of the language effects not only the child and the parent but the family relationship as well. He explores the question of ethnical and racial identity, and the possible reasons children purposefully acculturate and assimilate into their new culture as quickly as possible in order to fit in. In order to do this the child not only has to change his language and dress style, but his patterns of interacting with peers, family and other adults. One of the major effects he states:
children will learn to speak Spanish and English at the same time, an will not have much of a memory for a country that their parents a and others will spend so much time talking about. In a culture where the literature and stereotypes have focused so much on the value of close family ties and the great importance of the extended family, the tragic reality for many Mexican immigrant families is that the entire process of assimilation (one which often lasts throughout a lifetime) is defined by strained family relations isolation misunderstanding, or communications and the clashing of values , morals, cultures and ideals (252).

Another effect he contends is include “the emphasis on competition and individuality; ideals which are likely contradictory to the ideals of cooperation, community, and unity as central aspects of an identity espoused by the Mexican culture“(248).
The family system itself is challenged by immigration. As others have discussed, the stress on the family includes the questioning of values such as respect and total obedience are replaced by changing relationships and search for individuality. Children not only question, but reject as inferior and even shameful, replaced by values that the parents cannot understand or relate with (257).


Predictors of Culture Shock
Arza Churchman, environmental psychologist, partnered with Michal Mitrani, with a Masters of Science in Urban and Regional Planning the Faculty of architecture and Town Planning, Technion Israel institute of Technology. Churchman is currently president of the International Association for People Environment (1997). Together they examined the concept of place attachment in a study of immigrants who were moved from the former Soviet Union to Israel. Although this research does not deal with Hispanic immigrants, the concept of place attachment is generalizable and can be considered appropriate to this discussion and may be helpful in defining possible solutions. Findings concluded:
More important than the number of preferences is the direction of preference. Perceiving the new environment to be different does not necessarily mean that the immigrants will not become attached to that environment. If the preference is for the new over the old, then attachment to the new is more likely (64).

They defined six classes of predictor variables for the nature of the culture shock

experienced from Lonner (1986):

• Control factors—how much control one has over initiating the other culture experience.
• Intrapersonal factors—such things as age, extent of previous travel, language skills, resourcefulness, independence, fortitude, capacity to tolerate ambiguity and frustrations, appearance, etc.
• Organismic-biological fators—physical condition, medical or dietary needs, and ability to tolerate physically the demands of stressful disruption on tempo of familiar routine.
• Interpersonal factors—the nature and extent of one’s support group, mutual expectation of support from group.
• Spatial temporal factors—where one is and for how long.
• Geopolitical factors—level of international, national, regional or local tension

And added three that they determined:
• degree and nature of the differences between one’s original culture and the new one. Culture here is used in the broadest of senses to include all aspects of the context, including the physical environment.
• degree and quality of information one has about the new environment and through what communication means obtained.
• attitudes and policies toward immigrants in the host country.

Two variables identified in the study were
• motive for migrating
• perceived difference between physical environment in their place of residence in the USSR and that in their present place of residence in Israel.(69).
The following interview questions were used as an instrument:
• How attached do you feel to Israel?
• How satisfied are you with Israel?
• In comparison with the USSR are you satisfied with Israel more , less or the same?
• How sorry would you be to leave Israel now?
• To what extent do you feel that Israel is your country?
The authors concluded that implications of the results of the study include
“giving new immigrants information about the different settlements that exist and about their physical attributes would allow each individual or family to compare these attributes to those of their former residence and to determine for themselves whether they would prefer an environment closer to their previous one or different from it. Having this information would allow them to make more informed decisions than those made on the basis of hearsay or vague impressions (85).

Preto discusses several physical factors involved in culture shock and acculturation on which there is elaboration in the preceding chapter.
Malcolm Lewthwaite (1997), International Pacific College in New Zealand, contributes to the understanding of physical factors of culture shock in “A study of international students’ perspectives on cross-cultural adaptation” presented in International Journal for the advancement of counseling. Interviewing twelve international students at the university using 59 items on a questionnaire researchers attempted to “explore experiences and perceptions and gain greater in-depth understanding than could be gained from a questionnaire alone.”
Responses ruled out as major factors in students’ integration:
• homesickness
• teaching and learning styles
• thoughts of returning home
• relationships
• money
• food.
Additional they “identified major themes :
• as gaps in cultural and linguistic knowledge
• lack of interaction
• the relative satisfaction with adaptation to university life
• dissatisfaction with integration to the host culture
Identified as “elements that helped them to adjust
• role of supervisor
• host family
• institutional supports
• belonging to a club
and the barriers that thwarted them:
• fossilized language progress
• ambiguity in post-graduate role
• accommodation situation
• lack of time for resocializing into host society.
The degree to which students experience a satisfactory integration into their host culture depends on a mix of factors including the opportunities given and taken for being immersed in language and culture. Redmond and Bunyi (1993) state that the best predictors of the amount of stress reported is reported communication effectiveness, adaptation and social integration (175).

Lewthwaite includes several other psycho-social associated with academic achievement and social life in a University and concludes “some concern was expressed that they were loosing touch with their own culture, and an important way to maintain and feel good about their culture was to meet regularly with others from the same background, (179) and that a big part of the stressors were due to their second language ability (182).

Celebrate Diversity
Ronald E. Hall (1994), University of St. Thomas, examines “The Bleaching Syndrome: Implications of Light skin for Hispanic American Assimilation,” and concludes that lighter is better in the minds of socially conscious adolescents who consider lighter hair and skin color to be an advantage in fitting in. He reports several studies in the literature which appear to agree with this hypothesis and concludes:
according to the aforementioned research, there is definite reasonto suspect a relationship exists between a subject’s sin color and the incidence of psyche-related ailments in the United States. It may be the cause of depression among both dark-skinned and light-skinned Hispanic Americans albeit for different reasons. Their inability to reduce the psychic conflict brought on by the domination model of assimilation makes them susceptible…the internalization of light skin as an ideal is ultimately pathological and can only ensure a continuation of the domination model as the sole means of assimilation into the mainstream of society (313).

His suggested remediation is to encourage people to “celebrate their various hues of skin color and from that create their own ideal points of reference. Ultimately this will facilitate assimilation and discourage the negative influences of cultural domination. It can be their unique gift to the culture and help move civilization to its next level (313).


Proposed Remedies
Kimberly A. Gordon (1996), of Southern Illinois University, studied 36 Hispanic youths to “examine the role of self-concept, motivation, and environmental facilitation in ameliorating risk and promoting resiliencyShe defines resiliency from her review of the literature as ability to thrive, mature and increase competence in the face of adverse circumstances or obstacles” (63).
A “study of schools that produce resilient ethnic minorities share characteristics:
• supportive of student and entire family
• integrated and conflict free
• high expectation and standards
• teachers understand and accept students’
culture and communication styles,
• give effective feedback and ample praise
• perform as confidants and role models
• are sensitive to students’ concerns such as language issues.”

“This study examines (not only ) the self concept and motivational patterns of resilient Hispanic youths. . . but the role of the school environment . . in influencing self-concept and motivation. Stress was measured by self report instrument. Grades from transcripts were used. To measure goals, ability beliefs, environment beliefs, control beliefs, and motivation the High School Assessment of Academic Self Concept, and the Assessment of Personal Agency Beliefs were administered to the subjects. The results were analyzed “based on several univariate analysis of variance procedures. The resilient students were compared to the nonresilient students on all indexes.”
“The results indicate self concepts of resilient and nonresilient Hispanic youths differs in two main areas”: resilient youths “believe more in their cognitive abilities,” and “place less emphasis on belongingness” (69). Motivational patterns of the two groups differed also. Resilient youths are tenacious in believing in their abilities, which keeps them motivated. The author emphasizes the role of school environment as a social support and suggests that schools could do more in the areas of extracurricular and cognitive and belongingness goals. Further conclusion state that “focusing on cognitive abilities and de-epmhazing belongingness help the youths to be resilient” (71).
Lewthwaite makes recommendations to counselors:
• to recognize emotional effects of culture shock,
• provide advanced information on the culture
• allow time for interaction with both native and host cultures in social activities and continued language study.

Peer Culture Friendship Patterns
Amy Kyratzis and Judith Green of University of California, Santa Barbara demonstrate "how peer culture friendship patterns, and identity are socially constituted in and through the discourse practices among members. The fifth grade written narratives illustrate ways in which the students viewed their bilingual class community as jointly constructed through the patterns of interaction and activity of everyday life” and encourage that “writing about narratives involves a double narrative process that includes the voice of the researchers and the voices of those involved in the research.”
Using this approach the immigrant children are helped to understand their host culture as the children in the host culture explore their own and the immigrants’ culture. The authors present two case studies showing peer culture practices, analyze the narratives step by step and method of reading, interpreting and representing the student narratives. Through the analysis they suggest several processes of inter-cultural socialization (35-37).


Use of Drama

James T. Jackson and Nathaniel Bynum write about culturally diverse children labeled emotionally disturbed in their 1997 publication “Drama: A teaching tool for clulturally diverse children with behavioral disorders” published in the Journal of Instructional Psychology. They suggest various techniques of drama to help children use language and express themselves theraputically. Such suggestions are applicable with mainstreamed children in school and family settings as well.


Conclusions



A review of the literature in the field of acculturation among Hispanic imigrants reveals the

following conclusions regarding effects on family issues:

• Levels of acculturation has also been found to influence Hispanic parents' concepts of child development (Negy, Woods 229).

• The findings indicated that increases in acculturation were associated with increases in the Mexican American wives perceiving themselves as more equal partners in family purchase decision making (Negy Woods 228).

• Levels of acculturation has also been found to influence Hispanic parent's concepts of child development. . . . on their ability to produce developmental explanations for children's behavior as presented in hypothetical vignettes (229).

• The idea that cooperativeness is inversely related with social class is corroborated by an investigation showing Mexican urban middle class children to be more competitive than both Mexican village and Mexican urban poor children.

• Increases in acculturation appear to be associated with changes in marital relationships toward the direction of equality between the spouses.

• Further, acculturation appears to be negatively related to traditionalism and sex role differentiation, and with the development of cooperative behaviors and attitudes. However, in these latter studies, SES was found to cover or interact with acculturation, thus confounding the specific role acculturation played in the results (230).

• It was reported that less acculturated subject reported higher levels of agreement with items for the familial obligations and family as referents dimensions of the familism scale than high acculturated subjects indicating that increases in acculturation level were associated with decreases in family values related to these dimensions. (233)

• Acculturation disparity between parents and children may account more for maladjustment than the state of being highly acculturated per se (Negy, Woods 237).

• It was found that the bicultural subjects reported significantly less interference from stress in interpersonal relationships than the Chicano-affiliated group (239).

• Some studies found that the role of the family plays among Hispanic subjects changes with increases in acculturation whereas from other studies it was concluded that only some elements of the support system changes with acculturation and that SES possibly accounted for these changes (234).

"In sum, some studies found that Hispanic-Americans who identify more with the traditional Hispanic culture than with the Anglo American culture are better psychologically adjusted, whereas other studies found that biculturality is more associated with good psychosocial adjustment than the status of being low or high acculturated. However, methodological shortcoming and the and the possibility of misinterpretations of the results cast doubt on most of these conclusions; therefore, additional research in this area is needed in order to shed more light on the matter" (Negy, Woods 241).




In virtually all studies, the gender factor confounded or effected results, as

would expected by Hispanic cultural emphasis on gender roles and will therefore be

an important factor in this proposed study.



Conclusions from the literature
Julián Montoro Rodriguez and Karl Kosloski (1998) studied “The Impact of Acculturation on Attitudianal Familism in a community of Puerto Rican Americans” and made the following conclusions:
Levels of acculturation has also been found to influence Hispanic parents' concepts of child development. (Negy Woods 229
LTHe findings indicaed that increases in acculturation were associated with increases in the Mexican American wives perceiving themselves as more equal partners in family purchase decision making (Negy Woods 228).

Levels aof acculturation has also been found to influence Hispanic parent's concepts of child development. o. . . on their ability to produce developmental explanations for children's behavior as presented in hypothetical vignetts (229).

The idea that acooperativeness is insversely related with social class is coorraoborated by an investigation showing Mexican urban middle class children to be more competitive than both Mexican village and Mexican urban poor children.

Increases in acculturation appear to be associated with changes in marital relationships toward the direction of equality between the spoiuses. Further, acculturation appears to be negatively related to traditionalism and sex role differentation, and with the development of cooperative behaviors and attitudes. However, in these latter studies, SES was found to covry or interact with acculturation, thus confounding the specific role acculturation played in the results (230).

It was reported that less acculturated subject reported higher levels of agreement with items for the familial obligations and family as referents dimensions of the familism scale than higgh acculturated subjects indicating that increases in acculturation level were associated with decreasess in family values related to thsee dimensions (233).

***Acculturation disparity between parents and children may account more for maladjustment than the stae of being highly accultured per se (Negy Woods 237).

"It was found that the bicultural subjects reported significantly less interference from stress in interpersonal relationships than the Chicano-affiliated group (239).
"Some studies found that the role of the family plays among Hispaic subjects changes with increases in acculturation whereas from other studies it was concluded that only some elements of the support system changes with acculturaion and that SES possibly accounted for these changes (234).

"In sum, some studies found that Hispanic-Americans whyo identify moere with the traditional Hispanic culture than twith the ANglo American culture are better psychologicdally adjusted, whyereas other studies found that biculturality is more associated with good psychosocial adjustment than the status of being low or high acculturatd. However, methodological shortcoming and the and the possibilty of misinterpretations of the results cast doubt on most of these conclusions; therefore, additional research in this area is needed in order to shed more light on the matter" Negy Woods 241).