Latino Families: The Relevance of the Connection Among Acculturation, Family Dynamics, and Health for Family Counseling Research and Practice

Abstract

Acculturation is a central experience for Latinos in the United States. In this article, the authors define acculturation and address its evolution from a unidimensional to a multidimensional construct. Also, the authors present central dynamics of the Latino culture and to Latino families before they address the manner in which acculturation relates to selected health indices. Last, the authors present the family as a mediator between acculturation and health for Latinos.

Advancing Our Knowledge of ADHD in Latino Children: Psychometric and Cultural Properties of Spanish-Versions of Parental/Family Functioning Measures

“…Specifically, higher Mexican orientation was related to greater parenting efficacy and more parental involvement, which is consistent with past research demonstrating the "familism," or an emphasis on the closeness of the family, consistent discipline, and a strong family hierarchy, is a core Latino value (Miranda et al 2006;Miranda et al 2000;Rodriguez et al 2007). Additionally, initial evidence for the cultural validity of the CHOAS was supported by a trend suggesting that higher Anglo orientation was related to higher levels of family chaos, which may be explained by the acculturative stress that Latino families often face when adapting to a new culture (Finch and Vega 2003;Gil and Vega 1996;Miranda et al 2006;Miranda et al 2000;Sullivan et al 2007). …”

“…The limited research available suggests that when Latino families (who traditionally display more collectivist and hierarchical family processes) come into contact with more individualistic and egalitarian cultures, the degree to which they adapt and acculturate greatly affects their parental/family functioning (for reviews see Bornstein and Cote 2006;Mio et al 2006). For example, parents who remain loyal to Latino values, such as "familism" and "respeto" tend to emphasize the closeness of the family, as well as structured rules and boundaries (Miranda et al 2006;Miranda et al 2000;Rodriguez et al 2007). These parents also keep discipline strategies consistent and often favor spanking and other forms of corporal punishment (see Halgunseth et al 2006 for a review; Monzo and Rueda 2006).…”

“…While the Anglo values of independence and autonomy may lead to some aspects of positive child adjustment, they also may lead to poorer parental monitoring and more inconsistent discipline relative to the rigid discipline and family hierarchy seen in families who remain loyal to traditional Latino values (Halgunseth et al 2006). Additionally, Anglo-oriented families often experience acculturation stress, which may lead to more conflict and chaos within the family (Miranda et al 2006;Miranda et al 2000;Smokowski et al 2007). Thus, examining the association between acculturation and parental/family functioning is important, because it will provide evidence that the measures are not only linguistically and psychometrically appropriate, but also culturally appropriate.…”

Do Social Resources Protect Against Lower Quality of Life Among Diverse Young Adolescents?

“…This may be due to the greater emphasis on adults inside, as opposed to outside, the family among Hispanic youth (Miranda et al, 2006;Skogrand et al, 2008). Again, this corresponds with Bronfenbrenner's theory that interactions with individuals that are physically and emotionally closer to the youth, even within the same microsystem, will have a greater influence on youth outcomes.…”

“…Hispanic youth, for example, on average put a strong emphasis on cooperation and interdependence among family members (e.g., Miranda, Bilot, Peluso, Berman, & Van Meek, 2006;Santiago-Rivera, Arredondo, & Gallardo-Cooper 2002;Skogrand, Hatch, Singh, & Rosenband, 2008). Taking advantage of Hispanic collectivism in a smoking prevention program promoted more desirable outcomes, including parental involvement, more accurate perceptions about smoking, and lower tobacco use (GonzalezBlanks, .…”