Cultural and Contextual Influences on Parenting in Mexican American Families

Abstract

Family stress theory can explain associations between contextual stressors and parenting. However, the theory has not been tested among Mexican Americans or expanded to include cultural-contextual risks. This study examined associations between neighborhood, economic, and acculturative stressors and parenting behaviors in a sample of 570 two-parent Mexican American families. Results support the negative impact of economic stress on parenting through parental depressive symptoms. Neighborhood stress influenced fathers' depressive symptoms and parenting, but not mothers'. The effects of acculturative stress were inconsistent. Results suggest that contextual stressors common to Mexican American families impact parenting behaviors through parental depression. KeywordsCulture; Economic hardship; Mexican American; Neighborhood; Parenting Ethnic minority groups are disproportionately exposed to a myriad of contextual stressors, including poverty, poor quality neighborhoods, and cultural stressors. For instance, almost 22% of Latinos live below the federal poverty level compared to less than 9% of non-Latino Whites (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). Many Latinos live in low quality neighborhoods (Moore & Pinderhughes, 1993). Additionally, over 70% of Latinos speak a language other than English at home (U.S. Census, 2000), and many of these do not speak English well (Shin & Bruno, 2003). Consequently, a large proportion of Latinos may face stressors associated with acculturation processes (e.g., pressures to know/use English), in addition to the stress associated with poverty and disadvantaged neighborhood conditions. This study focused on Mexican Americans, who are the largest ethnic group among U.S. immigrants and represent about two-thirds of U.S. Latinos (Ramirez & de la Cruz, 2003). Epidemiologically, Mexican Americans are at an increased risk for negative developmental outcomes, which may, in part, be due to their exposure to poverty, poor quality neighborhoods, and cultural stressors (Adler et al., 1994;Bhui et al., 2005).Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rebecca M. B. White, School of Health Management and Policy P.O. Box 874506 Tempe, AZ 85287-4506, rebecca.white@asu.edu. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the journal. It is not the copy of record. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptSeveral individual characteristics and proximal processes, including parental psychological distress and parenting, have been investigated as mediators of the relations between contextual risks and negative outcomes in children and families. Parenting behaviors are critical shapers of child development (Colder, Mott, Levy, & Flay, 2000;Kilgore, Snyder, & Lentz, 2000) and there is abundant evidence linking parental psychopathology to impairments in parenting behaviors (Jones, Forehand, Brody, & Armistead, 2003). Specific implications of parental psychological distress include the inability to be warm and consistent,...

Perceptions of Neighborhood Characteristics and the Perceived Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes of U.S. Children and Adolescents

“…Together, these results provide support for the extant literature linking NSCSP to developmental outcomes (Caughy et al, 2012;Kohen et al, 2008;McNulty & Bellair, 2003;Tolan et al, 2003) In relation to the effects of NSCSP on parenting, higher levels of neighborhood resources, social cohesion, and perception of neighborhood safety were associated with lower levels of parenting stress and better parental well-being, whereas poorer neighborhood quality was linked with higher levels of parenting stress and poorer parental well-being. These results are consistent with evidence from other researchers showing that the structural characteristics and social processes of neighborhoods can have an effect on parental functioning and well-being (Chung & Steinberg, 2006;Kohen et al, 2008;Kotchick et al, 2005;Law & Barber, 2007;White et al, 2009). Higher levels of parenting stress and poorer parental well-being were associated with poorer parent-child relations.…”

“…Developmental research on neighborhood effects on child and youth development have found a mediational path via parental psychological distress, family processes, and parent-child relationship constructs (Kohen et al, 2008;Kotchick, Dorsey, & Heller, 2005;Law & Barber, 2007;White, Roosa, Weaver, & Nair, 2009). Kohen et al (2008) reported that lower neighborhood cohesion was associated with maternal distress and family dysfunction, which, in turn, were correlated to poor quality parenting behaviors, and ultimately, poorer child outcomes.…”

“…A moderating effect also emerged for social support. White et al (2009) also tested the family stress theory to examine the associations between neighborhood, economic, and acculturative stressors and parenting behaviors. Their findings supported the hypothesis that the negative impact of economic stress on parenting was via parental depressive symptoms.…”

Economic pressure, cultural adaptation stress, and marital quality among Mexican-origin couples.

“…Culturally informed ecological perspectives for understanding marriage further emphasize the importance of disentangling the sources of contextual stress couples of Mexican origin may encounter when examining potential associations with spouses' psychological distress and subsequent marital functioning (Helms, Supple, & Proulx, 2011;White et al, 2009). This literature emphasizes that economic pressure should be treated as conceptually distinct from stress related to the process of cultural adaptation, which is defined as the challenges associated with negotiating two sets of cultural norms and values (Knight et al, 2009;Phinney, 1990).…”

Socioeconomic status and parenting in ethnic minority families: Testing a minority family stress model.

“…These differences can lead to less-than-optimal family functioning (Smokowski et al, 2008) and family (cultural) stress (Martinez, 2006). Economic stress has been found to be positively related to acculturation stress (Stein, Gonzalez, & Huq, 2012;White et al, 2009). This association may be due to several mechanisms, such as a larger discrepancy between parental and child acculturafion in lower SES ethnic minority families.…”