The Cultural Influences on Help‐seeking Among a National Sample of Victimized Latino Women

Abstract

The current study examined the influence of legal status and cultural variables (i.e., acculturation, gender role ideology and religious coping) on the formal and informal help-seeking efforts of Latino women who experienced interpersonal victimization. The sample was drawn from the Sexual Assault Among Latinas (SALAS) Study that surveyed 2,000 self-identified adult Latino women. The random digit dial methodology employed in high-density Latino neighborhoods resulted in a cooperation rate of 53.7%. Women who experienced lifetime victimization (n = 714) reported help-seeking efforts in response to their most distressful victimization event that occurred in the US. Approximately one-third of the women reported formal help-seeking and about 70% of women reported informal help-seeking. Help-seeking responses were generally not predicted by the cultural factors measured, with some exceptions. Anglo orientation and negative religious coping increased the likelihood of formal help-seeking. Positive religious coping, masculine gender role and Anglo acculturation increased the likelihood of specific forms of informal help-seeking. Latino orientation decreased the likelihood of talking to a sibling. Overall, these findings reinforce the importance of bilingual culturally competent services as cultural factors shape the ways in which women respond to victimization either formally or within their social networks.

Gender Differences: Examination of the 12-Item Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI-12) in an Older Brazilian Population

“…Using a short version of only instrumental items in a thirteen nation study with 6,543 participants, mean age 38.5 years old, Arrindell, van Well, Kolk, Barelds, Oei et al [22] demonstrated internal consistency (Cronbach α = .83 averaged across the thirteen countries) and a strong correlation (r = .57, p < 0.05) with the Masculine Gender Role Stress (MGRS) scale. Research using both Spanish and English versions of the BSRI among middle aged women (mean age 44 years) has demonstrated reliability of the masculine (α = .78 in English and .76 in Spanish) and feminine (α = .88 in English and .86 in Spanish) scales [23]. Although the Bem Sex Role Inventory has some history of reliability and validity in Brazil [24–26], to the best of our knowledge neither the full nor the 12 item BSRI has been evaluated among older Brazilians.…”

The Cultural Context of Nondisclosure of Alcohol-Involved Acquaintance Rape Among Asian American College Women: A Qualitative Study

“…Data on alcohol-involved college acquaintance rape rates rarely include racial differences, let alone AAs. Although most victims eventually tell someone about a rape (Sabina, Cuevas, & Schally, 2012), AAs have not been examined with regard to their disclosure behavior.…”

Experience of Forced Sex and Subsequent Sexual, Drug, and Mental Health Outcomes: African American and Hispanic Women in the Southeastern United States

“…Reporting of forced-sex experiences involves multiple complex factors and minority women may experience additional stressors associated with race and/or ethnicity (Olive, 2012). For Hispanic women, issues involving acculturation, economic resources, immigrant status, language barriers, and access to community resources (Cuevas, Sabina, & Bell, 2012; Sabina, Cuevas, & Schally, 2012) may contribute to underreporting. African American women may also underreport forced sex because of beliefs in sexual stereotypes and rape myths, self-blame, stigma, a cultural mandate to protect an African American male perpetrator as well as a lack of health insurance (Bryant-Davis, Chung, & Tillman, 2009; Long, Ullman, Starzynski, Long, & Mason, 2007; Tillman, Bryant-Davis, Smith, & Marks, 2010).…”