According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, one out of seven Latina teenagers attempts suicide.
Psychologist Dr. Luis Zayas of Washington University, who has spent the last 25 years studying Latina teens, believes that this rate is so high because of the teens' troubled relationships with their mothers. Usually the child of poor immigrant parents, the troubled teen is caught between her parents' values and the ones she sees growing up in the US.
American teens, says Dr. Zayas, have "very different models about what girls should do, can do and are permitted to do." For Francisca Abreu, now 15, clashing with her Dominican mother led to depression, a suicide attempt, and pregnancy at 14. Her mother Isabel wanted Francisca to stay home, clean the house, and learn to cook. Not surprisingly, Francisca wanted to go out with her friends.
"Teenagers have certain freedoms; they don't need to consult with their parents to make certain decisions," Dr. Zayas says. "That's the culture that's here, and inserted in that is the Latino family that says the family is much more important than the individual."
After giving birth to her daughter Destiny at 14 and lots of therapy, Francisca says she finally understands what her mother went though. "All she did was be a good mother, sacrifice her life for us," Francisca says. "That's all she did."
Did you grow up in an immigrant family and deal with the clash of cultures as a teen?
6ixty 8ight
I always thought suicide was higher in White males or people of certain professions, not that a teen Latina can't be at risk but this would be a new phenomenon.
1this is completely opposite of what i grew up with. as a latina, i never attempted suicide (never even depressed) and none of my other latina friends did either. and almost all of my friends had a great relationship with their mother, as do i.
this study does not reflect my experiences growing up with immigrant parents.
btw, i think this study is waaay too stereotypical (with the pregnant latina teenager and all).
2This study does form a stereotype.
3I didn't have any of that with my parents but I did with my grandparents. They came over from Russia in the late 40's and have kept the ideals and way of life from back then. I remember that wearing makeup before age 15 and dying our hair was a big no no. It didn't stop my sister and I though.
We didn't have a bad relationship though, just a few disagreements.
Yea, I have had my issues with "assimilation" but I love my culture (or my parents culture). Sometimes there were disagreements about friends and how they lived but generally I thought some White teens were out of control or more unhappy because they had less parental involvement.
Any problems in my family I might have attributed to the fact that despite my grandparents were not very stable in the home country which affected my parents but they tried to take the best of their culture and they love us soo much.
This girl was set apart by the counseling center due to their perceived ideas of a struggle they assume a Latina faces and the girl sort of conforms to that stereotype due to her teenage pregnancy.
4"What connection there is in the novel is only made through violence: children are loved violently, sex is a violation, revenge is violent and grief is violent. Intimate connection is shackled by oppression, whether it be oppression by family or regime or culture. Diaz utilizes the distancing of his characters -- we only get brief (but powerful) moments of internal thought, the rest of the story is observed action -- to underscore their own inability to be intimate, connected, and secure."
- This needs to be understood and a people has to be respected and compassionate towards them. It's not that Latino values are outmoded or inferior as someone would try to imply but they are incomplete and being torn by history in the old country and misunderstandings in the new
5This girl was a rebellious, confused teen and she didn't attempt suicide, she made a suicide gesture. Significant yes, but the biggest role her being Latina played in this is that she unable to articulate herself...she didn't come to this country until she was older and her mom probably doesn't have much of an education. Her mother wanting to set limits that her White counterparts don't is not inherently bad.
It's lots of misscommunication.
6This was opposite of how I grew up as well, but with the same results. I was always depressed growing up, and even had suicidal thoughts, HS-college, but it didn't have to do with my mother ( I have a wonderful relationship with my mom) but I think rather, just the clash of cultures and racial stereotypes in general. My parents were always very liberal and always encouraged me (and my brothers) to get an education and wait to get married and have kids. Even having been with someone for 5 years, they still said hold of on kids and marriage. I never felt that kind of pressure from them, or even my extended Mexican family, I felt it more from society. I can understand and identify with the study, but I think its for the wrong reasons and they're trying to come up with a new "reason" for the same problem. Or do most immigrant daugthers have bad relationships with their mothers? Maybe I'm the opposite... I want to settle down and have kids and I feel this pressure to be a career woman and fly high.
7We migrated to the United States when I was 13 and I can say for experience that I don't relate to this at all. My mom has always been pretty liberal and a modern woman. I think that this study does not has an accurate representation of Latinas because mos of my Latinas friends had a wonderful relationship with their mothers and they were assimilated to the American culture.
8I don't relate to this at all either. I am 19, I live in a Latino community in SoCal and I can say that the majority of my friends who are Latina have an amazing relationship with their mother and don't really deal with a clash of cultures. My family came to the United States because they wanted a different life then the one they had in Mexico, they fully embraced the new culture and that's how it is with most Latinos I know.
9As a Dominican immigrant I can say I do not relate to this at all either
10I haven't read through the comments but I agree with #8,9,10. I'm Dominican too Marni! Well my parents are Dominican and I'm first generation American but I speak Spanish and everything.
My relationship with my mother is not perfect (no one's relationship with their parent is, right?) but I love her and she loves me and my siblings. She is increidibly devoted as a mom. The one of the toughest things is that her parents got divorced when she was young and I think that left some scars, also she would love it if I had my degree already and got married!
But nothing too extreme.
11Oh, gosh that last bit of my statement sounds funny but it's true! A Dominican mom is like a Jewish, Greek or Italian mother would be, you know?
But they can't or don't ever really enforce their ideas on you. They want their daughters to be self sufficient so that they know you'll be able to survive w/ or w/out them, no matter what.
12Culture is always an issue in my house. Currently my mom is fighting with me that not having an Islamic wedding in front of the Bengali community doesn't mean I'm really married ... even if I get married at City Hall.
13Sorry, that should read "not having an Islamic wedding in front of the Bengali community means I'm not really married ..."
haven't had my full breakfast yet ... ergh.
14agreed Peachy!
15I"m a white guy but don't see it. I speak Spanish and travel a lot to Latin countries, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua. These cultures have as much teen sex as we do. They don't study enough, not like Asian kids, but they party. As a white guy, it's easy for me to get sex in Nicaragua, Brazil and even Mexico if you get away from the border towns. One night stands are easy, I'm seen as exotic (I'm blond and a weightlifter). However, I don't do well with Latinas here in San Diego, generally get rejected a lot, here the only one night stands I get are with white women and occasionally a black woman. I think people get uptight once they move here, but not before. These countries aren't that conservative. I could believe this article if they were talking about Syrians or something like that, but Latinas? Now I don't think Latinas don't have much sex here, I have friends who hook up with them a lot, I just think they don't dig me in SD so much. Anyways, this is anecdotal but my two cents.
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