Social Problem
According to the United States Census Bureau (2014), in 2014 Latinos in the United States accounted for 17.4% of the U.S. population (approximately 55.4 million). Since 1980 there has been a 300% increase in the Latino/Hispanic population in the United States and approximately 40% being Latino immigrants. Latino children now make up 22% of the population under age 18, and more than half were born to immigrant parents (Fry & Passel, 2009). With the Latino/Hispanic population rapidly growing and the majority being or coming from an immigrant household, it is important to realize the impact it is having on these children, in particular high-risk adolescents. Adolescents who come from a minority household such as an immigrant Hispanic background are faced with a greater chance in participating in high-risk behaviors. The school dropout rate and teenage pregnancy among Hispanics is a major societal, economic, and cultural concern in the United States.
Immigration yields cultural change through the process of acculturation, which has its own implications for the family system and for parenting (Bornstein & Cote, 2010). Immigrant parents who grow up in a country where parenting styles and beliefs are unique but are their norm can affect how they raise their children in America where the parenting styles differentiate. Although some aspects of parenting are seen as universal, a large way in which parents implement caregiving and child upbringing is inherently culturally informed (Bornstein & Cote, 2011). Developmental goals, communication patterns, family structure, and perceptions of what it means to be a successful adult are influenced by culture, also, as individuals acculturate and decide which practices to retain, parenting practiced naturally change (Garcia-Coll & Patcher, 2002). It is important to realize the reasons why culture plays a factor into how immigrant families are raising their children in America, and what barriers are there that are causing adolescents to become more vulnerable in dropping out of school, substance use, teenage pregnancy, and other high risk behaviors.
In addition, the secondary effects of acculturation and the psychosocial, emotional, and mental gain from acculturation stress, may have an affect on parenting in America. As immigrant parents develop a bicultural identity, they include new norms and values to their heritage cultural values and norms may result in positive consequences for themselves and for their children (Kelly, 2016). For parents who have difficulties in developing this bicultural identity, it may have a negative consequence towards how they raise their children in America. Such as not being culturally competent enough to know when to educate their teens about sex education, drug and alcohol use, or even informing them on why education is important.
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Familiismo is one of the many cultural values that is common to Mexican-origin families and has been argued to be one of the most important cultural values for Latinos. It refers to the prioritizing of and sense of obligation to family that is salient among Latino populations and has been found to distinguish Latino parents from non-Hispanic English parents (Marin & Gamba, 2003). For teenagers who have either been born in America or have migrated with their family member from another country and live in an immigrant Latino/Hispanic household, cultural values such as Familismo, are one of the many they are not used to. Attending American schools, cohabitating with classmates and peers on the daily basis can interfere with cultural values at home, and those learned growing up in the American culture. Studies have found familismo to be associated with greater parental involvement, warmth, and monitoring, but also have been associated with a more controlling parenting disposition (Romero & Ruiz, 2007; Santisteban, Coatsworth, Briones, Kurtines, & Szapocznik, 2012). As often seen, many teenagers of all backgrounds already struggle with connecting with parents who use more of an authoritarian parenting style.
Adolescence is a period of transition that involves biological, cognitive, psychological, social and physical changes. It includes transition from immaturity to maturity and during this time, the adolescent becomes interested in things such as drugs, alcohol and in sex. The frontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for impulse control, decision-making, and planning goes under maturation (Weinberger, Elvevag & Giedd, 2005). When psychosocial development happens, it involves changes in identity, autonomy, intimacy, and sexuality. Teens who come from a Latino/Hispanic immigrant household already have trouble with identity issues as they are constantly living in a two-sided world. Also, understanding how adolescents as a whole, make decisions about sexual activity and the use of contraception has its challenges. Adolescents that are identified as at-risk are at much higher risk in exhibiting instability in their future in every part of their lifespan.
Prevalence Rates
As the quickest growing minority in America, Hispanics reflect the future face of the nation. When 35% of non- U.S born Hispanics drop out of high school and 11% of native-born Hispanics drop out of high school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2010) the societal consequences are pure negative. As part of the Hispanic subgroup, Mexicans make up the largest immigrant population (Lutz, 2007) and sadly have the lowest high school completion rate of 50.6%. Taxpayers, parents, politicians, and educators are finding the high dropout numbers difficult and often decide to revamp the national public system by: awarding more money per student, creating monetary incentives for educator performance, and by implementing new curriculum and instructional ways to solve the dropout issue. This is a vital issue for this population as it has been shown that in the U.S 44% of dropouts under the age of 21 is unemployed (EPE Research Center, 2007) and the number is higher for Hispanics. In addition, as high school dropouts, Hispanics are less likely to be part of the adult work force and they often stay in low-wage jobs with minimum promotion prospects (Rumberger, 1987).
In addition, for over a decade, surveys have reported that among ethnic and racial minority youth in the United States, Latinx females have the highest rates of suicidal behavior compared to African American and non-Hispanic White adolescent females (Zayas & Pilat, 2009). Latinx females who are either brought into the United States at a very young age, or have recently migrated, or born in the United States and raised in a Hispanic household, is often seen to cause extreme confusion. The unique situation of adolescent Hispanic/Latinos involves the combination of cultural and family factors with the developmental, social, and individual factors frequently associated with suicidal behaviors (Zayas & Pilat, 2009).
In the study “Sociocultural Determinants of Teenage Childbearing Among Latinas in California”, The largest effect of the respondents parents education was seen among immigrant Latinas, predominantly from Mexico, whose parents were educated outside of the United States; it is proven that appropriate interventions for this group would consist of improving the educational opportunities and socioeconomic circumstances in the countries of origin. This has the potential to decrease the persistent disparities in teenage pregnancies between Latinas and non-Latina whites. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2011, Hispanics remarkably had the highest teen birth rate at 49.9 births for every 1,000 adolescents, compared with 47.4 for non-Hispanic black adolescents and 21.8 for non-Hispanic white adolescents.
Historic/Social Context
Immigrants youth have reported high levels of psychological difficulties that appear to be one result of high acculturative stress experienced when individuals feel cut off from the host culture and see their environment as confusing and overwhelming (Smokowski et al., 2007). This social problem is defined at a micro level by the amount of adolescents living with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety due to living a dual lifestyle. Acculturative stress related to challenges of adapting to a new society out of the norm of their home, as the cultural differentiate. Such as navigating new social systems or institutions may be most intense for very recently arrived immigrants, although there is evidence that this stress remains a constant in the lives of Latino immigrant parents and adolescents for longer than an initial adjustment period of a few or even several years (Vega, Sribney, Aguilar-Gaxiola, & Kolody, 2004). This shows the effects at mezzo and macro level, as these teenagers are part of the U.S school, health care, and economic system. These barriers interfere with their future successes and can lack guidance when parents are being affected as well. Latino/Hispanic immigrant parents tend to fall into their own stresses coming raising their children in a unfamiliar environment with different expectations as the ones they had growing up in their native country.
Local Impact/Response
The local impact of this social problem is often seen in micro and macro level settings, such as the Human services and empowerment organization Camino Community Center, where I currently intern at as a student Therapist. Camino Community Center is a non-profit organization serving to its mission “To equip people to live healthy, hopeful, and productive lives.” Their purpose is to bridge the gap between those who have and those who have not and establish a community in which people from all walks of life can come together and transform one another. They pave the way for transformation by focusing on three core transformative areas: Health and wellness, hope services, and economic opportunity.
They aim to promote healthy lives in a variety of ways through an integrated health model. Camino promotes hopeful lives by providing hope through their homeless ministry and food pantry located at the center itself. Their goal is also to create upward mobility by empowering their community through financial literacy programs, workforce trainings, and the creation of small businesses. Camino offers a variety of inclusive services to the Latinx community, a community who is vulnerable due to current polices that exempt those who are undocumented from receiving government assistance. Services offered at Camino Community Center include: a free health clinic that serves over three thousand low-income families and individuals through providing adult primary care diabetes and hypertension management.
Camino has a full-time medical doctor, part-time doctor, and a part-time Psychiatrist who takes upon the roles of primary care doctors for those who lack the resources to attain one in their community. There also are three full-time Certified Medical Assistants who draw labs, obtain lab results, and provide vaccines. The front desk of the health clinic contains two full-time medical secretaries who are in charge of making appointments, discharges, answering office calls, and a full-time patient advocate who attends to clients by verifying documentation, providing resources, and care coordination. In addition, there are two program managers who attend to grant writing and event coordination.
Inside the building where the health clinic is located at is the mental health clinic where the program “You Are Not Alone” is located. The “You Are Not” program offers uninsured clients assessments using a strength-based, psycho educational and bio psychosocial approach, supportive counseling/therapy using evidenced based practices including cognitive behavioral approaches and motivational interviewing, linking and coordinating (case management), providing access and navigation of the service system, lastly, they also provide educational services where the student interns research, develop, and present psycho educational and support groups that address a variety of health and mental health/substance abuse concerns. The program director is a Licensed professional counselor who holds a part-time position at Camino and is paid through the Community Service grant. In collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Social Work students are placed at Camino for their internship placements. There are currently three graduate social work student interns providing therapeutic services and case management.
As a student intern, I have over 60% of clients who are experiencing high levels of stress, depression, and anxiety due to having adjustment issues. Several of these clients have been adolescents who are having difficulties in establishing a positive relationship with their parents due to miscommunications, no communication at all, and recent reunification. More agencies as such should exist that provide a one-stop shop for this population. Other programs serving this population that focus more on promoting social justice is the Latin American Coalition Charlotte and El Futuro mental health clinic located in Durham and Siler city North Carolina. I would collaborate with El Futuro mental health and make a center available for clients in Charlotte, as there aren’t many bilingual clinics that provide these services to both documented and undocumented immigrants.
