Acculturation and Parental Expectations

Abstract

Communities within Latino cultures have expressed concern that parent-adolescent relationships have become strained due to the culturally imposed beliefs that have found their way into parenting styles. Within my study I examined how they Latino immigrant parents and U.S.-born Latino parents share and enforce their views on sex and gender with their adolescents. I argued that without cultural brokers, such as trusted adults in the community, immigrant parents and their children may experience more tensions and distance than U.S.-born Latino parents of the same ethnicity. In the course of my study, I suggested variations in parenting styles, as an adolescent's gender and sexual autonomy may be shaped by cultural and religious convictions, which could potentially undergo modifications due to distinctions arising from acculturation factors. I collected my samples from three major Latino groups, recruiting participants that resided in the Bronx, New York - specifically, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Mexicans, through a series of in-depth interviews of U.S.-born Latino parents raised in New York City's boroughs. I also interviewed immigrant Latino parents who have lived in the boroughs for a substantial amount of time to have American high school-aged children. I interviewed parents of each demographic, with only interviewing one couple, and in total, twelve individuals. I found that the immigrant Latino parents held the same views on sharing and enforcing their views on gender and sex those of the U.S.-born Latino parents. Associating their acculturated ideals to the acquiring of higher education and employment after relocating to New York city.