The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical overview of how Latina gender-role beliefs are developed through cultural transmission and to review the components of the construct of Marianismo and its impact on gender-role beliefs. Marianismo is used to illustrate the influence of traditional Latino cultural beliefs on the gender-role identity of women and helps shape how they behave in private and social settings. Latinas (a term used throughout this manuscript to refer specifically to females of Hispanic or Latin American origin), who have stronger traditional values, potentially disregard their health, safety, and educational needs, which can have a serious impact on mental health and service use. To measure this phenomenon, a scale measuring Marianismo beliefs was created to assess how traditional Latina women behave in terms of their gender-role beliefs. This author aimed to revalidate that scale on an international sample in Mexico. The sample for this study included 454 women from different parts of Mexico. Confirmatory factor analysis of the MBS items supported the original five-factor loading. Consistent with the initial validation study, the MBS-I demonstrated high levels of reliability and validity. All five Marianismo dimensions exhibited convergent validity with the traditional gender role dimension of the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale (MACVS). The scale also demonstrated convergence with the overall score for enculturation as measured with the Latino/a Values Scale (LVS) instrument. Implications and recommendations for embracing cultural competence, improving help-seeking behaviors, and treatment suggestions are provided.

College is a time marked by a significant level of stress, especially for Latina students. One of the changes that often occurs during an individual's time in college involves one's gender role beliefs, shifting from traditional gender role beliefs to more liberal beliefs. Though a great deal of research has been done to show that college attendance plays an important role in the liberalization of gender role beliefs, little is known about this relationship for Latina students. This is particularly problematic as Latina students face unique challenges on the college campus, including issues relating to acculturation. Because the Latino cultural norms often dictate women to be dependent on their family, a move towards nontraditionalism can create family conflict and intragroup marginalization, both of which can contribute to psychosocial distress in ethnic minority groups. As Latina students face unique educational challenges, and may develop family conflicts, a supportive academic environment may serve to buffer some negative effects. This study conceptualizes this supportive environment as "academic families" which foster family like relationships in the college setting. This study examined the relationships between gender role beliefs, family conflict, family intragroup marginalization, academic family support, and psychosocial distress among a sample of 170 Latina college students to get a clearer picture of how changing gender roles impact this population. A statistically significant relationship was found between gender role beliefs and family intragroup marginalization, as well as between gender role beliefs and family conflict, though different from initially hypothesized. A statistically significant relationship was also found between family conflict and psychosocial distress, though academic family support was not shown to moderate this relationship. Implications for researchers and educators are also discussed.

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African American women living in the U.S. face immense challenges to protect themselves from HIV infection. One in every 32 African American women is diagnosed with the disease and heterosexual contact is the primary mode of transmission. A better understanding of the African American woman’s beliefs and decisions related to safe sex practices can give direction to strategies to promote safer sexual behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore the association of the African American woman’s attitudinal beliefs, normative beliefs, and relationship control beliefs with self-reported sexual behaviors. The Theory of Planned Behavior served as the study’s theoretical framework, supporting the premise beliefs are precursors to explanations and understanding human behavior. Using a cross-sectional, correlational design, a convenience sample of 95 African American women from the southeastern United States was obtained. Results confirmed a statistically significant 1) positive relationship between gender role beliefs and relationship power, (r = 0.354, p < .001); 2) negative relationship between gender ratio imbalance beliefs and relationship power, (r = -0.472, p < 0.001); 3) positive association between relationship power and avoidance of risky sexual behavior, (r = 0.340, p = 0.001); 4) negative correlation between gender ratio imbalance beliefs and risky sexual behaviors, (r = -0.235, p = 0.022); and 5) positive correlation between safer sexual behavior and peer perceptions of safer sex behaviors, (r = 0.475, p < 0.001). Results from a stepwise multiple regression indicated that relationship power (p = 0.001) and peer perception (p < 0.001) were significant predictors of sexual behavior, accounting for 31% (p < 0.001) of the variance.