The purpose of this study was to identify childrearing attitudes of Mexican-American mothers with children ages three to five years of age. Specifically the first purpose of this study was to determine childrearing attitudes of Mexican-American mothers with ten years of education or fewer and Mexican-American mothers with eleven years of education or more as identified by the Parent As A Teacher Inventory (PAAT). The second purpose was to identify the relationship of the following demographic variables to childrearing attitudes: mother's age, mother's marital status, family income, sex of child, age of child, access to child, generational status, mother's language and mother's ethnicity. The PAAT and the Parent Information Questionnaire were administered to 112 Mexican-American mothers; 54 Mexican- American mothers with ten years of education or fewer and 58 Mexican-American mothers with eleven years of education or more. The population from which these subjects were drawn were mothers from Mexican-American communities in a North Texas county. Responses on the sample were analyzed using multivariate statistics. Based on the analysis of the data, the following conclusions seem tenable. 1. The Mexican-American mothers with eleven years of education or more have childrearing attitudes which are more positive than the Mexican-American mothers with ten years of education or fewer. 2. Control and teaching-learning are related to the mother's educational level, income, generational status and language. The mothers with more education and a higher income, who are third generation and who prefer English usage, tend to allow their children more independence. 3. Agreement may be expected between the childrearing attitudes of the Mexican-American mothers with ten years of education or fewer and Mexican-American mothers with eleven years of education or more toward creativity, frustration, and play.

Obesity affects Mexican American adolescents at a much higher rate compared to other ethnic groups, yet little information exists regarding Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity. Culture influences many aspects of one's health, and when better understood, can aid in predicting health behaviors. Several major Mexican cultural values may contribute to Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity and overall health. Healthcare providers must have a deeper understanding of how culture influences adolescents' perceptions of obesity to reduce the obesity trend that currently exists among these adolescents. Qualitative descriptive methodology was used to identify cultural values that likely influence Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity. Five participants were recruited from a local Mexican American church organization in southern Arizona. The researcher conducted a focus group interview at a local library. The interview was conducted in English and audio-recorded for accuracy. A demographic questionnaire was also used to aid in data collection. The overarching theme that emerged from the data analysis was, "Food, Family, and Fidelidad." Major themes that support this overarching theme include: (a) knowledge about obesity, (b) perceptions of obesity, and (c) parental respect. These findings were interpreted using the concepts of the Health Belief Model. Cultural values (e.g., respeto, familismo, machismo, marianismo) and non-cultural factors (e.g., the media, youth organizations, and personal nutritional knowledge) highly influenced participants' perceptions of obesity. With a greater knowledge of how Mexican cultural values as well as non-cultural factors influence Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity, healthcare providers will be better equipped and better prepared to give this population quality, patient-centered care, and can use this knowledge to create dynamic treatment options that reflect Mexican American adolescents' needs, values, concerns, and beliefs. These actions will greatly contribute to closing the healthcare gap that currently exists between healthcare providers and this vulnerable group of individuals.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions and meanings of type II diabetes among Mexican American farmworking women working in California’s Northern San Joaquin Valley. Perceptions of type II diabetes play a major role in how Mexican American farmworking women feel about diabetes and these perceptions influence diabetes treatment strategies and health care decisions. Yet, little is known about the perceptions and meanings that farmworking women attribute to type II diabetes. A qualitative interdisciplinary research methodology (integrating knowledge from social work and nursing) involving open-ended, in-depth interviews with a nonprobabilistic sample of 17 Mexican American farmworking women was used to gain an understanding of how farmworking women make meaning of type II diabetes. Based on Kleinman’s (1980) explanatory model, salient themes in the areas of illness, causation, treatment and perceptions were identified. The study showed that farmworking women have a predominantly cultural perspective of diabetes. A large majority of women applied cultural beliefs and traditional home remedies to the treatment of diabetes; although many were not opposed to incorporating western medicine into cultural treatment strategies. Causation of diabetes was attributed to a transformation of blood and destabilization of the pancreas as a result of Susto (fright), an ethno-specific illness. Home remedy and dosing strategies were categorized and farmworking women revealed subjective definitions of high blood glucose and heredity that are dissimilar to western biomedicine. Understanding how farmworking women conceptualize and make meaning of type II diabetes and including these important culturally influenced beliefs and treatment strategies into interdisciplinary health care practices and service delivery systems can serve as a basis for modifying current medical theoretical orientations about diabetes education, treatment and maintenance strategies and service provision for this particularly vulnerable population. Additionally, the inclusion of cultural beliefs and treatment strategies can engender trust and facilitate meaningful, reciprocal relationships between patients and health care providers, which are considered essential for developing culturally meaningful, effective treatment, and competent and responsible service provision. / text

The following thesis argues that in order to reach underrepresented communities, preservation efforts must be engaged at the local level. A way to begin to do this is to utilize analytical methods that find value in the ordinary and affirm the dynamic and referential character of buildings and the values we ascribe to them. Applying these methods to increasingly challenging preservation projects can help shape a broader yet more acute representation of our shared heritage. The thesis begins with a review of the American Latino Heritage Initiative within the framework of the Westside neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas. Intended as a large-scale effort to bring attention to the role of “Latinos” in the U.S., the initiative is evaluated for its efficacy at the local level. The interface of national goals and local needs, general characterizations and specific qualities, and standardized processes with particular circumstances brings forth the challenges of preserving places, which the current preservation system was not designed to protect. Mexican and Mexican American communities established an important cultural and physical center in San Antonio at the beginning of the 20th century. While some of the physical remnants of this rich history have been lost, others endure in the people and buildings that inhabit the Westside. Valuable local preservation initiatives have helped record their stories and highlight their significance. Nevertheless, formal preservation organizations have, until recently, failed to recognize the significance of the Mexican American heritage of the Westside. In recent years, the San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation and local groups have collaborated to begin to designate landmarks in the Westside. This thesis examines five of these buildings with the intent of identifying what makes them stand out as important landmarks in the community. Analytical mapping considers the spatial relationships between the buildings and their surrounding areas, and temporal mapping examines the change in use of each case study. A typology of values is generated from this analysis categorizing the distinguishing characteristics of the buildings. Together these exploratory methods start to define a language that goes beyond historical and aesthetic significance to recognize social, cultural and use values.

September 11th 2001 led to an increase in the intensity of the already existing discourses surrounding what it means to be an American, with a particular focus on the Southern border of the United States and Mexican immigration as a perceived threat to national security. This study seeks to address the Latino threat narrative (Chavez, 2008) through measuring how perceptions of stereotypes and realistic and symbolic threat differ as a function of foreigness using a 2 (positive vs. negative scenario) x 4 (Mexican American, undocumented immigrant, Latino and Anglo) design. / text

In this Practice Inquiry, Mexican American parents' perceptions of cultural influences on grieving the death of their child were described. Findings were used to inform a continuing education module for nurses involved in the care of Mexican American parents who have experienced the death of their child. This line of inquiry is important as the needs of grieving Mexican American parents are not always recognized by those providing care. Ethnographic methodology was used to explore the narratives of three Mexican American fathers and three Mexican American mothers who had experienced the death of their child. A purposive sample was recruited from a faith based community health center in Tucson, AZ. In depth interviews were conducted primarily in the participants' homes by the researcher. All interviews were conducted in Spanish language. Data sources included participant interviews, participant observation, field notes and measures for demographic data and acculturation (ARSMA-II).The overarching cultural theme that represents the participants' perspectives is El Dolor de los Padres: Pain in the Parent. The three major themes that support the overarching cultural theme include: (a) Enduring Great Pain, (b) Voices of Mexican American Parents, and (c) Cultural Death Traditions. The fourth major theme, Going Forward: For the Provider specifically addresses data gathered to educate nurses for supporting Mexican American parents grieving the death of a child. The findings of the study are interpreted within the context of the Mexican cultural concepts of familismo, machismo, marianismo, fatalismo, spiritualidad, respeto, confianza and personalismo and the concept of vulnerability.The study's significance for the practice of nursing is upheld in the findings that are specific to understanding and preventing disparities in the care of Mexican American parents who have experienced the death of a child. Increasing nursing knowledge of the cultural context of grieving, especially spiritualidad and continuing memories, offering culturally competent nursing interventions at this time of deep emotional pain are elucidated in this Practice Inquiry.

This dissertation is an in-depth examination of cultural interactions between Mexican Americans and Anglos in post-World War II Houston. Today, Houston's Mexican American community ranks as the third largest in the United States. This thriving metropolis offers an urban platform through which one can understand how acceptance and celebration of ethnic cultural ways have come to form an intrinsic part of American culture. While much of the past and current literature on Mexican American history in the postwar period focuses on conflicts over desegregation and fights for equal treatment under the law, my research offers a new perspective on less confrontational cultural exchanges between Anglos and Mexican Americans. Ethnic festivals, Spanish-language radio programming, and the Mexican restaurant industry in Houston illuminate how Mexican American businessmen and women introduced aspects of Mexican culture to a large array of Houstonians and, as a consequence, how Houstonians came to accept these cultural manifestations as a natural part of the city's life. My use of English- and Spanish-language newspapers, oral histories, personal papers, business records, advertisements, photographs, and municipal, state, and federal documents allows me to explore the regular cultural exchanges and syntheses of Anglo and Mexican cultures in Texas, even during ongoing struggles for racial equality. Additionally, the surge in celebrations of Mexican ethnicity in the postwar era led to a heightened interest from national corporations in attracting and profiting from the Hispanic dollar. Ethnic festivals, radio broadcasts, and the Mexican food industry gradually opened the way for a repackaging of ethnicity as something to be consumed. By the 1980s, these cultural manifestations remained emblematic of the Mexican heritage but had also become highly marketable commodities; traditions that used to be associated solely with the Mexican American community in Houston now pointed to their increased level of incorporation into the city's cultural life. I conclude that this greater acceptance of certain aspects of Mexican culture signaled the gradual penetration of Mexican American ethnicity into American cultural ways.

Several dimensions of acculturation as well as three cultural orientations were incorporated in the development of the measurement of Culture Change in Mexican American Children (CCMAC). The sample included 116 Mexican American children age 7 to 11 years. The research was designed to assess the psychometric properties of the CCMAC, and evaluate the developmental features of the data. The multidimensional concepts as well as the multicultural aspects of acculturation were assessed. In addition, selected health outcomes were examined and their association to cultural orientation was determined. The findings demonstrated that the CCMAC was deemed valid and reliable with an alpha coefficient of.85 for the cultural assimilation scoring,.83 for the cultural resistance scoring, and.67 for the cultural integration scoring system. The confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis did not support the predicted factor structure. Children who were culturally resistant reported the highest income, less school problems, less home problems and a high GPA. Children who were culturally assimilated were the youngest children, had less homework problems, and were of later generation. The theory that culturally integrated children would report the least number of problems was not supported. It was recommended that the CCMAC be scored in three different ways when estimating individual acculturation trends. When estimating group trends, the CCMAC should be scored in the cultural assimilation orientation. Earlier literature was re-examined and discussed in light of the lack of the identification of the predicted factor structure. Recommendations were based on the CCMAC's contributions to the theory of acculturation in school age Mexican American children.

The central research question of this exploratory study is to determine if college educated, ethnically identified and preferred endogamous Chicanas experience significantly more psychological distress due to a conflict between their educational achievements and beliefs that Chicano males are threatened by high achieving women. The specific perceptions are: that Mexican American males feel threatened by their educational accomplishments, tend to exclude them from political and organizational activities, and that college attainment will cause them to be seen as elitist by the larger Chicano community. This study uses descriptive and correlational analysis to explore the relationship between ethnic identification, preferred endogamy and perceptions that Chicanas high achievements pose a threat to Chicano males as predictive factors for higher psychological distress. The sample consists of 508 randomly selected Chicanas at five colleges, varying in selectivity from a private university to a community college. The majority of respondents are single and under thirty. A sample of 160 Chicano males were also randomly selected from three of the same five college campuses and were used to make comparisons on the threat dimension. The instrument is a mail questionnaire.

In this paper I discuss some of the findings in my study of the encounters between female migrants and immigration enforcement authorities along the U.S.-Mexico border. An objective of the research is to ascertain a more accurate picture of women temporarily suspended in the “intersection” of diametrically opposed processes: immigration enforcement and transnational mobility. Of the many issues that have emerged from this research, family separation is most palpable. This suggests a deeply entrenched relationship between immigration enforcement and the transnationalization of family ties. While this relationship may at first not be obvious, women’s accounts of family separation and family reunification show how, in reconciling these contradictory tendencies, migrant mobility is strengthened, which in turn challenges enforcement measures. In this way, the intersection not only sheds light on how opposing forces (enforcement and mobility) converge but also how each is contingent on the other. This analysis is possible in part through the use of a conceptual intersection of diametrically opposed forces, border enforcement and transnational movement, and thus proves useful in examining the transformative nature of globalized spaces.