A Comparative Qualitative Study of Marianismo : Mexican and Mexican American Women's Perspectives on Their Latina Values, Women's Roles and Their Parents' Influence

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A Comparative Qualitative Study of Marianismo : Mexican and Mexican American Women's Perspectives on Their Latina Values, Women's Roles and Their Parents' Influence Smith ScholarWorks Theses, Dissertations, and Projects 2007 A comparative qualitative study of Marianismo : Mexican and Mexican American women's perspectives on their Latina values, women's roles and their parents' influence Jennifer Marie Vazquez Smith College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Vazquez, Jennifer Marie, "A comparative qualitative study of Marianismo : Mexican and Mexican American women's perspectives on their Latina values, women's roles and their parents' influence" (2007). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/1284 This Masters Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Projects by an authorized administrator of Smith ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Jennifer Marie Vazquez An Comparative Qualitative Study of Marianismo: Mexican and Mexican- American Women’s Perspectives on Their Latina Values, Women’s Roles and their Parents’ Influence ABSTRACT The research study had three goals. First, the study explored and compared adherence to Marianismo values in Mexican women born in Mexico and Mexican- American women born in the U.S. The hypothesis was that Mexican women would endorse more Marianismo values because Mexican-American women who are born, raised and educated in the U.S. are more likely to adopt more American values. Second, the study gathered and compared the women’s perspectives on cultural differences between U.S. and Latino culture views of the women’s role. Third, the study sought to further understand the relationship between acculturation and Marianismo to ascertain differences and patterns through four likert-type questions based on theory of acculturation adaptations by Berry (1980). The study used a qualitative method, semi-structured interviews with seven Mexican women and seven Mexican-American women recruited in Northern California. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and coded by themes. Major findings showed differences and similarities between the two groups endorsement of Marianismo values such as differences in how they viewed their roles. The Mexican women viewed their role as mother and in terms of duties, and Mexican- American women viewed their role as independent and discussed ambitions of education and career. The groups also differed in their view of a “good woman”. The groups were similar in messages received from parents about sex and marriage, and viewing their mothers as sacrificing. The groups differed in their perspective on cultural differences. Further research is needed to explore the relationship of Marianismo and biculturalism and to explore positive aspects of Marianismo. A COMPARATIVE QUALITATIVE STUDY OF MARIANISMO: MEXICAN AND MEXICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVES ON THEIR LATINA VALUES, WOMEN’S ROLES AND PARENTS’ INFLUENCE A project based upon an independent investigation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work. Jennifer Marie Vazquez Smith College School for Social Work NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS 01063 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank the 15 courageous women who participated in this study. It was a privilege for me to sit with you and hear your stories. This thesis could not have been accomplished without the assistance of many people whose contributions are gratefully acknowledged. I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Pearl Soloff, thank you for your patience and guidance and passion in my topic of study. I’m grateful for the assistance of Mary Koncel, MFA writing counselor at the Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching and Learning for her invaluable support with the editing process. I also wanted to thank my friends and colleagues at Smith, for all their encouragement and support. With special thanks to my friends and colleagues Aurora Perales and Nidia Ponce, thank you both so much for all your help and for cheering me on. We did it! I would like to dedicate this thesis to my mother Maria, a strong pillar in my life. Thank you mom for all your dedication, your unconditional love and support throughout my many years of schooling, I couldn’t have accomplished this without you. And I also would like to dedicate this thesis to my sisters Yolanda, Susana and Rosie, thank you for your support, humor and unconditional love. You all are the light of my life. I love you all very much. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................. 4 III. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 28 IV. FINDINGS ....................................................................................................... 40 V. DISCUSSION................................................................................................... 83 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 108 APPENDIXES Appendix A: Informed Consent Form ..................................................................... 111 Appendix B: Informed Consent Form (Spanish)...................................................... 113 Appendix C: Professional Transcribers Assurance of Research Confidentiality .................................................................... 115 Appendix D: Demographic Questionaire................................................................. 117 Appendix E: Demographic Questionaire (Spanish) ................................................ 120 Appendix F: Interview Guide Questions................................................................. 123 Appendix G: Statement Questions for Participant Viewing ..................................... 125 Appendix H: Interview Guide Questions (Spanish) ................................................. 126 Appendix I: Statement Questions for Participant Viewing (Spanish)...................... 128 Appendix J: Flyer .................................................................................................. 129 Appendix K: Resource List ..................................................................................... 131 Appendix L: HSRB Approval Letter....................................................................... 132 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Mexican Immigrant Women: Ethnicity, Children, Occupation & Education Level................................................................................................ 43 1.2. Mexican Immigrant Women: Generation Immigrated to U.S., Migration Age, Longest Period Living in U.S., and Plans to Live in U.S. Permanently............. 44 1.3. Mexican American Women: Age Range, Marital Status, Children, and Religion…………………………………………………………………………. 47 1.4. Mexican American Women: Ethnicity, Income, Occupation and Educational Level……………………………………………………………………………. 48 iv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to explore Marianismo endorsed beliefs and behaviors in Mexican immigrant women and Mexican-American women. The study was a comparative exploratory study on the differences and similarities between the two groups’ endorsement of Marianismo. Marianismo is a cultural and social construct on the idealized role of Latina women modeled after the Virgin Mary. Tenets of Marianismo are characterized by Latinas’ beliefs and behaviors such as self-denial, maintaining their virginity for marriage, subjugation to the men in their lives, sacrificing for their children, endurance of suffering from their husbands, and putting the needs of others first. Many of the studies done on Marianismo have found that it negatively impacts Latina’s mental health (Caceres-Dalmau, 2003; Vazquez, 1998). Other studies have found that Marianismo and acculturation are not dependent on each other or parallel each other (Orlandini, 2000). A review of the literature found only one qualitative study on Marianismo done by Ruiz (1998) which was the only study that did a comparison of Marianismo on Mexican immigrant and Mexican American women. Most studies tend focus on the negative aspects of Marianismo. However, Murguia (2001) studied the positive types of Machismo and Marianismo and found that healthy gender roles are associated with psychological well-being and that the majority of the sample endorsed positive types of gender roles. 1 This study’s purpose was to gather qualitative data on Marianismo among Mexican immigrant and Mexican-American women and compare the two groups. Additionally, another goal was to understand how each group perceives cultural differences between Latino and “Anglo”American cultures’ view of the role of women. One final goal was to further understand the relationship between Marianismo and acculturation through questions based on the varieties of adaptations acculturation work of Berry (1980). Research on Latino gender roles and values is important because there are many misconceptions about them. Given that the
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