The Role of Ethnic Loyalty among Mexican Immigrant Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of Ethnic Loyalty in a sample of 140 Mexican women who immigrated to the United States at age 14 or older and who have lived in this country for an average of 7.5 years. Using the median of the ethnic loyalty scale as the cut-off point respondents were divided into two groups: High Loyalty and Low Loyalty. Women who remained highly loyal to Mexican culture (High Loyalty) had significantly lower levels of self-esteem and satisfaction and higher levels of acculturative stress than their counterparts who scored lower on the loyalty scale (Low Loyalty). Furthermore, most of the women in the High Loyalty group had plans of returning to Mexico and planned on obtaining only legal residency status rather than U.S. citizenship. Findings of the study suggest that because of the lack of appropriate coping skills to deal with their new environment, immigrant women from Mexico who remain strongly attached to their traditional Mexican culture (High Loyalty) are at higher risk of manifesting psychological conflicts than those women who are more flexible in their cultural orientation as shown by their lower ethnic loyalty scores.