Latino Mothers Research Articles

Childhood Abuse History and Risk Behaviors Among Teen Parents in a Culturally Rooted, Couple-Focused HIV Prevention Program

Pregnant and parenting adolescents living in inner cities are at risk for acquiring HIV through unprotected sexual activity. In addition to individual risk behaviors, a lack of socioeconomic and other environmental resources create risk environments that make certain communities vulnerable to both adolescent pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. Research indicates that adolescent parents, many who have histories of childhood trauma, may use their experience of young parenthood and the concomitant feelings of parental protectiveness as a source of renewed hope for their future. The purpose of this report is to explore the relationship between history of childhood abuse and high risk behaviors in adolescent Latino mothers and fathers enrolled in a randomized clinical trial of a culturally rooted, couple-focused HIV prevention program. In addition, this report describes the HIV prevention program that was designed specifically for young Latino parents wherein maternal and paternal protectiveness are viewed as intrinsic and developing critical factors that promote resiliency and motivate behavioral change.

Mothers of young adults with intellectual disability: multiple roles, ethnicity and well‐being

Two opposing perspectives--role strain and role enhancement--were considered as predictive of women's psychological and physical health. The authors examined the relation between multiple role occupancy (parenting, employment, marriage) and well-being (depression and health) among mothers of young adults with intellectual disability (ID). Participants were 226 mothers aged 35-70 years old caring for a young adult aged 16-26 years old with moderate to severe/profound ID. Mothers were of either Latino ethnicity (n=117) or Anglo (n=109). Mothers' ethnicity and degree of acculturation and young adults' adaptive behaviour and behaviour problems were examined as potential moderators. Mothers who were employed, married, or both reported better well-being than mothers who were both unemployed and unmarried, especially when their offspring had relatively higher adaptive functioning. This relationship between role occupancy and well-being was fully mediated by socio-economic status (SES) factors. Results did not suggest a role enhancement effect, but instead indicated a role shortage effect; unemployed, unmarried mothers experienced markedly poor well-being, while all other mothers experienced comparable well-being. Well-being scores were higher for Anglo than for Latino mothers; this relationship was entirely accounted for by SES. In Latina mothers, the relation between role occupancy and well-being was moderated by degree of acculturation. Findings suggest that multiple roles benefit mothers of young adults with ID primarily through their impact on socio-economic resources. For more acculturated Latina mothers, occupying more roles predicted better well-being even after controlling for SES. Latina mothers who were unemployed and unmarried had lower SES, and this group emerged as at particular risk. The latter group may benefit most from respite assistance and other interventions aimed at addressing their physical and mental health.

Development of a Tool to Assess Past Food Insecurity of Immigrant Latino Mothers

Objective The purpose is to describe the development and validation of a tool to measure the degree of past food insecurity in an immigrant US population. Design Focus group discussions and a structured interview. As a first step, focus group discussions were conducted among immigrant Latino mothers. Based on these discussions, an 8-item tool was developed and pilot-tested in a convenience sample of mothers. Setting California. Participants Twenty-two low-income Latino mothers with children, ages 4 to 5 years, in the focus groups and 85 low-income Latino and white mothers of young children in the structured interviews. Analyses Constant comparative analysis, Cronbach α, Spearman correlations, Chi-square, and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results Internal consistency of the remaining 7 items was good (Cronbach α = 0.84). Evidence of convergent validity included significant correlations between past food insecurity and maternal education (r = -0.45, p<.0001), crowding in the mother’s childhood household (r = +0.30, p<.006), and past food insufficiency (r = +0.74, p<.0001). Foreign-born Latino mothers reported significantly greater levels of past food insecurity than US-born mothers, demonstrating discriminant validity (p<.01). Conclusions and Implications This tool may be useful to determine how past deprivation influences current food choices and other nutrition-related behaviors in low-income Latino immigrants.

“A lot of sacrifices:” Work–family spillover and the food choice coping strategies of low-wage employed parents

Integrating their work and family lives is an everyday challenge for employed parents. Competing demands for parents’ time and energy may contribute to fewer meals prepared or eaten at home and poorer nutritional quality of meals. Thus, work–family spillover (feelings, attitudes, and behaviors carried over from one role to another) is a phenomenon with implications for nutrition and health. The aim of this theory-guided constructivist research was to understand how low-wage employed parents’ experiences of work–family spillover affected their food choice coping strategies. Participants were 69 black, white and Latino mothers and fathers in a Northeastern US city. We explored participants’ understandings of family and work roles, spillover, and food choice strategies using open-ended qualitative interviews. Data analysis was based on the constant comparative method. These parents described affective, evaluative, and behavioral instances of work–family spillover and role overload as normative parts of everyday life and dominant influences on their food choices. They used food choice coping strategies to: (1) manage feelings of stress and fatigue, (2) reduce the time and effort for meals, (3) redefine meanings and reduce expectations for food and eating, and (4) set priorities and trade off food and eating against other family needs. Only a few parents used adaptive strategies that changed work or family conditions to reduce the experience of conflict. Most coping strategies were aimed at managing feelings and redefining meanings, and were inadequate for reducing the everyday hardships from spillover and role overload. Some coping strategies exacerbated feelings of stress. These findings have implications for family nutrition, food expenditures, nutritional self-efficacy, social connections, food assistance policy, and work place strategies.

Socioenvironmental Risk and Adjustment in Latino Youth: The Mediating Effects of Family Processes and Social Competence

The direct and mediated effects of socioenvironmental risk on internalizing and externalizing problems among Latino youth aged 10–14 were examined using prospective analyses. Participants in this study were 464 Latino mother and child dyads surveyed as part of the Welfare, Children & Families: A Three City Study. It was hypothesized that socioenvironmental risk (i.e., maternal psychological distress, maternal parenting stress, neighborhood disadvantage, and perceived financial strain) would influence later adolescent adjustment by interrupting important family processes and interfering with opportunities for adolescents to develop appropriate social competence. Using path analyses, the mediational model was compared across high and low acculturation groups. With two exceptions, the models for the high and low acculturation groups were equivalent. Results supported a mediated effect between early socioenvironmental risk and later adjustment problems for the low acculturation group through family routines and adolescent social competence. Among families high in acculturation, socioenvironmental risk effects were partially mediated through family routines and adolescent social competence. Finally, a path from gender to maternal monitoring was present in the low acculturation group model but not the high acculturation group model.

Home environments and young Latino children's school readiness

This exploratory study examined the relations among characteristics of children's home environments and two school readiness skills: their oral language and social functioning. Low SES Latino mothers of 122 (65 girls; 57 boys) preschoolers (39–49 months ( M = 45.00; S.D. = 5.40) completed questionnaires about their family demography, their home environments, and their perceived parenting stress. Preschool teachers rated children's social functioning, and children were administered the PPVT-R (or the TVIP). Results of path analyses showed that when controlling for children's age and factors that potentially influence children's opportunities for learning, the relation between parents’ literacy involvement and children's PPVT-R/TVIP scores and social functioning was mediated by children's interest in literacy. In addition, mothers’ perceived parenting stress was directly associated with children's PPVT-R/TVIP scores and social functioning. The findings highlight within-group variations in the home literacy environments of low SES Latino families.

Weight, Diet, and Physical Activity-Related Beliefs and Practices Among Pregnant and Postpartum Latino Women: The Role of Social Support

Eating and physical activity patterns may contribute to excessive pregnancy weight gain and postpartum retention that increase the risks of obesity and diabetes for both Latino mothers and their children. Social support is an important health determinant and may affect health-related beliefs and behaviors. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of social support on weight, diet, and physical activity-related beliefs and behaviors among pregnant and postpartum Latinas. A community-based participatory project, Promoting Healthy Lifestyles among Women, was conducted in southwest Detroit to plan interventions aimed at reducing risks of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Qualitative analyses of in-depth semistructured interviews with dyads of 10 pregnant and postpartum Latinas, and 10 people who influenced them were conducted. Husbands and some female relatives were primary sources of emotional, instrumental, and informational support for weight, diet, and physical activity-related beliefs and behaviors for Latina participants. Holistic health beliefs and the opinions of others consistently influenced Latinas' motivation and beliefs about the need to remain healthy and the links between behavior and health. Absence of mothers, other female relatives, and friends to provide childcare, companionship for exercise, and advice about food were prominent barriers that limited women's ability to maintain healthy practices during and after pregnancy. The findings support evidence that low-income, recently immigrated pregnant and postpartum Latinas could benefit from community-based, family-oriented interventions that provide social support necessary to promote and sustain healthy lifestyles.

Is the Client-Worker Relationship Associated with Better Outcomes in Mandated Child Abuse Cases?

Objective: The purpose of this research was to (a) find if there were associations between child welfare outcomes and the client-worker relationship and (b) learn what are the predictors of a positive client-worker relationship. Method: 100 (55 Family Maintenance [FM] and 45 Family Preservation [FP]) clients were interviewed in English and Spanish. Pearson’s r, t tests, chi-squares, and a regression analysis were conducted. Results: A majority of the participants were Latino single mothers. Higher scores on the Relationship with Worker Instrument were correlated with better outcomes in discipline and emotional care of children (p &lt; .01). FP clients were more satisfied with their workers than routine FM participants (p &lt; .01). Ability to openly communicate (p &lt; .001), frequency of visits (p &lt; .05), and receipt of public assistance (p &lt; .05) were found to be predictors of good client-worker relationships. Conclusions: This assessment indicates that client-worker relationships and open communication matter.

How can Californians be overweight and hungry?

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of obesity in both adults and children, particularly among low-income populations. In fact, overweight has replaced malnutrition as the most prevalent nutritional problem among the poor. We examine this seemingly paradoxical relationship and explore the causes and consequences of overweight, obesity and food insecurity. In a UC Cooperative Extension Body Weight and Health Workgroup study of 561 low-income Latino mothers and their young children, we found important differences in the association between family food insecurity and overweight status for mothers and their children. Forty percent of the women were overweight and 37% obese, and 22% of their children were overweight. Furthermore, U.S.-born mothers who were food insecure as children were more likely to be obese adults. Awareness and understanding of the link between food insecurity and weight gain will facilitate the efforts of schools, food assistance programs, the food industry and others in the community to provide effective nutritional programs.

Association between Residential Tobacco Smoking Bans, Smoke Exposure, and Pulmonary Function: A Survey of Latino Children with Asthma

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a risk factor for asthma development and progression. ETS exposure among children takes place mainly in the home. This paper examines the relationship between household smoking restrictions, the level of ETS exposure, and the asthma status of a sample of 192 low-income Latino asthmatic children, living with at least one smoker. Families were recruited throughout San Diego County, California. Mothers were interviewed on use of smoking restriction policies, possible correlates of these policies, their children's ETS exposure, asthma morbidity, and use of medical care. The children's pulmonary function was also assessed. As compared with the lack of smoking restrictions, a total ban on smoking was associated with a significantly lower reported level of children's ETS exposure at home (p < 0.05), in the car (p < 0.05), and overall (p < 0.01). Multivariate analyses indicated that having a smoking ban was associated with less severe asthma symptoms (p < 0.05), less use of acute medical care during the last 2 weeks (p < 0.01), and higher forced vital capacity (FVC) (p < 0.05). These results suggest that the use of home policies may be a means by which Latino mothers can reduce ETS exposure and asthma morbidity among asthmatic children. The establishment of such policies should be promoted by health-care providers treating children with asthma, but these clinicians may need to "coach" mothers in how to persuade family and visitors not to smoke in the home.

A longitudinal study of maternal messages about dating and sexuality and their influence on Latino adolescents.

To learn more about the nature of mother-adolescent discussions about sexuality and their influence on adolescents' behaviors and attitudes in Latino families. Fifty-five Latino mothers and their midadolescent children (35 girls, 20 boys, mean age 13 years) were observed talking about dating and sexuality. The videotaped conversations were coded for the prevalence of five maternal message types: beliefs and values, advice, cautionary messages, comments about the adolescents' everyday experiences, and maternal self-disclosure about her own dating and sexuality experiences. A structural equation model was used to examined how time spent on the various message types was related to three adolescent-related outcomes collected about 1 year later: sexual behavior, attitudes toward premarital sex, and reports of openness in the mother-child relationship. Latino mothers focused the conversation on their personal beliefs and values about dating and sexuality. Discussions about beliefs and values were accompanied by more parental advice and cautionary messages. More maternal self-disclosure about personal dating and sexuality experiences was related to the adolescents' reporting a better functioning relationship with their mothers and having more conservative attitudes toward premarital sex. Sexuality communication was both positively and negatively related to adolescent sexual behavior, but the messages were not the same. Maternal communication in Latino families influences adolescents' behaviors and attitudes toward sex and adolescents' perceptions of openness in the mother-child relationship. Observational methods are useful for studying the complexity of the communication process and for studying participants from ethnic minority populations who may be unfamiliar with or uncomfortable filling out questionnaires.

Mother-daughter relationships and child sexual abuse: a pilot study of 35 dyads.

In a pilot study, the authors examine features of mothers' relationships to their mothers, spouses, and daughters associated with their daughters' male-perpetrated child sexual abuse. Fifteen inner-city Latino mothers and daughters (ages 1-9 years), referred by child protective agencies for highly suspect or confirmed child sexual abuse, were compared to 20 matched control dyads. Significantly more case mothers than controls reported relational disturbances intergenerationally, including hostility toward their daughters. Mother-daughter relationships should be thoroughly assessed when evaluating a child for child sexual abuse.

California Bone Health Campaign: Using Social Marketing to Promote 1% Milk with Low-Income Latino Mothers

California Bone Health Campaign: Using Social Marketing to Promote 1% Milk with Low-Income Latino Mothers

Child Care Practices and Preferences of Native- and Foreign-Born Latina Mothers and Euro-American Mothers

Using a telephone survey of 396 participants, the present study examined the child care practices and preferences of native- and foreign-born Latina mothers in two Southern California communities and compared them to Euro-American mothers. Results showed that native-born Latina mothers had more relatives available to provide child care, and that they relied more on relatives for their current child care arrangement than both foreign-born Latina mothers and Euro-American mothers. Euro-American mothers used child care centers more than the two groups of Latino mothers. More native-born Latina mothers indicated a successful match between their current and preferred child care arrangement. Both foreign-born Latina mothers and Euro-American mothers indicated they would prefer to increase their use of relatives. In addition, more foreign-born Latina mothers indicated they would prefer to increase their use of child care centers.

Narrating Self and Disability: Latino Mothers' Construction of Identities vis-à-vis Their Child with Special Needs

We examine how 150 Latino mothers of young children with developmental disabilities use narratives to express and create self-understandings vis-à-vis their child. The purpose is twofold: (a) to introduce narrative as a tool that people use to make sense of disability, and (b) to demonstrate how these mothers draw on cultural beliefs and the narrative form to construct meanings of self in relationship to disability. An analysis of spontaneous narratives of self and disability reveal that the majority of mothers portrayed themselves as good mothers in line with larger cultural notions, and viewed their child as bringing about positive transformations in their lives. We end by suggesting ways that narrative analysis could be used in future research and practice.

“Feeding Your Baby”, A Community Effort to Promote Healthy Infant Feeding Practices

LEARNING OUTCOME: To produce a culturally appropriate educational tool in English and Spanish that will assist young parents in properly feeding and caring for a new infant. Although a wide variety of infant feeding material is available, much of it does not meet the needs of minority and non-English speaking families. Currently available materials were presented to focus groups of primarily African-American and Latino mothers and fathers to determine their responses. The findings were used to develop a culturally sensitive educational tool with a reading level of approximately fifth grade that meets the nutritional recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics. A broad-based professional advisory committee helped to shape the theme. The resultant booklet is an illustrated story about a young family with a new baby. The story takes the family through the baby's first year. It takes a positive approach on breastfeeding including answers to questions that fathers ask. The maternal grandmother also has a supportive but sometimes contradictory role. After introduction of the first booklet, a similar process was undertaken to meet the needs of the very diverse Philadelphia Latino community. Different characters and themes were developed to present the same message in a culturally appropriate manner. After the booklets’ introductions, training sessions were provided for public health and community workers to enable them to make the best use of the booklet with their clients.

Recruitment and Retention of High-Risk Families into a Preventive Parent Training Intervention

This article describes the process of developing, implementing, and evaluating recruitment and retention strategies for an eight session preventive parenting program designed for high-risk minority parents from low-income inner-city communities. The program was offered in both Spanish and English to a sample of 142 one- and two-parent families (78% Mexican immigrant or Mexican American, 15% African American, and 9% Anglo, Native American, and other). Recruitment and retention strategies resulted in a 70% participation rate with 48% of the families attending 5-8 sessions and 22% attending 1-4 sessions. Attendance rates were higher for married and cohabiting mothers than for single mothers and for Spanish speaking mothers compared to English-speaking Latino mothers. New categories are presented to improve future reporting of recruitment and retention data.

Latina Mothers and Their Toddlers' Behavioral Difficulties

This research explores the relationships among the following variables: toddlers'behavioral difficulties, mothers'depression, mothers'self-efficacy, and mothers 'social support. Assessments were made of26 mothers and their 26 toddlers at two times, 3 months apart. The results of thefirst assessment were used as independent variables, and the results of the second assessment were used as the dependent variables, in a longitudinal panelanalysis model. Sixteen relationships were tested through four regression equations. These 16 relationships are inclusive of all associations among the variables. It wasfound that mothers'social supports predicted mothers'depression level, but depression did not predict mothers'social support. Mothers'social support was shown to be an important variable for the well-being of Latino mothers and toddlers.

Divisive Dichotomies and Mother-Headed Families: The Power of Naming

The power of naming is capturing the interest of social work practitioners, particularly those who seek to provide gender- and ethnic-sensitive interventions. Dividing families into categories such as intact or broken pejoratively labels mother-headed families, which actually reflect the maternal commitment and strength of women managing on their own (Abramovitz, 1991). Most one-parent families are headed by women, and a disproportionate number are headed by women of color (Van Den Bergh & Cooper, 1986). So divisive dichotomies place women and people of color in positions that legitimize their disempowered social status (Van Den Bergh & Cooper, 1986). The way practitioners refer to and categorize both individuals and families affects problem definitions, interventions, and the helping process in general. A nonintact seeking professional help with a problematic parent-child interaction risks being confronted by a practitioner who attributes family problems to inadequate structure rather than to the normative developmental phases of childhood and family life cycles. Mothers who raise children alone often internalize low expectations about their ability to head families and subsequently develop worried well syndromes. That is, they may attribute all family conflicts to their inability to parent their children alone. The negative impact of pejorative naming has reached full cycle when problems associated with the life cycle of the family, such as adolescent individuation, are attributed by the mother herself to her inability to parent her children in a one-parent home. Placing families in a deviant category is but one of the artificial dichotomies that have negative consequences for mother-headed families. Such dualistic thinking results in other cleavages of women's experiences that, in the interest of the well-being of women and their families, are best perceived in an integrative fashion. The traditional polarity between work and leisure, for example, does not fit the life experiences of women who face multiple challenges associated with the interface of wage labor and child rearing. Employment and family responsibilities are inseparable components of women's lives. Affordable child care, for example, is requisite to mothers being able to participate in the labor market and to provide for their families. Interface of Wage Labor and Child Rearing When wage labor and child rearing are artificially separated as two distinct areas for social policies and programs, comprehensive services that could enable women to perform both roles are overlooked. Guaranteed child support awards (for child rearing) and work training (for employment) are essential to raise impoverished mothers and their children above the poverty level (National Center for Children in Poverty, 1992). Because a majority of fathers do not pay the full amount of child support determined by the courts, the government provides subsidies to mothers and collects payments from fathers. In the United States, 50 percent of all single mother-headed families live below the poverty level, compared with 8 percent of single father-headed families (Gordon, 1990). In addition, mother-headed families are fully one-third of the homeless population (Bassuk, 1991). Gender differences in family poverty rates need to be assessed in terms of persistent gaps in earnings; women still earn only 74 percent of male annual wages (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990). Disparities in earnings are even more pronounced for black and Latino mothers. Nearly one-third of black single mothers who worked for pay in 1987 were below the poverty level, whereas 17 percent of white single mothers in the labor market were poor (Gordon, 1990). Discrimination in hiring based on race and ethnicity also hinders mothers receiving child support payments, because men of color earn disproportionally lower wages compared with their white counterparts. The solution to family poverty is not simply employment, but employment that pays at least $6 to $7 per hour to raise the family out of poverty (Bane, Ellwood, Jargowsky, & Wilson, 1989). …

The relationship between psychosocial status of immigrant Latino mothers and use of emergency pediatric services.

Consistent empirical evidence has shown that low-income Latino populations tend to underutilize health care services and do not have a usual source of care. This article identifies and describes the sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics of Latino immigrant mothers who use emergency pediatric services, assesses the association of maternal characteristics with perceived barriers to care, and examines key predictors of total number of pediatric visits in a year. A survey was carried out to obtain data on reason for emergency room visit, usual sources of care, child's health, and mother's physical and psychosocial health. The results revealed a clear pattern of delayed care for acute problems in the children, a high number of reported barriers to pediatric care, and high mental distress reported by mothers.