Acculturation of Hispanic Population in the United States - Research Paper Example

Hispanic population in United States – acculturation Hispanic is a Spanish term that defines the people originating from the countries, which were formerly Spanish colonies. This constitutes a wide array of ethnic groups with different social, political and emotional characteristics as well as countries. There are different Hispanic groups such as Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, El Salvadorians, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Columbians, Central and South Americans etc. Among them Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans are the largest in the United States. (Schaefer, 235) America is a country in which we can witness a wide array of different cultures. The people from every culture have brought diversity in American culture with the uniqueness of respective culture. The Hispanic culture and community has been diffused all over the country propounding new traditions, trends customs, and cultures and acquired the status of largest minority group. America’s bilingual educational structure is the impact of the growing Hispanic population as the largest minority. According to Census Bureau of US (2003), “Young, Diverse, Urban: Hispanic Population Reaches All-time High of 38.8 Million” (Naidoo, 33) These Hispanic groups in United States have faced certain obstacles from the culture of United States since the time of their arrival. While there has been interchange of values between the US society and the Hispanics, yet their stay in United States have brought them certain benefits, which they perhaps could not access back at home. The Hispanic groups are often referred as an “assimilation-oriented society” (Schaefer, 235) where the problem of language difference has been existent since the time of their arrival in United States. For a long period of time the Hispanics witnessed hindrances in schooling for children speaking Spanish. The recognition of the bilingual status and bicultural trend have been accepted and credited in the States only in the recent years. In the current years Spanish has been recognized as an asset rather than a liability. Variations in accents and pronunciation of the same language have faced resistance from the “language purity movement” (Schaefer, 235). For the last two to three decades Hispanics were discouraged to speak Spanish. The Hispanic children were differentiated from the Anglos in schools. For the last two to three decades Hispanics were discouraged to speak Spanish. (Schaefer, 242) Children were punished if they were caught speaking in Spanish within school premises. The ability of a person to adapt to the stressors is refereed as allostasis. This allostatic load factor is important to judge the proper health status. When an individual is exposed to adverse situations for a long time, it is normal for them to become vulnerable to such challenges involving physiological strain and such alterations lead to a deterioration in health conditions. Peek et al estimated in their empirical study (using logistic regression models and taking a sample form Texas) that there were “disadvantages among US-born Mexican American in metabolic system scores…foreign-born Mexicans who had lived in the United States for 10 years or less were less likely than foreign-born Mexicans who had lived in the country for more than 10 years to have high allostatic load scores (62%vs42%)” (Peek et al, 942). The acculturation factor was apparently not accounted for because the ability of adaptation to stress should be more among the new arrivals rather than the old ones who have had some time to adjust to the environment. The results show that the recent arrivals have better advantages in terms of health compared to the older ones who have stayed for a longer time in United States. Their findings also show that the more the Hispanics have stayed in America their physiological changes have been negative and this shows deterioration in health function. The study draws the conclusion that “Hispanic immigrants may be healthier at the time of their immigration and then converge to native population levels as a result of the erosion of culture-related protective factors such as diet and other health behaviors and social support mechanisms” (Peek et al, 945). Such findings automatically reveal the negative impact that acculturation had on the Hispanic population of US. Li, Chick & Zinn, Absher, Graefe looks into the cultural homogeneity amongst ethnic groups. Total sample of 1174 was taken for the empirical research three ethnic groups Anglo, Hispanics and Asians were considered. The cultural consensus study showed that no ethnic group demonstrates homogeneity of culture. Hofstede’s tool was used for the analysis, which works on the assumption that “if distinctive ethnic subcultures exist then they should be identifiable, by specific measures of languages, religion, family structure, cultural values, and the like” (Li, Chick & Zinn, Absher, Graefe, 514). The study concludes with some policy implications where it claims that public policy making should incorporate these differences in the sub cultural or intra and inter community divergence. This is possible when people recognize these dissimilarities even among one cultural group. Therefore “one-size-fits-all policies based on the assumption that nominal ethnic groups, such as Asian, Hispanic, or Anglo, are culturally homogenous may neglect important within-group differences in values and possibly other aspects of culture” (Li, Chick & Zinn, Absher, Graefe, 538). In more than one instance it was found that ethnic differences could not account for behavioral similarity and vice versa. Strom, Strom and Beckert carried out a study based on a sample of 739 mothers and 806 adolescents in order to evaluate the attitudes of mothers at the time of interaction with their children and also their ability to educate them and fulfill their needs (Strom, Strom and Beckert, 525). The adolescence revealed (especially in case of blacks and Hispanics) that in most cases the generational difference worked against their communication process while their mothers’ frustration and dissatisfaction about the use of language by the children also worked against the relation between mothers and children (Strom, Strom and Beckert, 532). Mothers faced the challenge of gaining deeper information regarding their adolescents in order to understand them better. This could help them prevent their children from taking to drugs, smoke and alcohol (Strom, Strom and Beckert, 530). On the other hand the adolescents among the whites were more into these problems especially drug use compared to the other cultures but their white mothers were relatively unaware. The more time mothers spent with their children the more they learnt from the adolescents. These results clearly indicate the basic difference in practice and attitude towards parenting. While the Hispanic mothers were concerned about the children’s taking to drugs the white mothers who were essentially the natives of US were more used tot his culture. This difference in cultural values gets reflected in the approach of parenting. There is more to learn from the children in case of the Hispanic mothers and the generation gap is more too because of the fast adoption to the US cultural values by the Hispanic children (Strom, Strom and Beckert, 540-542). This pace is too much for the mothers to understand and deal with. Thus parenting has become a challenge for the Hispanic mothers. Lucila studies the changes undergone by a young woman from Guatemala who is a second-generation immigrant. She has been in US since six years of age and at the time of the survey she was studying at sophomore level. Despite this long time spent here she has been able to retain her identity of being born in Guatemala and has kept connection with her culture and language. She has dealt strongly with her religious individuality by visiting the churches of both the places (USA and Guatemala). The information has been derived from an ethnographic study of Amalia and the church she and her parents visit. The study brings forth man interesting points and validates some literatures already studied by the author. First generation immigrants are found to experience more transnationalism, which had deep impact on their economic, social and political frame of mind. The process of transnationalism is exemplified through the example taken here. Amalia reveals that she was happier in Guatemala than she was in the States but this was her view when she was young, as time passed she understood the importance of the place in terms of economic opportunities. She states her transformation in her words as follows: “I’m more happier there [Guatemala] than here. I like it there better than here. But,I have to live here. I know there’s better opportunities here than there. Like when I was little I remember my mom told me, “When you’re 18, you have to choose where to live, here or Guatemala,” and I always said Guatemala, you know. But now that I’m much bigger, I’m like “no” and even though I have so much time even though I have like, um, fun over there and everything, I choose here now and not there because I know there’s better opportunities here…To get better jobs, to get better money, to succeed in life, you know, to actually make something of yourself. There, there’s nothing” (Lucila, 77-78). The above study shows the different cultural challenges faced by the Hispanic groups in America. The literature review draws upon certain interesting facts. The lack of homogeneity within the group implies proper policy making, the challenges faced by the Hispanic mothers in understanding their adolescents imply provision of proper and continuous education for the mothers, the longer stay in the States reflect more allostatic load and relatively poor health functioning, while the transformation of identity in case of Amalia implies the impact of transnationalism. The main reason why Hispanics have immigrated was the provision of better and new opportunities. During this process they underwent a process of acculturation while has distorted their identity both as a group and within the group. Works Cited 1. Schaefer, Richard T. Racial and Ethnic Groups, London: Prentice-Hall, 2008. 2. Tienda, M. and F. Mitchell (2006), Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies: Hispanics and the American Future, The National Academies Press 3. Strom, Robert D. Strom, Paris S. and Troy E. Beckert, COMPARING BLACK, HlSPANIC, AND WHlTE MOTHERS WITH A NATIONAL STANDARD OF PARENTING, ADOLESCENCE, Fall 2008, 43.171, 525-545. 4. Li, Chieh-Lu, Chick, Garry E, Zinn, Harry C. Absher, James D. and Alan R. Graefe. Ethnicity as a Variable in Leisure Research, Journal of Leisure Research, 2007, 39.3, 514-545 5. Peek, M. Kristen, Cutchin, Malcolm P., Salinas, Jennifer J., Sheffield, Kristin M. Eschbach, Karl, Stowe, Raymond P. and James S. Goodwin. Allostatic Load Among Non-Hispanic Whites, Non-Hispanic Blacks, and People of Mexican Origin: Effects of Ethnicity, Nativity, and Acculturation, American Journal of Public Health, May 2010, 100.5, 940-946. 6. Lucila, D. Ek. Transnationalism, Language, and Identity of a Pentecostal Guatemalan-American Young Woman, The University of North Carolina Press, 2009 7. Naidoo, Jamie C. Opening Doors, Children and Libraries, Summer/fall 2008 Read More