Hispanic in the United States - Research Paper Example

Hispanic in United s” Hispanic population encompasses Spanish-speaking people or culture. a group of people whose ancestry is predominated from Spanish-speaking countries. Consequently, people belonging to varied backgrounds are categorized as “ethnic”. It comprise of immigrants from Mexico, Central or South America or Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations. Hispanic also encompass political refugees from El Salvador with political exiles, Cuban “Marielitos” arrived in 1980 (Oboler, 1995). Hispanic does not include various other linguistic and racial communities belonging to different nationalities like those with African, European, Asian and Middle East origin (Oboler, 1995). C. Nelson and Marta Tienda noted, “Hispanic as a label combines colonized natives and their offspring, foreigners and political refugees under one ethnic umbrella, but coherence of this label is questionable on theoretical and historical grounds” ( Oboler, 1995). It is evident that some researchers have pointed out the political cost of the debate while other researchers have identified its demographic connotations of census definitions since 1930s. The label “Hispanic” arrives from time of arrival, language, race and minority status (Oboler, 1995). Understanding the ambiguity of the term, Joan Moore and Harry Pachon raised referred to the concept as “racial minority or simply another predominantly Catholic ethnic group like the Italians for example” (Oboler, 1995). According to Pastora San Juan Cafferty and William McCready, “policies are created for Hispanics which help some and ham others because there are in one sense no generic Hispanics” ( Oboler, 1995). Debate is going on about the justification of the “umbrella” term Hispanic. Revolution in the global economy and its bang in US labor market have opened a new paradigm for immigrants from Latin America. They deal with a fall of industries like clothes making, providing untrained, admission level jobs to recently arrived populations in United States (Oboler, 1995). According to the results of Census 2000 there is a remarkable increase in the Hispanic population form 1990 and has increased from 22 million to 35.2 million. The total Hispanic population is categorized into two groups: A. native Hispanics- those born in US who possess Hispanic heritage and B. foreign born Hispanics they either have or do not possess US citizenship. It is estimated that both these categories contributed to the increase in Hispanic population, but the foreign born Hispanic population experienced surprising growth in their population owing to the enhanced immigration (Grieco, 2003). The distribution of Hispanic population is in California, Texas and Florida. Vermont, North Dakota and Maine possess least foreign-born Hispanics whereas Columbia, North Carolina and Georgia possess highest magnitude of foreign Hispanic populations. On the other hand smallest degree of foreign born Hispanics are found in Hawaii and Montana (Grieco, 2003). Hispanic is the terminology that is generated by the U.S. federal government in the early 1970s to denote a segment of population possessing connection to the Spanish language or culture from a Spanish-speaking country. In recent times Latino is gaining much prominence among Hispanics defining the population originated in Latin America. Hispanics display a close-knit group and their family comprises of extended family and all the close family members reside together with father as the head of the family and mother as the home maker. Members of the family bear moral responsibilities of helping each other in ups and downs of life like financial crunch, health related issues, unemployment. Hispanics display strong family bonding and they give much priority to stay with relatives or even the distant friends when travelling to other places. Celebrations and occasions like birthdays, baptism, weddings etc are performed as a great get-to-gather function. The family members give importance to respect and mannerism and inculcates these thoughts in their children with due respect to culture and Spanish language (Rodriguez, 1995). Hispanics pay great concern to etiquettes, greeting or departing with a firm hand shaking is very common amongst Hispanics also, a hug or a light kiss is also popular between, women, men and women who are close. The language emphasize on respect in both formal and nonformal addresses. It is observed that Hispanics are very conscious about their appearance with a great sense of admiration for pleasure and self-esteem. The formal dress comprise of attire which they wear during parties and social gatherings whereas jeans is more popular in men and women as non-formal outfit. It is also observed that Hispanics are quite flexible about time and punctuality any delayed arrival or not meeting the time constraint is acceptable (Noble, 1991). Hispanics are very religious and almost 90% of them are Roman Catholic. It is observed that they have firm belief in spiritual influence of religion and its impact on family and life. They celebrate Ester, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Three King’s Day along with various local festivals like las fiestas. They celebrate their rituals with full enthusiasm and keep the government offices and shops closed. Hispanics have a diverse eating habit with light meal as breakfast and lunch as the main meal called el almuerzo. Lunch is followed by rest period. In evening they have light snacks while the day concludes with a small supper at around 9:00pm. After migrating to US they have adopted the habit of three-meals a day. Hispanics pay great concern to take the meal altogether as a social get-together. On arrival of guests the meals is usually followed by a prolonged talk over coffee or after dinner drink (Sanjur, 1995). Learning and awareness towards procuring and maintaining trust. They pay great emphasis on planning, delivery and evaluation of educational efforts. The culture encompasses a great deal of respect towards teacher and also towards learners, i.e. a teacher is desired to pay attention towards learners. The education is value oriented with emphasis on language skills, income levels and cultural values (Gessler, 1998). Growth in Hispanic population is due to several reasons; innate increase, colonization from Caribbean and South America is creating noteworthy involvement resulting in new Latino subgroups- Salvadorians, Dominicans and the emerging presence of Mexicans in places like New York (Aguirre-Molina, 2001). Another reason of their growth is economic diversity. Hispanics have suffered very high poverty rate but due to migration the per capita income is has increased remarkably. Data express that between the year 1997 and 1998 their per capita income enhanced from 3.3% to 4.5% and 3.2% for White community (Aguirre-Molina, 2001). On the other hand Latinos health care encompasses: Financial barriers resulting in poor care and lack of health insurance. The accessibility of appropriate health aids, mental health and also to the preventive facilities in their lives. The discrepancies due to diabetes, alcohol abuse and mortality due to dreaded diseases like cancer and coronary diseases. Language is one of the biggest hurdles in front of Hispanics. Underrepresentation of Hispanics and Latinos in medical and health care profession. Lack of recognition of health practices based in Latino culture (Aguirre-Molina, 2001). According to National Centre for Health Statistics (2000), 18% of African American and 15% of Latinos possess poor-to-fair health as compared to 9% by Whites. The health issues faced by Latinos are due to their poor socio-economic status and also due to lack of political powers and therefore results in unfortunate synergy when placed in the context of the demographic transformation (Aguirre-Molina, 2001). It is unfortunate that Latinos face poor consideration by health care system. It is therefore essential that there should be some kind of incremental changes that must be incorporated in the nation’s health care system. The Hispanics are growing in population and hence their voting powers are also growing, it is therefore vital that the human organizational infrastructure of national groups, and health professionals pay attention to the health issues of the Hispanics (Aguirre-Molina, 2001). It is therefore essential that a new paradigm be established with a great vision and new strategies to bring changes in reforms and attitude. With the enormous growth in the population, their command over politics and power to buy, in music and entertainment persists (Aguirre-Molina, 2001). To summarize the topic it is essential to understand that Hispanic or Latino are individuals with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American or other Spanish culture or origin. Census 2000 describes the Hispanic population as the population that is distribute at national and sub-national levels. Census 2000 displays that: Mexicans were the largest Hispanic group representing 59% of the total Hispanic population. Other Hispanics were second contributing to 16% of the Hispanic community. Central America witness 5.1% of Hispanic population. Amongst them Salvadorans contribute around 39%, while Guatemalans contribute to 22% and Hondurans only 13%. South America displays only 4% of Hispanic population. Here distribution of Hispanics is like- 35% = Colombian, 19% = Ecuadorian and 17%=Peruvian Cubans represented 3.5% of Hispanic population where as Dominicans contribute to 2.3% and Spaniards as low as 0.3%. It is estimated that Hispanic population was younger than the total population: The percentage of male and female Hispanics surpasses the proportions in total population of every 5 year age group under 35. Male population is more as compared to the female population in Census 2000 where as the total population shows that females outnumber males. The Median age for Hispanics was 9 years less than the whole population: According the Census 2000 the median age of Hispanic population was 26 years as against the 35.4 years for total population. 1/3 of the total Hispanic population was younger than 18 in contrast to the ¼ of the total population. Around 4.8% of Hispanic population was contributed by 65 years or older as against 12% of total population. Married population: It was estimated that more than ½ of the Hispanic population were married. Only 14% of Hispanics were separated or widowed or divorced in contrast to 19% of the total population. Amongst Hispanics Cubans were most probable to be married. This was followed by South Americans, Mexicans and Spaniards. On the other hand Cubans were highest amongst the separated, widowed or divorced population. According to 2000 census, 1/3 of Puerto Ricans and Central Americans were never married. More than half Hispanics lived in family households: 68% of households were family households, mostly of married couple. Household maintained by female householders About 40% Hispanics were foreign born as per 2000 census. About 46% of Hispanics migrated during 1990-2000, while 29% migrated between 1980- 1989 whereas 15% between 1970 and 1979 and 10% before 1970. On the other hand half of the Mexicans and South Americans migrated to US between 1990- 2000 whereas 40% of Cuban migrated before 1970. Language spoken: As per the 2000 census, 75% of Hispanic speaks language other than English at home. Educational Attainment: 2000- As per 2000 census ½ of the Hispanic population above 25 years possess high school diploma while 10% has bachelor’s degree. Hispanics were less in labor force and more Hispanic women than Hispanic men hold government or managerial post or professional jobs. Amongst the Hispanics, Spaniard, South American and Cuban families had higher income than other Hispanic communities. Poverty rates also varied amongst the Hispanic population. The most poor were Latino group. When housing sector was analyzed it was found that more than half of the Hispanics resides in rental residential units (Census 2000 Special Report). References Aguirre-Molina, M., Molina, C. W., Zambrana, R. E., Health Issues in the Latino Community. Jossey-Bass; 1 Edition. 2001. Census 2000 Special Report. We the People: Hispanics in the United States. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-18.pdf [Accessed on 11th March 2010]. Gessler. The Language Learning Center - Spanish. Hispanic culture capsules. Roanoke, Va. Gessler Publishing Co., Inc. 1998. Grieco, E. 2003. Migration Information Source. Available at http://www.migrationinformation.org/usfocus/display.cfm?ID=95 [Accessed on 11th March 2010]. Noble, J. and LaCasa, J. The Hispanic way: Aspects of behavior, attitudes, and customs of the Spanish-speaking world. Chicago, Ill. Passport Books. 1991. Oboler, S. Ethnic labels, Latino lives: is entity and the politics of (re) presentation in United States. Univ Of Minnesota Press; 1 edition. 1995. Rodriguez, S. Hispanics in the United States: An insight into group characteristics. Department of Health and Human Services. Web Site: http: //www/hhs.gov/about/heo/hgen.html. 1995. Sanjur, D. Hispanic foodways, nutrition, and health. Needham, Mass. Allyn and Bacon. 1995. Read More