Mexican American

2019 ◽  
pp. 40-77
Author(s):  
Edward Telles ◽  
Christina A. Sue
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
American Study ◽  
Linked Fate ◽  
European Americans

This chapter examines Mexican Americans’ understandings of their ethnic identities, including the meaning and importance they attribute to them and the relevance of ethnicity to their lives. It reveals how their ethnic expressions generally involve a mix of symbolic and consequential ethnicity but how ethnicity often manifests differently than the symbolic or optional expressions of ethnicity experienced by many later-generation European Americans. Many of the respondents, to varying degrees, had experiences of lacking choice regarding their ethnicity, having to negotiate both Mexican and American communities, having a sense of linked fate to co-ethnics, and being stereotyped or discriminated against—all of which signal a consequential aspect to their ethnicities. The chapter also illustrates how the full Mexican American Study Project sample is distributed along a symbolic–consequential ethnicity continuum and how these distributions vary by factors such as urban area, gender, skin color, and generation.

Rural to Urban Migration of Mexican Americans, Negroes and Anglos

1971 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel O. Price
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Financial Status ◽  
Rural To Urban Migration

This study compares rural to urban Mexican-American, Negro and Anglo migrants with non-migrants continuing to live in the areas from which the migrants came. Virtually all of the migrants were better off financially than they had been before migration and better off than the non-migrants in the rural areas. The migrants also had better levels of living as measured by several indicators. The Anglos maintained the closest ties to the rural area from which they came, but the Negroes had the highest proportion sending money back. Expressed happiness in the urban area did not show much association with improvements in financial status, but most members of each group reported feeling happier in the urban than in the rural area.

Mexican American ancestry-informative markers: examination of population structure and marker characteristics in European Americans, Mexican Americans, Amerindians and Asians

2004 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather E. Collins-Schramm ◽  
Robert L. Hanson ◽  
William C. Knowler ◽  
Gabriel Silva ◽  
Michael F. Seldin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Structure ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Ancestry Informative Markers ◽  
European Americans

Mexican American

2019 ◽  
pp. 78-104
Author(s):  
Edward Telles ◽  
Christina A. Sue
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Individual

This chapter assesses whether U.S.-born Mexican Americans feel American or a part of American society, even though they have been portrayed as threats to Americanism and have had their allegiance questioned. It also considers how their ethnic identity affects their sense of Americanness. For the respondents, they in no way perceive their ethnic and national identities as being mutually exclusive; to the contrary, they find these identities to be highly compatible and complementary. They define Americanness in terms of birthplace, political loyalty, and economic opportunities; they define Mexicanness in terms of culture, family, and ancestral background. Moreover, the vast majority of the respondents view national identity as their primary identity, something that is constant, natural, and unquestioned, whereas their ethnic identities vary in intensity, depending on the individual and the situation.

scholarly journals Factors Contributing to 50-ft Walking Speed and Observed Ethnic Differences in Older Community-Dwelling Mexican Americans and European Americans

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 871-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myla U. Quiben ◽  
Helen P. Hazuda
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Walking Speed ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
European Americans

Background Mexican Americans comprise the most rapidly growing segment of the older US population and are reported to have poorer functional health than European Americans, but few studies have examined factors contributing to ethnic differences in walking speed between Mexican Americans and European Americans. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine factors that contribute to walking speed and observed ethnic differences in walking speed in older Mexican Americans and European Americans using the disablement process model (DPM) as a guide. Design This was an observational, cross-sectional study. Methods Participants were 703 Mexican American and European American older adults (aged 65 years and older) who completed the baseline examination of the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA). Hierarchical regression models were performed to identify the contribution of contextual, lifestyle/anthropometric, disease, and impairment variables to walking speed and to ethnic differences in walking speed. Results The ethic difference in unadjusted mean walking speed (Mexican Americans=1.17 m/s, European Americans=1.29 m/s) was fully explained by adjustment for contextual (ie, age, sex, education, income) and lifestyle/anthropometric (ie, body mass index, height, physical activity) variables; adjusted mean walking speed in both ethnic groups was 1.23 m/s. Contextual variables explained 20.3% of the variance in walking speed, and lifestyle/anthropometric variables explained an additional 8.4%. Diseases (ie, diabetes, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) explained an additional 1.9% of the variance in walking speed; impairments (ie, FEV1, upper leg pain, and lower extremity strength and range of motion) contributed an additional 5.5%. Thus, both nonmodifiable (ie, contextual, height) and modifiable (ie, impairments, body mass index, physical activity) factors contributed to walking speed in older Mexican Americans and European Americans. Limitations The study was conducted in a single geographic area and included only Mexican American Hispanic individuals. Conclusions Walking speed in older Mexican Americans and European Americans is influenced by modifiable and nonmodifiable factors, underscoring the importance of the DPM framework, which incorporates both factors into the physical therapist patient/client management process.

“Sad Flower in the Sand”: Camilla Lopez and the Erasure of Memory in Ask the Dust

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-82
Author(s):  
Meagan Meylor
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Female Subjectivity ◽  
Presence And Absence

While scholars of Ask the Dust have given considerable attention to the novel’s protagonist Arturo Bandini, his Mexican American love interest Camilla Lopez has been relatively neglected. Scholarship concerning Camilla has been limited to her destructive relationship with Arturo and her attempts at adopting Hollywood values. By foregrounding the figure of Camilla through the socio-historical lens of the marginalization and deportation of Mexicans and Mexican Americans during the 1930s, this chapter offers important insights into Fante’s novel, most notably in its treatment of ethnic identities within Los Angeles. It also provides a feminist reading of Ask the Dust by examining Fante’s treatment of working-class female subjectivity and of how Camilla’s recurring presence and absence draw attention to the Mexican past of Los Angeles, a history often erased in the city’s collective memory.

Perceived cultural acceptability and comfort with affectionate touch: Differences between Mexican Americans and European Americans

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 1000-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary H. Burleson ◽  
Nicole A. Roberts ◽  
David W. Coon ◽  
José A. Soto
Keyword(s):  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Mexican Culture ◽  
European Americans ◽  
Ethnic Group Differences ◽  
Physical Touch ◽  
Personal Attitudes ◽  
The Relationship

Ethnographic descriptions suggest that cultures differ in the extent to which they value physical touch and its acceptability in different kinds of social relationships. For example, compared to European American (EA) culture, Mexican culture is described as placing greater emphasis on warm interpersonal interactions, in which touch may play an important part. We tested this notion empirically by assessing attitudes about touch among 271 Mexican American (MA; 208 female) and 578 EA (434 female) college students. Specifically, we examined potential ethnic group differences in (1) participants’ perception of the acceptability of affectionate touch (AT) within their cultures, depending on the relationship (close others vs. acquaintances) and setting (private vs. public) in which the touch occurs; and (2) participants’ own personal comfort with AT. Among MAs, we examined associations between touch attitudes and acculturation. As predicted, MAs reported greater cultural acceptability of AT with acquaintances (but not close others) and in public (but not private) settings than did EAs. Participants’ own comfort with AT was greater for both MA men and EA women than for EA men. Further, higher perceived cultural acceptability of AT predicted greater personal comfort with AT in both ethnic groups. Finally, among MAs, greater acculturation predicted less comfort with AT. Together, these results lend support to the notion that MA ethnocultural norms encourage AT in nonintimate contexts to a greater degree than EA norms, particularly for men, and that personal attitudes about AT are largely congruent with these norms. They also call attention to cross-cultural similarities in attitudes about touch in more intimate contexts.

An ORBIT Phase 1: Design study of a citywide employer-based walking challenges in a predominantly Mexican American metropolitan area

2020 ◽  
pp. 135910532097765
Author(s):  
Jennifer J. Salinas ◽  
Roy Valenzuela ◽  
Jon Sheen ◽  
Malcolm Carlyle ◽  
Jennifer Gay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
El Paso ◽  
Intervention Development ◽  
Obesity Intervention ◽  
Physical Activity Recommendations ◽  
Orbit Model ◽  
Activity Recommendations

Most Mexican-Americans do not meet current physical activity recommendations. This paper uses the ORBIT model of obesity intervention development as a framework to outline the process of establishing three employer-based walking challenges in El Paso, Texas, a predominantly Mexican American community. The walking challenges were planned and implemented through the Border Coalition for Fitness and participating partnering organizations. Over 2000 participants and several employers took part in the walking challenges. Results from this ORBIT Phase 1 design intervention suggest that walking challenges are a feasible approach to increase physical activity in Mexican-Americans.

Measuring Attitudes and Health Beliefs Among Mexican Americans With Diabetes

1994 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terri Schwab ◽  
Julie Meyer ◽  
Rosa Merrell
Keyword(s):  
Health Beliefs ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Health Belief ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Patients With Diabetes ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Belief Model

Adherence to the treatment regimen for patients with diabetes is of major concern to healthcare practitioners, particularly when dealing with the high-risk, low-income, Mexican-American population. Assessing the attitudes and beliefs of this group is vital for planning effective and realistic intervention strategies. Therefore, we designed a culturally sensitive instrument to measure health beliefs and attitudes of low-income Mexican Americans with diabetes. The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as a basis for this study because it is well accepted as a predictor of health-related behaviors. However, we found that the HBM was not an effective tool for assessing the health beliefs or attitudes of this patient population even after rigorous efforts to operationalize the HBM and after conducting extensive statistical analyses. Only two of the five subscales of the traditional HBM, barriers and benefits, were reliable. Scales to measure acculturation and fatalism were added to increase the cultural sensitivity of the tool. These added components were found to be an important variable in interpreting the results for low-income Mexican-American patients.

The Ambivalent Minority: Mexican Americans and the Voting Rights Act

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Skerry
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
San Antonio ◽  
Voting Rights Act ◽  
News Magazine ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Rich History

In the countless conversations about U.S. immigration policy that I have had with Mexican Americans of varied backgrounds and political orientations, seldom have my interlocutors failed to remind me that “We were here first,” or that “This was our land and you stole it from us.” Even a moderate Mexican American politician like former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros sounds the same theme in a national news magazine:It is no accident that these regions have the names they do—Los Angeles, San Francisco, Colorado, Montana.…It is a rich history that Americans have been led to believe is an immigrant story when, in fact, the people who built this area in the first place were Hispanics.

scholarly journals Ethnic Attrition and the Observed Health of Later-Generation Mexican Americans

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 467-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisca Antman ◽  
Brian Duncan ◽  
Stephen J. Trejo
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Subjective Measures ◽  
Almost All

Numerous studies find that U.S.-born Hispanics differ significantly from non-Hispanic whites on important measures of human capital, including health. Nevertheless, almost all studies rely on subjective measures of ethnic self-identification to identify immigrants' U.S.-born descendants. This can lead to bias due to “ethnic attrition,” which occurs whenever a U.S.-born descendant of a Hispanic immigrant fails to self-identify as Hispanic. This paper shows that Mexican American ethnic attritors are generally more likely to display health outcomes closer to those of non-Hispanic whites. This biases conventional estimates of Mexican American health away from suggesting patterns of assimilation and convergence with non-Hispanic whites.

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