What Does It Mean To Be Mexican (American)? Exploring Youth Ethnic Identity

2021 ◽  
pp. 001100002098530
Author(s):  
Halleh Hashtpari ◽  
Karen W. Tao ◽  
Kritzia Merced ◽  
Joél Arvizo-Zavala ◽  
James Hernández

Children’s racial (e.g., Black, White, Indigenous) and ethnic (e.g., Mexican) identity can influence psychological, social, and academic outcomes. Despite evidence that awareness of racial–ethnic marginalization begins during preadolescence, there is minimal research examining how children talk about identity at this age. The purpose of this study was to examine how preadolescent Mexican American youth conceptualize “who they are.” Specifically, we used the Ethnic-Perspective Taking Ability interview protocol to explore how Mexican American youth, ages 9–11, understand their ethnicity. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: Self as “Other,” Self as Invisible, Self as a Politicized Being, and Self as Community. Participants discussed feeling out of place, often feeling excluded by Whiteness, and needing to code switch. These experiences also were juxtaposed with a sense of ethnic pride and comfort. Implications for practice, advocacy, education, and research are offered.

Diabetes Care ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. D. Neufeld ◽  
L. J. Raffel ◽  
C. Landon ◽  
Y. -D. I. Chen ◽  
C. M. Vadheim

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 834-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeti Vaghela ◽  
Koji Ueno

Second-generation adolescents experience identity conflict when trying to adapt to the United States. This identity conflict may be compounded for Asians, who experience racialization of their ethnicity. This intensity of identity conflict and racialization of ethnicity is reflected in different pairings of racial and ethnic identities (e.g., Hyphenated-Nationality, Hyphenated-Asian). We examine how these identity pairings are associated with mental health. Analysis used a sample of 1,308 second-generation Asian adolescents (aged 15–19) from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study Wave 2 (1995–1996). Although not all associations were significant, low levels of identity conflict tended to be associated with lower levels of depression and more problem behaviors. Perhaps these identity pairings help reduce depression by lowering identity conflict while increasing peer conflicts. The analysis also showed that among adolescents with the same type of ethnic identity, mental health varied across racial identity, highlighting the importance of examining identity pairings.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor W. Hargrove, MA ◽  
Tyson H. Brown, PhD

<br clear="all" /><p> </p><p> <strong>Objective: </strong>Previous research has docu­mented a relationship between childhood socioeconomic conditions and adult health, but less is known about racial/ethnic dif­ferences in this relationship, particularly among men. This study utilizes a life course approach to investigate racial/ethnic differ­ences in the relationships among early and later life socioeconomic circumstances and health in adulthood among men.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Panel data from the Health and Retirement Study and growth curve models are used to examine group differences in the relationships among childhood and adult socioeconomic factors and age-tra­jectories of self-rated health among White, Black and Mexican American men aged 51-77 years (<em>N</em>=4147).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Multiple measures of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) predict health in adulthood for White men, while significant­ly fewer measures of childhood SES predict health for Black and Mexican American men. Moreover, the health consequences of childhood SES diminish with age for Black and Mexican American men. The child­hood SES-adult health relationship is largely explained by measures of adult SES for White men.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The life course pathways link­ing childhood SES and adult health differ by race/ethnicity among men. Similar to argu­ments that the universality of the adult SES-health relationship should not be assumed, results from our study suggest that scholars should not assume that the significance and nature of the association between child­hood SES and health in adulthood is similar across race/ethnicity among men.<em> Ethn Dis.</em>2015;25(3):313-320.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Miller-Cotto ◽  
Leann V. Smith ◽  
Andrew David Ribner ◽  
Aubrey H Wang

Executive functions remain one of the most investigated variables in both cognitive science and in education given its high correlation with numerous academic outcomes. Differences in executive function skills between children from higher socioeconomic and lower socioeconomic homes, as well as children from different racial/ethnic backgrounds, are often attributed to the quality of their environment and family resources. The goal of this essay is to highlight commonly held beliefs about executive functions in the field and provide alternative explanations for existing research findings for minoritized children and their families. We provide a summary of the literature on executive functions, how it’s often measured, how it develops, and how we might view research findings differently with greater knowledge of the groups we are studying.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 706-710

OVERVIEW Minority women physicians may be defined as those of nonwhite racial and ethnic identification. There is a paucity of data available on these women. Until the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the impact of affirmative action programs, reliable statistics regarding minorities were scarce. Subsequently, a data base identifying racial/ethnic origin as well as sex of medical students and physicians has been evolving. Many sources are currently unable to provide such information because most applications are without racial identification. Neither the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) nor the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) maintain data regarding racial/ethnic origin of members. In the 1970s there was a rapid increase in admissions of both women and minorities in US medical schools. First-year enrollment in 1980-1981 included 14.1% minority men and women (Table 1). The number of minority women entering medical school increased from 266 (2.2%) in 1971-1972 to 1,066 (6.2%) in 1981-1982 (Table 2). In departments of pediatrics in US medical schools in 1982, minority women represented 17% of all faculty members. Of 201 minority women, there were 127 Asian, 37 black, 24 Puerto Rican, three Mexican-American, nine other Hispanic, and one American Indian. The most significant increase in representation has occurred in the Asian ethnic group. Minority populations have poorer health status and are at higher risk with respect to accessibility, availability, and utilization of health services. The recruitment and training of minority physicians is important in providing culturally sensitive health care acceptable to bilingual and bicultural minorities. Most minority groups have career development problems that may be related to their ethnic and cultural background.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document