Young Latina Mothers

LatinaRecently, the Latino population in the US has become the largest ethnic group. According to the Census data, the Latino population grew by 58% from 1990 to 2000, whereas the totality population grew by 13% in the same period (Skogrand, 2005). The number is estimated to be much bigger but due to their undocumented status many Latino people did not participate during the 2000 census. The marge Latino includes a wide variety of immigrant subgroups that speak Spanish, and encompasses a number of groups from Central and South Americas, with migrants from Mexico, Puerto anti-racketeering law and Cuba being the largest, and Latina is the feminine form. early days Latino M early(a)sA research conducted by Berkowitz and Kahn (1995) titled, Sources of Support for Young Latina Mothers, highlighted the employ of youthful Latina mothers in the US and ways to address their problems. Due to high judge of immigration and affluence of boylike Latina women, which is twice comp ard to the rest of the US population, their numbers are growing rapidly. According Berkowitz and Kahn, many teenaged mothers and their children are poor, and young mothers who raise their children independently bear the brunt of hardship compared to those who extend with husbands or parents or other adults who are financially sound. However, neither getting married nor outside support to cushion the young mothers from need and other adverse affects.There is no single to pattern to describe Latina mothers as they are various however, there are certain features each of the subgroups. Puerto Rican mothers are impoverished compared with other groups, remain single, live external from parents or relatives, and are welfare dependents. Cuban mothers are economically well off with low rates of welfare benefits. Central and South American mothers living patterns are similar to Anglos, though they are poorer to the Anglos.Young adolescentage mothers who raise the children on their own are found to b e the most vulnerable. Teen mothers who live with their parents and relatives tend to remain in school and slight likely to be poor. Married teen mothers are better off compared to single teen mothers who live with relatives or parents. However, married teen mothers are less likely to attend school than unmarried, resulting in lower education levels. Mothers who delayed their first births after the teen years had d cardinal well compared to parents who became teen mothers they completed school and college.Social and heathen influencesAcculturation and biculturalism, accord to several researchers, influence the parenting style among young mothers. Acculturation is the process in which an individual acquires the skills required for look in a new environment. Hence, the impact of acculturation has altered traditional gender lineaments that resulted in women victorious up employment, yet they fall into low income groups. Latinas who are less acculturated kick in traditional gend er role beliefs, whereas more acculturated Latinas watch out more life choices (Latina Adolescent Health, 2007).Within the community, there are large cultural differences, however, there are commonalities within many Latino families. According to research the Latino families give magnificence to family, religion and gender roles. The importance of the family is the pervasive value in the Latino refining, extended family is essential. Both stemma and partnerships are considered to be same as family affiliations are given importance. The main purpose of the marriage is to have children and the subsequent family life.Traditional roles play a critical role in reinforcing the gender roles Machismo alludes to maleness or manliness and a man is expected to be physically strong, authority figure in the family who sustains the family. On the contrary, the role of the woman is complementary or Marianismo, who is self-sacrificing, religions and a homemaker. In Latino culture, motherhood fo r women is an important goal, apart(predicate) from taking care of the elderly relatives and children.The importance of family and motherhood in the culture encourages young Latinas to become mothers during their teen years. Due to high value for motherhood in Latino culture, young women do not see pregnancy negatively. Latino cultural traditions are found to be barriers to young womens ability to communicate openly with their partners. Some young women have babies with a hope that will bring attention from babys father, and later he will take up the responsibility of fatherhood in Latino culture he is the sustainer of the family. They have the highest unmarried birthrate in the nation, over three times that of whites and Asians, and around one-and-a half times that of African-American women.Nearly half of the children of Latina mothers are born out of wedlock, and there is no sign lessening of the rate as there numbers are increasing rapidly. This is due to one of the traditiona l Latino values to have children and often. It is seen as a honorable thing for a young girl to have a baby, and it is difficult to persuade young single mothers to give up children for adoption. The tightly knit extended family assists unwed child rearing.Documenting fathers of illegitimate children is problematic as the impregnators of younger women are sometimes their uncles, familiar of the girls mother, older men who have a false notion that virgins are not capable of motherhood and who avoid sexually transmitted diseases. Often, the mothers family do not pick up see anything bad of these activities (Mac Donald, 2006).Although older men take advantage of younger women, the age difference in the midst of the mother and the father of an illegitimate is child is narrowing. An agency in California found that fathers as young as 13 to 14 years of age and it quite common to find an 18-year-old to have children with assorted girls, and boys feel getting a girl pregnant is peer ap proval thing. A large bulk of fathers abandon their children and mothers, for a father may be already married or doing drugs or in prison. Though they know about the fathers whereabouts but do not know if they are working or in jail. The young womens mothers are callous and overlook what is happening in their daughters lives, and the existing favorable milieu perpetuates the child-bearing activities.ReferencesBerkowitz, R. Kahn, J. (1995). Sources of support for young Latina mothers. Retrieved on June 19, 2007, from http//aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/cyp/xslatina.htmLatina Adolescent Health. (2007). Retrieved on June 19, 2007, from http//www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/iag/latina.htmMac Donald, H. (2006). Hispanic Family Values? Hispanic trending. Retrieved on June 19, 2007, from http//juantornoe.blogs.com/hispanictrending/2006/11/hispanic_family.htmlSkogrand, L. (2005). Understanding Latino families, implications for family education. Retrieved on June 19, 2007, from Utah State Univer sity, Extension Web website http//extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FR_Family_2005-02.pdf