Over on Barbara, Guanabee’s ladyblog, there was a brief but thought-provoking interview with Professor Luis Zayas, director of the Center for Latino Family Research at Washington University in St. Louis. Zayas has been studying the unusually high rate of suicide attempts among teenage Latinas, estimated at about 15%, which is double that of their white and African-American counterparts. Results of his study seem to be typical of all Hispanic groups in the United States — Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, etc. — but doesn’t hold true for these groups within their home countries, meaning suicide rates for all these groups are higher in the U.S. Professor Zayas attributes this to multiple intersectionalities: immigration, poverty, low access to health care, language barriers, and a lack of extended family as well as the rigid gender roles typical of Latino culture.
Barbara: How does the typically low cultural status of young Latinas play into these suicide attempts?
Zayas: It’s a [low] status that they have and the expectations that are put on them for the sense of obligation to the family, but also the sense of what the boys can do that the girls can’t do. The kind of emphasis that is given on them for chastity and things like that and decorum that are not expected of the boys. There’s a lot there that they must take care of — the younger siblings and so on.
I grew up and lived the majority of my life in Puerto Rico. And yes, for many of us there are plenty of (bullshit) expectations and rules due to gender. However, as stated in the article, youth suicide is not as high as Rican youth suicides States-side.
What I found out when I moved to NYS for grad school is the crappy social status one’s nationality has here. I have class (middle-high class,well-educated, fully bilingual) and color (I have mixed heritage but am pale)privileges that have helped me navigate and cope with the bullshit that is xenophobia.
But I can honestly see how the conditions these kids are immersed in, and the huge stress we get from the expectations of our families, could lead to suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. Not to mention that there is a huge stigma attached to receiving or needing mental health care, at least within Rican culture.
Not even remotely shocked. My Mexican mother described to me often while I was young how lucky I was that I was born in this country and was “free” from what was expect of her. Indeed she actually came to the US to try to fight what everyone expect to happen to her: marry some poor, uneducated, drunk Mexican man. Pretty depressing.
Don’t get me wrong, I still grew up with much expected of me but at least those expectations consisted of my being smart and sucessful and I think that’s something that any parent would want of a child.
On the other hand, the rest of the traditional family still roles their bullshit on me constantly, “why aren’t you married yet, why no babies, your going to die alone and old, your job is to find a nice husband who will give you loads of kids and your current job is for men only, your father should have beaten you when younger this is why you don’t listen.”
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Emily Heroy, Pursuit of Harpyness. Pursuit of Harpyness said: Latinas and Suicide @ http://bit.ly/aMx62x [...]
ditto about that stigma thing in my Cuban-American family…mental illness is just not something you admit to, ever.