research paper about mexican culture

• Communities
• Toggle navigation

Atenas Barquet Toledo’s Portfolio

This is a BMCC OpenLab site template

Mexican Values and Ideologies, and How They Affect Mexicans Individually and Collectively: A Cultural Psychology Assessment from an Insider Perspective

Atenas Barquet-Toledo

PSY 280H 0900

Prof. Komolova

May 02, 2023

Introduction

Within the cultural psychology umbrella, it is essential to remember not to define individuals by cultural stereotypes, nor to reduce them to be completely detached from their cultural values, or to presume that cultural values are nonexistent. After months of deeply studying cultural psychology and analyzing different cultures and different psychological perspectives of the psycho-socio-cultural factors that homogenize these cultures into a whole , I have reached a self-reflective point for my individual self, my collective self, and my acculturation and socialization as a Mexican woman in the United States. 

In this academic paper, I have gathered empirical data on traditional Mexican values, supported by research that reveals the psychological effects of cultural values and ideologies on the individual and collective self. I explore carefully how socially and culturally constructed concepts affect one’s notion of what is , and therefore, who I am .

This research paper primarily focuses on concepts of intelligence and cognate, power and status, emotional affection, gender norms, mental health stigma, and how these concepts affect self-identification and result in self-fulfilling prophecy induced behaviors which create a systematic cycle that leads to a struggling society. 

Finally, as a conclusion, I offer some thoughtful insights, at a smaller and greater scale, on how to target these sociocultural issues. 

Intelligence and Cognate

In most cultures throughout the mid-twentieth and twenty-first centuries, intelligence has been measured by cognitive testing. Tests such as IQ tests, achievement tests, and other standardized tests have been thought to be biased, used to manipulate minority groups throughout history, and have been unsuccessful in capturing the true intelligence of a person (which is abstract and subjective, and therefore can’t be measured through such determined, specific and technical ways). Moreover, intelligence and cognitive testing are a controversial discourse due to the student’s psychological influences when taking standardized tests, the creation and measurement of these tests, and the consequences these tests have on the student. 

The psychological influences on IQ and other cognitive testing are genetic and environmental. Research concludes there is indeed a genetic influence on children’s intelligence, but there is also a strong influence from the child’s environment. Three observations were made from a research conducted by Doctor Virginia Welle regarding the correlation between environmental influences and test results: The connection between early social deprivation and poverty and lower IQ scores, the importance of schooling and early childhood interventions, and the exposure to environmental toxins and its impact on intelligence (Welle, V., 2017).

Mexico’s standardized testing doesn’t differ much from the United States in matters of structure, subjects of study/intelligences to be measured, and creator bias. The structure of the trimestrial diagnostic evaluation from the public education bureau (SEP) is similar to that of the Regents exams in regards of length, regulations, timing and organization. The subjects of study, or intelligences to be measured, are also based on logical mathematical, or of orthodox intelligence standards, excluding any artistic, linguistic, or creative intelligences. Lastly, there are environmental and opportunity factors disregarded in the creation process of these intelligence-measuring tests. These standardized tests enhance the lack of opportunity that those with lower IQs possess, which in Mexico, like in the United States, are most likely those living in poverty who haven’t been offered a proper education, a higher education, or a fair quality of life and upbringing. 

One’s environment does affect one’s intelligence, or the construct of what intelligence means according to culture. First, it’s important for me to highlight that intelligence is defined differently in Mexico than it is in the United States. In her academic article on intelligence assessments in the U.S. being inadequate for outsiders of American culture, Patricia M. Greenfield, writes about the difference between Educacion and education. Educacion in spanish-speaking cultures reflects values of etiquette, respectful or correct behavior, and social skills and status quo. Contrastingly, education in the U.S. has more cognitive connotations (Greenfield, P. M., 1997).

Additionally to the point made by Greenfield, there is a section in the Mexican diagnostic evaluations called “Educacion Civica y Etica”, which is taught from middle school up to high school and it translates to “Civic and Ethical Education”. This systematic educational approach reveals the importance of traditional Mexican values, such as Educacion , and the impact these values have on Mexicans’ psyche, life, and behavior. 

Through this approach of intelligence, we can begin to understand that indeed, as Greenfields mentions, the meaning of intelligence is reliant on the shared values, knowledge, and communication of a symbolic culture. Through ethics, morality, and communication, Mexicans share an intelligence based on the values of respect, dignity, honor and problem-solving. Mexicans’ conceptualization of education, or Educacion , helps conserve an individual’s “normalcy” apart from how literate they are, without thinking of him or her as less valuable than those with higher IQs, because cognition isn’t attached to individual value. Therefore, power in Mexico has not such a sharp correlation with “intelligence” or cognate. Power in Mexico is more closely related to money and connections, which contrastingly from the U.S., is not always acquired through an education or a successful business. 

Power and Status

As mentioned, cognitive intelligence in Mexico is considerably neutral in regards to value and identity. Thus, a Mexican’s value, within a cultural and social scale, is not defined by their intelligence. Power, on the other hand, is a much stronger element when it comes to defining one’s identity in Mexico. 

Power is the capacity to influence others, differently from status, which is the respect one gets from peers and colleagues (Keltner, D., 2021). “Respect”, as Keltner mentions, is one of those essential Mexican traditional values, both to be respectful and to be respected , and this is where other values such as dignity and morality blend in as well. I remember watching the show Friends with my uncle Carlos Toledo, a 45 year-old Mexican now living in the U.S., and there was a scene in which Joey uses the phrase, “You bastard” as a joke. My uncle then turned to me and said, “In Mexico, calling someone a bastard, back when I was a kid, was the worst insult you could possibly tell somebody. It was worse than “fuck you” or any other curse word. It was about respect–you were pretty much disrespecting their entire family and identity.” 

The desire for respect is what leads Mexicans to seek power, status, and even dominance. The search for personal value within these cultural principles and desires can lead to greater-scale negative consequences. In Mexico, according to the national institute of statistics and geography (INEGI), only 18% percent of Mexicans have a college degree, which means, deducibly and empirically, that there are a lot of people that have money, power and status that do not employ lawful jobs. Although one could argue that due to this being the same percentage of middle to upper class Mexicans,formal education and class in Mexico do have an orderly and inductive relationship. According to a NYTimes article, 10% of Mexicans living in Mexico are upper class, only 8% are middle class, and 82% are lower class (living in red poverty or moderate poverty). But there are still concerns and questions on how the political system in Mexico executes their power on their people–how lawful it truly is and which potentially illicit organizations it’s aligned with. 

On an external level, power affects how the Mexican government works through the endless ambition and dissatisfaction of political leaders and the corruption techniques they use and abuse to keep as much of the national income as they can, even if it means less for the people. Mexico’s government applies kleptocracy to their ruling strategies. Kleptocracy is defined as a society in which the ruling people use their power to steal their country’s resources. Mexico is a megadiverse country, meaning it offers a lot of natural resources, such as raw oil, minerals and agricultural goods. The trade balance surplus Mexico earned in 2021 was a total of 14.87 billion USD, according to the International Trade Administration (ITA). And although policy making and policy applicability is expensive, Mexicans can’t help but wonder where most of the national income goes. 

Corruption doesn’t just play a part at a government level, these same practices effectuate throughout the whole nation, including federal agencies, and sadly even amongst Mexicans, as we can understand and associate this with high crime rates. “Despite recent improvements, Mexico’s homicide rate remains near historical highs, at 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people, resulting in over 34,000 victims. This equates to 94 homicides per day on average in 2021” (Vision of Humanity, 2022).

In Mexico, Mexicans are more scared of police officers than criminals, because the police officers are criminals themselves (the same goes for the military). These political and federal abuses of power and corruption are also interrelated with status, because the reason for these immoral behaviors is the desire for money, recognition, and respect. Moreover, these same corrupt powers are aligned with the Mexican puppet masters, the Narcos . Sadly, the trafficking imperium is still the most powerful entity in Mexico today, not just drug trafficking, but sex trafficking as well, making Mexico a dangerous place for Mexicans, and especially Mexican women. In sixteen years, there were reports of 80,000 women disappearances in Mexico after the “war against Narcos ” was declared by former Mexican president Felipe Calderon (Arista, L., 2022).

On an internal level, the status desired by Mexicans affects self-esteem, identity and emotions. The need for status; to be respected and have a sense of dignity, affects the Mexican’s self-image and self-value, triggering an unhealthy cyclic process of thought-emotion-behavior, in which a thought is created, “I have no money, so I cannot buy the same pretty shoes and clothes as Jenni. Therefore, I am not as cool and popular as she is”, then an emotion, “I feel less valuable, less loved and less respected by others because I am of lower class and status than some of my classmates”, then behavior, “I start looking for ways to make easy money, even if that means not finishing school”. In the last example of the thought-emotion-behavior process, the exemplified behavior is what happens to a lot of Mexicans and the reason why there is a drop-out trend. In Mexico, there are very minimum and hard to find part-time jobs, almost negligible in quantity, therefore, since students cannot go to school and work at the same time, as in the U.S., drop-outs are very common. Being of low-class and not having the status or quality of life desired, therefore, can create low self-esteem due to the link between class and identity in Mexico; I am what I have, if I don’t have a lot or can’t afford a lot, I am not a lot; I am of low value.

Mexicans exist in this dichotomy of corruption and warmth, which makes it a difficult culture to understand because of its complexity. But these cultural concepts ingrained in the Mexicans psyche are the door to entering what could be a new Mexican reality. See, if Mexicans understood the psycho-cultural connotations of cultural constructs; and how values of respect, dignity and honor affect the thought-emotion-behavior process, then perhaps there could be an exponential growth through changing one’s initial thoughts that leads to negative behavior–from a single individual to the entire Mexican society. “My value is not in the status or the power I hold. I have dignity and honor, despite what others think of me, despite how much money I have, and despite how ‘intelligent’ I am according to questionably designed tests”.

But this desperation for power and status, the lack of proper education, a low quality life, environment and upbringing, plus the desire and social comparison of what the media (mostly from first-world countries) portrays as the “proper way of living and looking”, makes it difficult to ever change one’s initial, damaging thought. 

Emotions and Affection

The corruption and crime in Mexico contrast the warmth, friendliness, and humor of the characteristic Mexican personality and service that is so cherished by tourists and Mexicans.

In an informal poll I conducted on Instagram asking my Mexican friends and acquaintances to define a Mexican’s personality, some said, “loving”, “warm”, “sociable”, “romantic”, and “funny”. These are all descriptions that can be linked with emotions; emotions of love, happiness, etc. Mexicans are indeed warm and welcoming, as many tourists have described from their experiences of traveling to Mexico and meeting Mexican people, as well as how we Mexicans describe ourselves.

Some of my first cultural shocks when I moved to the United States from Mexico were actually regarding the “coldness” or lack of physical demonstration of affection and emotion in the U.S. There are three experiences I could highlight as examples (1) In Mexico, we have a custom of always saying “good morning”, “good afternoon”, and “good night” to friends, family, neighbors, and strangers. I was walking my aunt’s dog, and out of habit (because it is a habit for Mexicans), I said “good afternoon” to two older ladies walking their dogs. I’d never seen them before and neither had them, since I’d just moved into the neighborhood. I kept walking the dog and then the ladies came back and said to me, “You know, no one says ‘good afternoon’ anymore, especially young people. It is so nice and refreshing to hear it from you”. (2) I moved to the U.S. during my Sophomore year of high school. In the hallways when I was walking to find my class, there were two things that stood out about me from the rest of the students. One, I smiled a lot, to absolutely everyone, even if I didn’t know them. Two, I asked a lot of questions: “Where’s the bathroom?” “What does this mean?” “Where is this room?” Etc. A lot of other students were surprised, but seemed to appreciate the friendly gesture and smile back, or answered my questions kindly. Others were thrown off and either didn’t know what to do, looked away, looked at me with a facial expression of confusion, or answered my questions with indifference. (3) The funniest one to me was how my “natural” way of showing affection appeared as “flirting” within the high school environment I was in. Interestingly and funny enough, I was as affectionate towards my girlfriends as towards my guy friends, if not more towards girls, but for some reason I was only “flirty” towards guys. Because I would hug my guy friends often and some of them had girlfriends, it was immediately assumed by the other students that I was romantically interested, when this wasn’t the case at all. If they only knew that in Mexico, in some families it is customary for family members to kiss each other on the mouth; parents, kids, siblings, cousins, no exceptions. My brother and I too had to kiss our family members, not each other ever (thankfully), on the mouth; mom, dad, grandma, some aunts, until we were old enough to decide we didn’t want to do that anymore. Most of my family members still practice kissing each other on the lips without any sexual or romantic connotations.

There are many more ways in which Mexicans show affection and emotion towards each other that can be very physical. Kissing, hugging, smiling and polite interactions with strangers are just some of them. It is also common for Mexicans to have to sleep next to each other (not with each other) when they live with multiple family members in smaller houses. I myself had to sleep with my mom until I turned fifteen and moved to the U.S. We used to cuddle, watch movies, and before we went to sleep we would kiss each other on the lips, up until I was fifteen. It wasn’t sexual or weird, as many Americans may think of it–perhaps even grossed out by this practice. It is a simple peck, and it is just part of the culture. 

Another common practice to show affection is dancing and laughing, usually within a party environment. My brother and I always dance salsa and cumbia together at parties, and I even sit on his lap sometimes, which is another “sexual” behavior in American culture, but not within Mexican culture. It’s very common to sit on a friend’s or family member’s lap, especially if there is nowhere else to sit, or just because . It is not seen as sexual behavior. 

Some of the practices Mexicans employ to demonstrate affection, or just customary behaviors and habits, could be described as warm, sociable and loving, which are related to emotions that characterize our culture and Mexicans. 

In recent research conducted by Paul K. Piff and Jake P. Moskowitz, it was found that social class is aligned with emotions. Social class underlies patterns of attending to the self versus attending to others. Higher class was found to be more self-oriented with feelings of contentment and pride, while lower class was found to be more prone to other-oriented feelings of compassion and love, with a greater awe (Piff, Paul K. and Moskowitz, Jake P. 2017).

  These research’s findings could be associated with the link of “warm cultures” to third-world countries.  Additionally, Mexicans are a part of a collectivist culture, which means empathy and compassion are essential when interacting with each other within a social environment. In an interdependent model of the self, the individual is not alone responsible for her own well-being or behavior; instead, people who are interdependent bear some responsibility for each other. This model emphasizes that the person is inherently and fundamentally connected to others, stressing empathy, reciprocity, belongingness, kinship, hierarchy, loyalty, respect, politeness, and social obligations (Markus, H., R., & Kitayama, S. 1991). This model aligns with Mexican values, personality traits, emotions and behavior. 

Understanding emotions and how they could be triggered, enhanced, or provoked by cultural beliefs is primary to understanding oneself as an individual within one’s culture. And understanding oneself is imperative to taking responsibility over one’s behavior.

Although Mexicans are proud of their collective love, emotional expression, friendliness, service, and humor, Mexicans should still take responsibility for their actions, which is something we can lack in collectivist cultures. Perhaps taking responsibility for wrong-doings, thinking critically about victimization and leaving a side prejudice and pride, could help us see more clearly the negative side that comes from our cultural beliefs and values. 

Another important and worth-mentioning part of emotions employed in Mexican culture is the dichotomy between how men and women express their emotions.

Gender Roles 

According to Mexican traditional ideologies, only men and women exist, and not on the same terms. Consequently excluding any gender and sex fluid individuals and creating a dangerously obvious imbalance between men and women.

Mexico is a country that, after its independence in 1810 from the Spanish monarchy, adopted radical and fundamentalist religious beliefs, customs and values. According to the INEGI, in 2020, 78.6% of Mexicans identified as Catholics. Traditional catholic and biblical teachings can be interpreted in various ways in an anti-secular context. Unfortunately, a lot of religious values practiced by Mexican catholics are associated with prudery, virginity, hegemony, heteronormativity and throughout history have been used to oppress, creating a patriarchal society. 

Patriarchal societies are characterized by inequality between men and women, even outside of a legal umbrella. Meaning that even if the law says that men and women are equal, social practices say otherwise. Gender stereotypes in American media reflect women as passive, private, emotional, and sexually objectified, while men are stereotyped as active, public, logical, and sexual subjects (Otto, Brian L. and Mack, Robert L. 2014). These traditional gender roles may apply to other cultures outside of the American culture, which may be influenced by the American media, but are appropriate and suitable to any patriarchal system nonetheless. Furthermore, Mexican media throughout history has done a similar job as American media in making sure that these gender norm messages are encoded in the most famous and recognized Mexican telenovelas and movies; offering a fantasy of a woman that is mistreated and/or misunderstood by society, usually an emotional, passive and private woman, who is then rescued by the handsome man who usually has a better status and holds a greater power than the woman; an active, public, logical man. Some of these media examples include Betty la Fea , one of the most famous Latin American shows (which has a Mexican adaptation), of an “ugly” woman that is shy and insecure, but then receives a make-over, becoming more beautiful and now recognized and valued by society. After this transformation, and other dramatic events, Betty finally gets the man of her dreams, the Galan de Telenovelas . Others follow similar sexist plots, of a poor girl who’s been mistreated because of her low status, falls in love with the rich boy, and finally becomes “somebody” in society after overcoming the challenges to be with the man subject, such as Maria la del Barrio , Esmeralda , Marisol , Cuidado con el Angel, La Gata , etc. 

As a result of gender norms and stereotypes in Mexican culture, men and women have been affected emotionally, socially, economically, and psychologically. Within a patriarchal system, when it comes to expressing emotions, women are stereotyped as emotional and men as rational. This has a great effect on the suppression of emotions from men. Growing up, men have toxic masculinity ideals ingrained in their psyche, thinking that they ought to be strong and rational. Men are raised to be providers, strong and silent, and are discouraged and even shamed for expressing vulnerable and tender emotions. They are required to engage in masculine practices and avoid feminine practices. Unlike their sisters, they receive little, if any training in nurturing others, being sensitive and being empathic (Levant, Ronald F. 2003).

The lack of emotional education rooted from environmental factors has consequences in the way men suppress their emotions; leading to poor anger management, anger issues, frustration, and other reactive behaviors. The National Library of Medicine conducted a study on gender differences regarding emotional intelligence and concluded that women are more prone to identify intended, target, and subtle emotions than men, as well as believing that they are more emotionally intelligent than men (Fischer, Agneta H. 2018).

Traditional gender norms don’t just impact emotional intelligence, they also affect socialization amongst Mexicans. The role we are given by society makes us who we are; the social-self , unconsciously manipulating the perception we have of ourselves through the view of others. The social-self , within this context, is the meeting point between this is how it is and this is who I am . Otherwise explained as a syllogism: Mexican women stay home to cook, clean and raise children; I am a Mexican woman; I stay home, cook, clean and raise children (because this is how it is ). In Mexico, only 45% of women work, unlike men, “the providers”, that make up 78% of working men, according to recent INEGI findings. According to this same data, women make 54.5% less than men yearly, and men make 34.2% more hourly. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why women decide to stay home with their children.

These emotional, social, and economic repercussions of traditional gender norms in Mexico have a psychological impact on the self; on how one views themselves, on their collective and interdependent values, on how one interacts with others, and on how one falls into the self-fulfilling prophecy of the “Mexican” by believing and accepting these roles. 69.3% of low-income Mexican women have suffered some type of violence, 70.1% between the ages of 25 to 37. Furthermore, 42.6% of Mexican women have been sexually abused, 37.8% have been raped. There are abnormal and environmental psychological reasons as to why an abuser may commit a crime of this sort, as well as major psychological consequences of these traumatic experiences for the victims. 

The traditional gender norms adopted from malleable religious interpretations have had violent effects in Mexicans. And perhaps it is not just the cultural or religious construct of gender norms, but how they are unconsciously decoded and practiced by Mexicans. Although things have been changing in Mexico, with more awareness, feminist, social, and activist movements than ever before, contrastingly and statistically, there has also been more femicides and violence in Mexico than ever before. Wherever these horrific practices of violence are rooted from, culturally and/or psychologically, we need a new approach, one that starts with deep analysis, self-reflection, and collective reflection.

Mental Health Stigma

In Mexico today, there is still a stigma regarding mental illness. According to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 1 out of 4 people globally have had mental health issues or mental illness. In Mexico, only 20% of people go to a therapist or psychiatrist when they have accepted to have psychological problems or disorders. Apart from the financial burden that is paying for therapy when you can barely afford meals for the week, it is common for Mexicans to “shove it under the rug”.

My grandma is one of those people who didn’t believe in therapy until now. In junior high school in Mexico, my friends were already going to therapy and taking medical treatment. When I told this to my grandma, back when I was thirteen years-old she laughed and said, “As my mom would say, with a couple of slaps you’ll be fixed”. This is the way a lot of Mexicans think. I recall another conversation with my grandma in which she told me she’d never been anxious. But later on told me that there were times in which she couldn’t sleep throughout the entire night just thinking about her worries, and I said, “Mom, that’s anxiety”. She laughed as a form of agreement, but didn’t explicitly agree with me. 

My grandma is always happy, or she appears to be. She always says, Feliz toda la vida , which translates to “Always happy”, that’s her motto. She’ll always say she is happy, but there is a lot of trauma which she’d never talked about to anyone, until I started asking. She will deny that it affects her, but I’ve seen her cry and she’s told me things that, as a student of psychology, I could only define as deep, untreated wounds. 

My mom, on the other hand, doesn’t say much. She has a cut on her finger from a traumatic experience, I know this because I was told by someone else what had happened. When I asked my mom what happened she said she cut herself cutting an onion. She lies because she doesn’t want to talk about it, because “it’s in the past”. In Mexico, a lot of people believe in just letting go of the past and moving on, because when you live day by day; paycheck to paycheck, it makes life easier to believe this. 

There are a lot of factors previously mentioned that interrelate here; identity, power, status/class, gender norms, violence, and deeper psychological factors that influence the behavior of Mexicans, like traditional values, upbringing, environment and trauma. The impact of trauma and PTSD is very profound and impactful on individuals and society. It disrupts interpersonal relationships; increases risk of anxiety, depression and substance abuse and addictions; increases drop-out risk and academic failure; and reduces the ability to work (Kearney, D. J. and Simpson, T.L. 2020).

So despite “shoving trauma under the rug”, trauma comes back through incomprehensible, negative behavior: Why do I stay in a relationship in which I am abused? Why can’t I stop doing drugs? Why can’t I stop having sex with strangers? Why do I push my friends away? Why do I make bad decisions? A lot of these questions are related to coping mechanisms, which we employ to “deal” with trauma instead of treating it. 

It is hard to encourage Mexicans to treat their psychological wounds when the stress, anxiety, poor emotional management, and negative coping behavior might not only be rooted in biological factors, but most likely in environmental factors. It is even harder to attack a long-time corrupted and patriarchal system. Nonetheless, ideologies are changing, and that is a good way to start. Sometimes traditions may be beautiful, healthy and admirable; like Mexican folklore dances, traditional food, holistic medicine practices, classic Mexican music, warmth and demonstration of affection, and even certain traditional practices like learning how to saw, cook, and clean at a young age (although it should be implemented for all children, not just girls). But not all traditions are healthy and cheerful. As I’ve mentioned, certain cultural ideologies, traditions, beliefs and values, can have a negative impact on how Mexicans live life.

Conclusion–How to Target Negative Behavior, Systematic Cycles, and a Struggling Mexican Society

The Environment 

Ideologies are changing. This is already having an individual and collective impact. But systematically, we need more. As mentioned, the statistics of people with a higher education in Mexico are concerningly low. Education is a major environmental factor that, if improved, may affect the individual and collective bodies positively. 

Mexican president, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, said in La Mañanera, a political news show broadcasted to the entire Mexican nation, that most of the people that go against his re-election campaign are those who have a college degree, a higher education, or are middle class. As innocent as this might sound, and emotionally reactive from the president, it says a lot about democracy in Mexico. When more than 80% of a nation is living in poverty, is uneducated, and is reasonably desperate for a better quality of life, Mexican politicians use this to their advantage. This political strategy is called demagoguery, and in Mexico, it is employed through a “buying votes” technique. A “More for the poor” motto that offers pensions and promotes “better quality of life” promises, but these promises are empty and tend to lack a structured, organized plan on how to get there. 

The Mexican environment needs to change for a better quality of life for Mexicans. And perhaps the Narco imperium might be the most difficult target to start with, so I would propose to target education first. A higher quality, more available and reachable education, and with a strategy that allows and encourages all Mexicans to attain it. Improving the Mexican education system is key to improving the Mexican economy, well-being, quality of life and lowering crime rates. 

This political proposal could be effectuated through creating safer and more rigidly supervised environments in public schools in Mexico; adding more variety in programs of study and international opportunities to public universities; creating a healthier, free meal plan in all public schools to also target food insecurity; offering free school supplies and books; and encouraging Mexican and international businesses to employ full-time as well as part-time jobs for students, this will not only increase job opportunities, it will also result in higher income for the businesses and overall Mexican economy, as well as give Mexican students a chance to attain an education while supporting their families or themselves. 

The Smaller Scale Plan: The Self

Education has a powerful impact on how we see the world. The more we learn and know, the more we understand. The more we understand ourselves, the more we are capable to self-reflect and to think critically, as well as to develop a growth mindset. 

I still remember when I was in 4th grade and in the last two class periods we were taken to the auditorium for a speaker event. I remember it vaguely, but he spoke about the “first-world mindset” vs the “third-world mindset”. He offered this example: “In the United States, when a person sees someone who is successful, they say to themselves ‘How did they get there? I must work hard and be smart to get to where they are.’ When in Mexico, we say, ‘How did he get there? That’s so unfair. He probably had money, that’s why.’ We feel jealous and try to bring the other person down instead of trying to get to their same level of success.”

Although I wouldn’t have used the same terms that the speaker used, he was referring to a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset. Carol Dweck wrote a book using this terminology in 2007, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success . A growth mindset means going from “failure is the limit of my abilities” to “failure is an opportunity to grow”; from “my abilities are unchanging” to “I can learn to do anything I want”; from “feedback and criticism are personal” to “feedback is constructive”; from “I could never be like them” to “I am inspired by the success of others”; from “I stick to what I know” to “I like to try new things”.

The Mexican mindset could be a growth mindset, but that requires self-reflection and taking responsibility, which contradict some of the interdependent-self constructs. From a cultural psychology perspective, it is fair to say that although there is an admirable beauty in the empathy and compassion of the collective, it is also important to detach oneself from the Whole to be the Self and to take responsibility for who we are, especially to become who we want to be. 

My grandmother is an example of breaking through negative cultural values and practices to engage in a positive family dynamic, which led to growth. My grandma was raised conservative. She held grudges against her mom, but made sure she didn’t make the same mistakes of oppressing her own children because of  the “traditional” beliefs she was raised with. My grandmother changed . She shifted her mindset, her ideologies, and her behaviors, to end the cycle of oppression. My grandmother raised me like her own, in the way that she couldn’t raise my mom because she was too young when she had her, while my mom worked hard to afford to pay the bills and my brother and I’s private school, so we would get the best education possible, the education no one else in our family was able to get. I grew up with values of education, love, sympathy and achievement. My grandmother always taught me that I could be and do anything I wanted, even if my dreams seemed “unreachable” to others, she would say they were crazy. I can’t remember a single time in which she ever put me down, not once. 

It’s a mindset. If you grew up in an oppressive environment, be the one to break the cycle. That’s how real change begins, through awareness, reflection, ownership and action, or in this case, by changing the thought, that will change the emotion, that will change the behavior. It starts with the self, and a single growth mindset could lead to a better life for all Mexicans.

References 

Welle, Virginia (2017). Issues in Intelligence and Testing. APA, 4. https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/topss/welle-lesson.pdf

Greenfield, P. M. (1997). You can’t take it with you: Why ability assessments don’t cross cultures. American Psychologist, 4. https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-75044876-dt-content-rid-570446359_1/xid-570446359_1

Keltner, Datcher (2021). Power: How you get it, how it can change you. APA, 3. Power: How you get it, how it can change you, with Dacher Keltner, PhD (apa.org)

¿Qué Porcentaje de la Población Tiene Estudios Universitarios? INEGI, 1. Qué porcentaje de la población mexicana tiene estudios universitarios? – Todo sobre el alumnado (unate.org)

Rios, Viri (2020). No, No Eres Clase Media. The New York Times. No, no eres clase media – The New York Times (nytimes.com) .

Mexico – Mining and Minerals . International Trade Administration. Mexico – Mining and Minerals (trade.gov)

Homicides in Mexico – Statistics . Vision of Humanity. Homicides in Mexico – Statistics | Mexico Peace Index (visionofhumanity.org)

Arista, Lidia. (2022). En Mexico, 80,000 Reportes de Mujeres Desaparecidas en 2006 . Expansión Política. En México, 80,000 reportes de mujeres desaparecidas desde 2006 (expansion.mx)

Piff, Paul K. and Moskowitz, Jake P. (2017). Wealth, Poverty, and Happiness. APA, 902. Wealth, Poverty, and Happiness (apa.org)

Religious Beliefs in Mexico . WorldAtlas. Religious Beliefs In Mexico – WorldAtlas

Markus, H., R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review. 

Otto, Brian L. and Mack, Robert L. (2014). Critical Media Studies. WILEY Blackwell . 

Levant, Ronald F. (2003). Men and Boys: What Happened to Emotions? APA, 1. notebookjuly.qxd (apadivisions.org)

Fischer, Agneta H. (2018). Gender differences in emotion perception and self-reported emotional intelligence: A test of the emotion sensitivity hypothesis. PMC. Gender differences in emotion perception and self-reported emotional intelligence: A test of the emotion sensitivity hypothesis – PMC (nih.gov)

Brecha salarial, una de las grandes barreras para la igualdad de género. OCDE. Brecha salarial, una de las grandes barreras para la igualdad de género | Comisión Nacional para Prevenir y Erradicar la Violencia Contra las Mujeres | Gobierno | gob.mx ( www.gob.mx )

ESTADÍSTICAS A PROPÓSITO DEL DÍA INTERNACIONAL DE LA ELIMINACIÓN DE LA VIOLENCIA CONTRA LA MUJER. INEGI. Violencia2020_Nal.pdf (inegi.org.mx)

Kearney, D. J. and Simpson, T.L. (2020). Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Trauma and Its Consequences. APA, 5. Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Trauma and Its Consequences (apa.org)

Dominguez, Pedro (2021). De nivel licenciatura hacia arriba, quienes más apoyan campañas en mi contra: AMLO. MILENIO. https://amp.milenio.com/politica/amlo-de-licenciatura-hacia-arriba-quienes-apoyan-campanas-en-contra

Welcome to the BMCC OpenLab!

BMCC’s OpenLab is an online platform where the College’s students, faculty and staff can come together to learn, work, play and share ideas.

Powered by:

• Subscriber Services
• For Authors
• Publications
• Archaeology
• Art & Architecture
• Bilingual dictionaries
• Classical studies
• Encyclopedias
• English Dictionaries and Thesauri
• Language reference
• Linguistics
• Media studies
• Medicine and health
• Names studies
• Performing arts
• Science and technology
• Social sciences
• Society and culture
• Overview Pages
• Subject Reference
• English Dictionaries
• Bilingual Dictionaries

Recently viewed (0)

• Save Search

• Find at OUP.com
• Google Preview

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mexican History and Culture  

Edited by: william h. beezley.

Over 120 scholarly articles

This work provides a compendium of the best available scholarship on Mexico’s rich history and culture. An international group of leading authors, including well-known Mexican scholars, reveals new or little-known dimensions of this past or confirms with new sources previous interpretations of the Mexican experience. Themes include the expected topics of politics and economics, combined with powerful articles on biography, environment, gender, and culture, including music, art, and cinema. Unique to this work are the articles on digital sources, such as digitized archives and photographic collections, with information on accessing and using them for historical research.

Articles add to topical considerations such as gender and ethnicity, place Mexico into wider dimensions such as the Atlantic World and the Pacific Rim, and offer conclusions on natural phenomena such as flora (yielding pulque) and volcanic eruptions (in a farmer's corn patch). Authors enlighten readers with assessments of Spanish-Aztec warfare, indigenous mastery of the Spanish legal system to bend it to their purposes, songs prohibited by the Inquisition, and more than one hundred other fascinating aspects of the nation's history. Coverage of individuals includes widely known figures such as the monumental Benito Juárez, the hero and traitor Antonio López de Santa Anna, Porfirio Díaz, and Lázaro Cárdenas, as well as several outstanding women whose contributions have helped shape Mexican culture and politics. The Tlatelolco massacre of demonstrators in 1968 receives careful assessment and other essays examine the changing popular and political attitudes that followed. The tragedy ushered in events that created Mexico's electoral democracy confirmed in the 2000 presidential election.

Written in clear explanatory prose and incorporating the latest research, the encyclopedia's articles offer a marvelous narrative of use to scholars, students, and the general reader.

Bibliographic Information

Affiliations are at time of print publication..

William H. Beezley is Professor of History at the University of Arizona and the Editor in Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History . He has achieved an international reputation for his investigations of Mexico's history and culture through such publications as the classic Judas at the Jockey Club and over 25 other books, including The Oxford History of Mexico (2nd edn., 2010). In 2017 the Mexican government awarded him the Ohtli Medal.

• Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter
• All Contents

Access to the complete content on Oxford Reference requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs , and if you can''t find the answer there, please contact us .

Agrarian Revolt in the Sierra of Chihuahua

Architecture in mexico city, 1940–1980, aztec apocalypse, 1519–1521, benito juárez and liberalism, carlos salinas de gortari and his legacy, caste war in yucatán, catholicism in mexico, 1910 to the present, chiapas and the zapatista national liberation army, chin chun chan : the zarzuela as an ethnic and technological farce, civilian aviation in mexico, convent and family property in new spain, cuauhtémoc cárdenas and the democratization of mexican politics, culture in mexico during the miracle and beyond, 1946–1982, democratizing mexican politics, 1982–2012, digital resources: digital projects in mexico city’s archives and libraries, digital resources: getty research institute digital exhibitions and portals for mexico, digital resources: hispanic american periodicals index (hapi), digital resources: llilas benson latin american studies and collections, university of texas at austin, digital resources: power of attorney, a digital spatial history of indigenous legal culture in colonial oaxaca, mexico, digital resources: the bracero history archive, front matter, publishing information, editorial board, about the oxford research encyclopedia of latin american history, topical outline of articles, preface and acknowledgments, introduction, directory of contributors.

• Oxford University Press

PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE (www.oxfordreference.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice ).

date: 17 May 2024

• Cookie Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Legal Notice
• Accessibility
• [66.249.64.20|185.194.105.172]
• 185.194.105.172

Character limit 500 /500

• Submit       Member Login

Access provided by

Login to your account

If you don't remember your password, you can reset it by entering your email address and clicking the Reset Password button. You will then receive an email that contains a secure link for resetting your password

If the address matches a valid account an email will be sent to __email__ with instructions for resetting your password

Download started.

• Academic & Personal: 24 hour online access
• Corporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
• Add To Online Library Powered By Mendeley
• Add To My Reading List
• Export Citation
• Create Citation Alert

Cultural Immersion Experience: Promoting an Understanding of Mexican American Nutrition and Food Traditions

• Mary Beth Gilboy, PhD, MPH, RD, LDN Mary Beth Gilboy Correspondence Address for correspondence: Mary Beth Gilboy, PhD, MPH, RD, LDN, Department of Health, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, 319 Sturzebecker Health Science Center, West Chester, PA 19383; Phone: (610) 738-0559 Contact Affiliations Department of Health, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, PA Search for articles by this author
• Debra E. Bill, PhD, MPH, CHES Debra E. Bill Affiliations Department of Health, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, PA Search for articles by this author

The Hispanic Population in the United States: 2008 Detailed Tables. United States Census Bureau Web site. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hispanic/cps2008.html . Accessed May 17, 2011.

• Google Scholar

García V, González Martínez L. Guanajuatense and Other Mexican Immigrants in the United States: New Communities in Non-Metropolitan and Agricultural Regions. http://www.jsri.msu.edu/RandS/research/wps/wp47.pdf . Published December 1999. Accessed May 17, 2011. JSRI Research Report #47.

Office of Minority Health. Hispanic/Latino Profile. US Department of Health and Human Services Web site. http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlID=54 . Updated October 21, 2009. Accessed May 17, 2011.

• Fraserirector I.
• Kardong-Edgren S.
• Campinha-Bacote J.
• Scopus (47)
• Kitsantas A.

Purchase one-time access:

Sneb member login, article info, identification.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2011.02.001

ScienceDirect

Related articles.

• Download Hi-res image
• Download .PPT
• Access for Developing Countries
• Articles & Issues
• Articles In Press
• Current Issue
• List of Issues
• Supplements
• For Authors
• Author Guidelines
• Submit Your Manuscript
• Statistical Methods
• Guidelines for Authors of Educational Material Reviews
• Permission to Reuse
• About Open Access
• Researcher Academy
• For Reviewers
• General Guidelines
• Methods Paper Guidelines
• Qualitative Guidelines
• Quantitative Guidelines
• Questionnaire Methods Guidelines
• Statistical Methods Guidelines
• Systematic Review Guidelines
• Perspective Guidelines
• GEM Reviewing Guidelines
• Journal Info
• About the Journal
• Disclosures
• Abstracting/Indexing
• Impact/Metrics
• Contact Information
• Editorial Staff and Board
• Info for Advertisers
• Member Access Instructions
• New Content Alerts
• Sponsored Supplements
• Statistical Reviewers
• Reviewer Appreciation
• New Resources
• New Resources for Nutrition Educators
• Submit New Resources for Review
• Guidelines for Writing Reviews of New Resources for Nutrition Educators
• Podcast/Webinars
• New Resources Podcasts
• Press Release & Other Podcasts
• Collections
• Society News

The content on this site is intended for healthcare professionals.

• Privacy Policy   
• Terms and Conditions   
• Accessibility   
• Help & Contact

Session Timeout (2:00)

Your session will expire shortly. If you are still working, click the ‘Keep Me Logged In’ button below. If you do not respond within the next minute, you will be automatically logged out.

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.

• Mexican Studies

About this Journal

Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos is a bilingual, international scholarly journal dedicated to providing a unique and essential forum for the dissemination of cutting-edge research relating to Mexico, broadly defined. Analyzing cultural, historical, political, social, economic, artistic, and scientific factors, and engaging a range of disciplinary frameworks, fields and approaches, articles contribute to understanding and knowledge of contemporary and historical issues. The breadth and multiplicity enables scholars from many disciplines to collaboratively address critical concerns. MS / EM carries scholarly articles, review essays, and book reviews, written in either English or Spanish. The journal also invites proposals for Special Issues and Thematic Sections.

published by

Available issues, table of contents, volume 40, 2024.

• Volume 40, Number 1, Winter 2024

Volume 39, 2023

• Volume 39, Number 3, Fall 2023
• Volume 39, Number 2, Summer 2023
• Volume 39, Number 1, Winter 2023

Volume 38, 2022

• Volume 38, Number 3, Fall 2022
• Volume 38, Number 2, Summer 2022
• Volume 38, Number 1, Winter 2022

Volume 37, 2021

• Volume 37, Number 3, Fall 2021
• Volume 37, Number 2, Summer 2021
• Volume 37, Number 1, Winter 2021

Volume 36, 2020

• Volume 36, Number 3, Fall 2020
• Volume 36, Numbers 1-2, Winter-Summer 2020

Volume 35, 2019

• Volume 35, Number 3, Fall 2019
• Volume 35, Number 2, Summer 2019
• Volume 35, Number 1, Winter 2019

Volume 34, 2018

• Volume 34, Number 3, Fall 2018
• Volume 34, Number 2, Summer 2018

Additional Information

Additional materials.

Additional Issue Materials

• Editorial Board -- Volume 36, Numbers 1-2, Winter-Summer 2020
• Editorial Board -- Volume 35, Number 3, Fall 2019
• Editorial Board -- Volume 35, Number 1, Winter 2019
• Editorial Board -- Volume 34, Number 3, Fall 2018
• Editorial Board -- Volume 34, Number 2, Summer 2018
• Editorial Board -- Volume 34, Number 1, Winter 2018

Project MUSE Mission

Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide. Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, Project MUSE is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves.

2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland, USA 21218

+1 (410) 516-6989 [email protected]

©2024 Project MUSE. Produced by Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Sheridan Libraries.

Now and Always, The Trusted Content Your Research Requires

Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• HHS Author Manuscripts

The Mexican American Cultural Values scales for Adolescents and Adults

George P. Knight, Nancy A. Gonzales, Delia S. Saenz, Darya D. Bonds, Miguelina Germán, and Julie Deardorff, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University. Mark W. Roosa and Kimberly A. Updegraff, School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University.

We very much appreciate the contributions of Katie Cunningham, Aida Cristina Fernandez, Adam McCray, Amalia Sirolli, and Courtney Valdez.

This research evaluates the properties of a measure of culturally linked values of Mexican Americans in early adolescence and adulthood. The items measure were derived from qualitative data provided by focus groups in which Mexican Americans’ (adolescents, mothers and fathers) perceptions of key values were discussed. The focus groups and a preliminary item refinement resulted in the fifty-item Mexican American Cultural Values Scales (identical for adolescents and adults) that includes nine value subscales. Analyses of data from two large previously published studies sampling Mexican American adolescents, mothers, and fathers provided evidence of the expected two correlated higher order factor structures, reliability, and construct validity of the subscales of the Mexican American Cultural Values Scales as indicators of values that are frequently associated with Mexican/Mexican American culture. The utility of this measure for use in longitudinal research, and in resolving some important theoretical questions regarding dual cultural adaptation, are discussed.

The Latino population in the United States is rapidly growing, young, relative to other ethnic groups, and includes a large number of immigrants ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2002a ; 2002b ). Mexican Americans (Mexican heritage persons living in the U.S.) are the largest and fastest growing Latino subgroup representing 59.3% of the Latino population and 7.4% of the U.S. population ( U.S. Bureau of Census, 2001 , 2004 ). Mexican origin youth face the challenge of adapting to the mainstream 1 culture while also maintaining ties to, and adapting to the Mexican American culture. That is, they often experience socialization pressures to conform to ethnic standards at home while also experiencing socialization pressures to conform to mainstream standards in the broader community and at school (see Padilla, 2006 ). Several authors suggest that challenges created by this dual cultural adaptation process represent a substantial risk for Mexican American (and other minority) youths and may lead to negative mental health outcomes, low self-esteem, conduct problems, school failure, drug and alcohol abuse, and financial instability (e. g., Gonzales & Kim, 1997 ; Gonzales, Knight, Morgan-Lopez, Saenz, & Sirolli, 2002 ; Phinney, 1992 ; Szapocznik, & Kurtines, 1980 , 1993 ). Thus, a better understanding of the dual cultural adaptation process is critical, particularly among Mexican Americans, to better address their mental health and social service needs ( Gonzales, Knight, Birman & Sirolli, 2004 ). This article presents an initial validation of a new measure of culturally related values to advance research on the dual cultural adaptation of Mexican Americans during adolescence and adulthood.

Recent theoretical perspectives have highlighted a wide array of psychosocial dimensions that are expected to change with dual cultural adaptation, including cultural knowledge, behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values, and self-concept broadly conceived (e.g., Berry, 2003 ; Birman, 1998 ; Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995 ; Gonzales et al, 2002 ; Rudmin, 2003 ; Tsai, Chentsova-Dutton, & Wong, 2002 ). These changes occur through developmental and socialization processes that unfold throughout the lifespan of ethnic minorities that have been in the U.S. for several generations as well as those who have recently immigrated. Further, theory suggests that the changes produced by these processes may be dependent upon the developmental state of the individual (e.g., Knight, Jacobson, Gonzales, Roosa, & Saenz, 2009 ). For example, during early childhood, dual cultural adaptation may be manifested in relatively simple shifts in behavior (e.g., English/Spanish fluency, participation in parent-directed ethnic/mainstream social interactions) and knowledge (e.g., familiarity with ethnic/ mainstream customs and traditions). However, for most Mexican American youths this dual cultural adaptation is likely to manifest in more complex volitional behaviors (e.g., preference to speak English/Spanish, selection of ethnic/mainstream social contexts and peers, identity exploration), and culturally-linked values (e.g., traditional/mainstream family values) as they move through adolescence and into adulthood.

Values internalized during adolescence may be particularly important for understanding Mexican American youths’ adaptation because these values become the guiding force for future behavior and decisions about the appropriate cultural norms to follow in diverse settings. Theoretical frameworks suggest that many Mexican American adolescents develop a bicultural identity (e.g., Rudmin, 2008 ; Schwartz, et al., 2006 ) and adopt a value system and behavioral styles approved by members of the ethnic and mainstream cultures. Emerging evidence has linked Latino youths’ cultural values to a number of critical outcomes, including academic motivation ( Fuligni, 2001 ), substance use (Brook et al., 1998), and externalizing behavior problems, ( Gonzales et al., 2008 ). Theory also suggests that immigrants and other minority youth may have more positive adaptation in the U.S. when they adopt a combination of mainstream and traditional ethnic cultural values (i.e., biculturalism; e.g., Gonzales, et al. 2002 ). Further, youths who develop a relatively bicultural identity may more successfully navigate these dual sets of demands (e.g., Rudmin, 2008 ; Schwartz, Montgomery, & Briones, 2006 ). On the other hand, the demands of dual cultural adaptation may lead to the internalization of values that are sometimes difficult to reconcile (i.e., familism vs. independence), leading some youth to experience conflict internally (e.g., identity difficulties) and with significant others (i.e., intergenerational value discrepancies). Though frequently discussed in the theoretical literature, these hypotheses are seldom tested empirically because studies typically do not assess a broad range of value domains that can capture the dual cultural adaptation process.

Values are a primary mechanism by which culture is transmitted ( Roosa et al., 2002 ) and the internalization of values is likely among the most important developmental achievements during adolescence ( Knight, Jacobson, et al., 2009 ). Thus, we chose to develop a multidimensional measure of culturally-salient values for Mexican American adolescents that could be used across a broad range of ages, spanning from early adolescence to adulthood. The transitions of this period include moving from neighborhood schools to middle schools to high schools and then to the workplace and other adult roles, such as parenthood, that increase contact with members of the mainstream society and create opportunities/pressures for culturally related changes. A measure that can be used in longitudinal research to examine underlying processes of culture change across these transitions is critically needed to advance the current literature on cultural adaptation. A measure that can be used with both adolescents and adults also has an added benefit because it allows simultaneous assessment of adolescents and their parents to examine intergenerational discrepancies that have long been linked in the theoretical literature to Mexican American youth development and mental health.

Although there is an abundance of measures designed to assess dual cultural adaptations among adults and children (e.g., the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans - II, Cuellar et al., 1995 ; and the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale, Zea, Asner-Self, Birman, & Buki, 2003 ), perhaps with the exception of the Multi-Group Ethnic Identity Measure ( Phinney, 1992 ) and the Ethnic Identity Scale ( Umaña-Taylor, Yazedjian, & Bamaca-Gomez, 2004 ), there is a paucity of measures developed for use with adolescents (see Knight, Jacobson, et al., 2009 for a review of thirty-seven measures). Even the applicability of these two exceptions for longitudinal studies that include significant developmental transitions has not been carefully examined ( Knight, Jacobson, et al., 2009 ). Furthermore, there are relatively few measures available to assess changes in culturally related values associated with the dual cultural adaptation demands experienced by any specific cultural groups ( Knight, Jacobson, et al., 2009 ). This is important because, given the tremendous diversity in cultural histories, reasons for immigration, economic status, and social embeddedness both before and after immigration, it is quite possible that the development of culturally related values is likely not “pan-ethnic” and that these values may differ somewhat, even across specific Latino groups.

The purpose of this research was to examine the psychometric properties of a measure of culturally related values in samples of Mexican American adolescents and adults from initial assessments conducted in two large studies of Mexican American families ( Puentes ; Gonzales, Dumka, Mauricio, & Germán, 2007 ; La Familia ; Roosa et al., 2008 ) . The Mexican American Cultural Values Scales (MACVS) items were generated from focus groups of Mexican Americans (adolescents, mothers, and fathers) from a major metropolitan area, a suburban area, a rural mining town, and a Mexican border town in the southwest. The site selections and focus group procedures were designed to provide the broadest possible representation of Mexican Americans’ perceptions of culturally related values. Preliminary scale refinement (i.e., item elimination based upon very little variability in responses and vagueness of content) was based on the administration of the original 63 items in a Mexican American sample ( Roosa et al., 2005 ). The trimmed MACVS is a 50-item scale that is identical for adolescents and adults (see Appendix A ). The focus group participants identified a total of 9 values themes. Six of these themes reflect values associated with Mexican and Mexican American beliefs, behaviors, and traditions (i.e., Familism Support, Familism Obligations, Familism Referents, Respect, Religion, and Traditional Gender Roles), and 3 of these themes reflect contemporary mainstream American values (i.e., Material Success, Independence & Self-Reliance, Competition & Personal Achievement). These 9 specific values, and the items for each value subscale, came largely from direct comments of focus group members and are based on the perceptions of our Mexican American focus group participants rather than culturally linked values identified in earlier research (e.g., Peck & Diaz-Guerrero, 1967 ; Triandis, Marin, Lisansky, & Betancourt, 1984 ).

Some of the subscales overlap considerably with measures developed in previous research on Latino populations. Familism, for example, was perceived by the focus group participants as an important cultural value, and reflected on the different emphases within this broad construct such as the desirability to maintain close relationships (emotional support), the importance of tangible care-giving (obligation to family), and the reliance on communal interpersonal reflection to define the self (family as referent). The Respect subscale focused on intergenerational behaviors and the importance for children to defer to parents both in their demeanor and in yielding to parents’ wisdom on decisions. Spiritual beliefs and faith in a higher power were included in the Religion subscale. Items reflecting Traditional gender roles focused on differential expectations for males (bread-winner, independence, head of household) and females (child-rearing, protection of girls). The mainstream values emphasized the importance, respectively, of achieving material success (reflected in the prioritizing of earning money over other activities), gaining independence and self-reliance (self-sufficiency), and in seeking to separate oneself from others by competition and personal achievement.

For the present report, the psychometric properties of the MACVS were examined by using confirmatory factor analysis to examine the factor structure. Because the focus group participants linked some of these values to the Mexican American culture and others to the mainstream culture, a two higher order correlated factor model was expected (see Figure 1 ). Given the likelihood that the proportion of Mexican Americans that are bicultural, and socialized into the traditions and practices of both cultures, is substantial (see Padilla, 2006 ) the Mexican American values factor and the mainstream values factor were expected to be positively related. We also compared the MACVS subscale scores of immigrant and U.S. born Mexican Americans. An assimilation perspective suggests that the greater exposure to the mainstream of the U.S. born Mexican Americans in the Unites States would promote adoption of mainstream values and perhaps undermine their beliefs in the ethnic cultural values relative to their immigrant counterparts. In contrast, the anticipatory acculturation or ethnic-resilience perspective (e.g., Portes & Bach, 1985 ) suggests that immigrants in search of a more desirable life are drawn to this country because they perceive a compatibility with the values and opportunities available in the U.S., thus leading to the expectation that immigrants would score relatively high on the mainstream cultural values as well as the ethnic cultural values.

The two higher order correlated factor model.

In addition, we used correlation and structural equation modeling analyses to examine construct validity relations of the subscales to theoretically related constructs available in the La Familia data set. The ethnic oriented values were expected to relate to ethnic pride and ethnic socialization because they should be elevated in families that actively promote traditional values and maintain a sense of pride in their ethnic heritage. Social support and parental acceptance should also be related to the ethnically oriented value domains, particularly with the familism values, because they are behavioral manifestations of the strong affective ties and family bonds specifically promoted by these familism values. Research also has shown that parental monitoring is higher in families that are more traditionally oriented because parents in these families are more hierarchical and parents are more actively involved in supervising and structuring adolescent activities ( Fridrich & Flannery, 1995 ; Samaniego & Gonzales, 1999 ). Finally, we expected positive role models, a measure of the degree to which extended family members provide positive role models, should also show relations with the more traditional cultural values. Again, because a substantial proportion of the parents in this sample were immigrants, expectations regarding the relations of these construct validity variables to the mainstream values of Competition & Personal Achievement, Material Success, and Independence & Self-Reliance were less clear. However, two additional variables were included to assess construct validity of these three values. First, we hypothesized that adolescents who more strongly endorsed the Independence and Self-Reliance subscales would score higher on a measure of defiance, the extent to which they challenged their parent’s decisions. Second, we hypothesized that mothers and fathers who more strongly endorsed the Material Success subscale would have higher economic expectations and perceived necessities that were unmet.

Puentes Stud y

Participants.

The sample consisted of 598 seventh-grade adolescents and their Mexican American parents from 5 junior high schools that served primarily low-income populations (80% of students were eligible for free lunches) in a large southwestern metropolitan area with a substantial proportion of Mexican American and European American families and a relatively smaller proportion of families from other ethnic/racial groups. Family incomes ranged from $1,000 per year to $150,000 per year, with a mean of $36,310 per year. The original study aimed to recruit Mexican-origin families into a program designed to prevent high school dropout and mental and behavioral health disorders in youth. Sixty-two percent of the 955 eligible families enrolled and completed the first wave of assessments. In addition, the project required that both parents and youth be able to participate in the assessments and the intervention sessions in the same language; 6% of the families were ineligible because of this requirement. The current investigation uses data from the assessments that occurred prior to exposure to the intervention.

Of the 598 adolescents, 303 (50.6%) were female, 295 (49.2%) were male, 112 (18.7%) were born in Mexico, and 447 (74.7%) were born in the United States. Adolescents ranged in age from 11 to 14 years, with a mean age of 12.3 years. Three hundred and nineteen adolescents (53.4%) were interviewed in Spanish and 278 in English (46.6%). Of the parents, 573 mothers and 331 fathers participated in the interviews. Among the mothers, 347 (60.6%) were born in Mexico, 222 (38.7%) were born in the United States (4 mothers did not report their birthplace), 314 (54.8%) were interviewed in Spanish and 259 (45.2%) were interviewed in English. Among the fathers, 227 (68.6%) were born in Mexico, 104 (31.4%) were born in the United States, 200 (60.4%) were interviewed in Spanish and 131 (39.6%) were interviewed in English.

In-home interviews were conducted by trained interviewers using laptop computers. Interviewers were trained to conduct the parent and child surveys in separate rooms and/or out of hearing of other family members. Interviewers read each survey question and possible responses aloud in either Spanish or English to reduce problems associated with variations in literacy. All measures were translated and back-translated to ensure equivalence of all content ( Behling & Law, 2000 ). Family members received $30 for participating, for a total of $60 for one-parent and $90 for two-parent families.

All participants completed the MACVS (see Appendix A ). 2 The MACVS was translated to Spanish by one bilingual translator and back-translated into English by a second bilingual translator, and discrepancies were resolved by conference between members of the research team and the translators. In addition, mothers reported the country in which their child was born and mothers and fathers reported their own country of birth.

Analysis Strategy

First, preliminary confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were computed for each subscale of the MACVS to examine the degree to which the individual items on each subscale formed a factor. Second, several CFAs were conducted to compare alternative factor structures for the MACVS. These models included a one factor model, a nine independent factors model, a nine correlated factors model, a two independent higher order factors model, and the expected two higher order correlated factor model (see Figure 1 ) that conforms to the dual cultural adaptation framework. Third, multiple group CFAs were conducted to allow for a comparison of a model that constrained factor loadings to be equivalent across adolescents, mothers, and fathers to a model that allows the factor loadings to differ across these groups. To evaluate model fit in all of these CFAs we relied upon the joint criteria suggested by Hu and Bentler (1999) , in which an acceptable fit is indicated by a SRMR ≤ .09 and either a CFI ≥ .95 or a RMSEA ≤ .06, because simulation studies revealed that using this combination rule resulted in low Type I and Type II error rates. In the present analyses, the CFI index was considered less crucial because it is vulnerable to influences arising from the general correlation level among subscales and items on the different subscales ( Rigdon, 1996 ). In addition, we expected the standardized factor loadings to be .30 or higher (e.g., Brown, 2006 ). The AIC and BIC were used to compare the one factor, nine factor, and two higher order factor models because these models were not nested. Lower AIC and BIC values indicate a better fitting model ( Kuha, 2004 ). The difference in chi-square was used to compare the nested models, such as the uncorrelated and correlated two higher order factor models.

Because the items for each value subscale, and the value subscales themselves, were derived primarily from the specific comments of focus group participants, only modification indices regarding correlated errors were considered during the evaluation of model fit. All of these maximum-likelihood CFAs were conducted using Mplus 4.1 using listwise deletion to handle missing data. Fourth, the MACVS subscale scores were compared for participants born in Mexico and those born in the U.S. using independent samples multivariate analysis of variance and Bonferroni corrected univariate F -tests. Finally, the relations between the MACVS subscales and several variables included in the La Familia data set were examined to provide limited evidence of the construct validity of the MACVS.

Preliminary analyses

The fit of the single latent factor model for each individual subscale was examined using a series of CFAs for each reporter (adolescents, mothers and fathers). Tables of these fits are available upon request. In these 27 individual subscale CFAs the father’s report of respect did not form an acceptable subscale structure based upon the Hu and Bentler (1999) criteria. The individual subscale internal consistency coefficients (i.e., Cronbach’s) alphas for adolescent, mother, and father reports are: Familism Support (.67, .58, and .60, respectively); Familism Obligations (.65, .55, .46); Familism Referents (.61, .63, .53); Religion (.78, .78, .84); Respect (.75, .52, .45); Traditional Gender Roles (.73, .66, .67); Material Success (.74, .78, .78); Independence & Self Reliance (.48, .35, .40); and Competition & Personal Achievement (.57, .65, .62). The internal consistence coefficients for a composite of the items from the three familism subscales are .84 for adolescents, .79 for mothers, and .75 for fathers. The internal consistency coefficients for a composite of the items from the overall Mexican American values subscales are .89 for adolescents, .87 for mothers, and .84 for fathers. The internal consistency coefficients for a composite of the items from the overall Mainstream values subscales are .77 for adolescents, .79 for mothers, and .79 for fathers.

Higher order latent factor models

To determine the best fitting higher order latent factor model, we tested several alternative models. First, we examined a single latent factor with the 50-items as individual indicators. Second, we tested a model with nine uncorrelated independent factors representing the nine cultural values subscales. Third, we tested a model with nine correlated individual factors. Fourth, we tested a higher order factor model with two uncorrelated factors. Finally, we tested the anticipated higher order factor model with two correlated factors.

Initial analyses of the higher order factor models produced disturbance terms that were negative for two Familism subscales (Familism - Referents and Familism - Obligations). Given that these disturbance terms were not statistically significant, these disturbances were set to zero (Roger Millsap, personal communication, February 2006) and proper solutions emerged. Table 1 displays the fit indices for the higher order latent factor models. Three models fit the data well according to the cutoffs for the RMSEA and SRMR, including the nine correlated factors model, the two uncorrelated higher order factors model, and the two higher order correlated factors. As expected, compared to the alternative models, the proposed two higher order correlated factor model had the lowest AIC and BIC values and thus provided the best fit to the data for adolescents, mothers, and fathers. The chi-square difference indicated that compared to the two uncorrelated higher order factors, the two higher order correlated factor model fit significantly better for adolescents [χ 2 difference (1) = 70.334], mothers [χ 2 difference (1) = 156.122], and fathers [χ 2 difference (1) = 70.486]. The two higher order factors correlated between 0.59 and 0.63 across the three reporters. In addition, the proposed two higher order correlated factor model provided an adequate fit to the data when the factor loadings were constrained to be identical for adolescents, mothers, and fathers when accounting for the dependencies between scores within families (χ2 = 5200.11, p < .001, RMSEA = .048; SRMR = .072) The factor loading for each item from the model constraining these loadings to be equal for adolescents, mothers, and fathers are reported in Appendix 1 . 3

Fit indices for the latent measurement models in the Puentes study

Differences between immigrants and non-immigrants

To examine differences separately on the two sets of values subscales, two multivariate analyses of variance were conducted for each reporter with immigrant status (born in Mexico vs. born in the U.S.) as the independent variable ( Table 2 ). Among adolescents, immigrant status was significantly associated with ethnic cultural values (Familism Support, Familism Obligations, Familism Referents, Respect, Religion, and Traditional Gender Roles: Wilks’ Lambda = .977, Multivariate F = 2.16, p < .05, Partial Eta Squared = .023) but not mainstream cultural values (Material Success, Independence & Self-Reliance, and Competition & Personal Achievement: Wilks’ Lambda = .991, Multivariate F = 1.62, p = ns, Partial Eta Squared = .009). Adolescents born in Mexico scored significantly higher (using univariate F -test) on Familism Obligations, Familism Referent, Traditional Gender Roles and the overall Mexican American values compared to adolescents born in the U.S.

Means (Standard Deviations) for each Mexican American Cultural Values Scale subscale for immigrants and non-immigrants in the Puentes study

Significant differences between participants born in Mexico and those born in the U .S. :

Among mothers, immigrant status was significantly associated with ethnic cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .773, Multivariate F = 27.54, p < .001, Partial Eta Squared = .227) and mainstream cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .857, Multivariate F = 31.46, p < .001, Partial Eta Squared = .143). Mothers born in Mexico scored significantly higher (using a univariate F -test) on Familism Support, Familism Obligations, Familism Referent, Religion, Traditional Gender Roles, and the overall Mexican American values (see Table 2 ) compared to mothers born in the U.S.. Mothers born in Mexico also scored significantly higher on Material Success, Independence & Self-Reliance, Competition & Personal Achievement, and overall mainstream values.

Among fathers, immigrant status was significantly associated with ethnic cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .765, Multivariate F = 16.25, p < .001, Partial Eta Squared = .235) and mainstream cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .858, Multivariate F = 17.70, p = .001, Partial Eta Squared = .142). Fathers born in Mexico scored significantly higher (using a univariate F -test) on Familism Obligations, Familism Referent, Religion, Traditional Gender Roles, and overall Mexican American values (see Table 2 ); and significantly lower on the Respect subscale, compared to fathers born in the U.S.. Fathers born in Mexico also scored significantly higher on Material Success, Competition & Personal Achievement and overall mainstream values.

La Familia Study

The sample consisted of 750 fifth-grade Mexican American early adolescents and their parents from 47 public, religious, and charter schools in the same southwestern metropolitan area as the Puentes study. Family incomes ranged from less than $5,000 per year to more than $95,000 per year, with a mean between $30,001 and $40,000 per year. The project’s aims were to study the role of cultural processes in Mexican American families with adolescents ( Roosa et al., 2008 ). Recruitment materials were sent home with all children in 5 th grade in selected schools. Over 85% of those who returned recruitment materials were eligible for screening (e.g., Hispanic) and 1,028 met eligibility criteria (i.e., child lived with her/his biological mother, both of the child’s biological parents were of Mexican heritage, child attended participating school, no step-father or mother’s boyfriend present in the home, and the child was not severely learning disabled). Mothers (required), fathers (optional), and children (required) participated in in-home interviews lasting an average of about 2 ½ hours in English or Spanish.

Of the 750 adolescents, 365 (48.7%) were female, 385 (51.3%) were male, 223 (29.7%) were born in Mexico, and 527 (70.3%) were born in the United States. The mean age was 10.4 years. The vast majority of these adolescents were interviewed in English (82.4%). Among the mothers, 555 (74.0%) were born in Mexico, 193 (25.7%) were born in the United States (2 mothers did not report their birthplace), 523 (69.7%) were interviewed in Spanish and 227 (30.3%) were interviewed in English. Among the fathers, 373 (80.0%) were born in Mexico, 93 (20.0%) were born in the United States, 358 (76.8%) were interviewed in Spanish, and 108 (23.2%) were interviewed in English. The in-home interviewing procedure was identical to that in Puentes except that parents and adolescents could choose to complete the measures in different languages if they wished and each participating family member was paid $45.

Along with the MACVS, participants completed several measures that allowed for the assessment of construct validity of this measure. Six measures selected were expected to show positive relations with those values more associated with ethnic culture (Familism Support, Familism Obligations, Familism Referents, Respect, and Religion). These included Mexican American ethnic pride, ethnic socialization, social support, acceptance, parental monitoring, and positive role models in the family. For these measures, when translated versions were not already available, measures were translated to Spanish by one bilingual translator and back-translated into English by a second bilingual translator, and discrepancies were resolved by conference between members of the research team and the translators.

Mexican American Ethnic Pride

This 4-item scale assesses ethnic pride for Mexican Americans and is intended for adults and children ( Thayer, Valiente, Hageman, Delgado, and Updegraff, 2002 ). Thayer et al. (2000) reported relying upon focus groups with Mexican American families as well as the existing research literature on ethnic pride to identify these items. Participants were asked to rate how much they agreed with each item on a Likert-type scale ranging from “not at all true (1)” to “very true (5)” for the following statements, (1) You have a lot of pride in being Mexican, (2) You feel good about your Mexican background, (3) You like people to know that your family is Mexican or Mexican American, and (4) You feel proud to see Latino or Mexican actors, musicians and artists being successful. Thayer et al. (2002) reported that factor analyses confirmed that this measure consists of one dimension with a Cronbach’s alpha of .81. In La Familia the Cronbach’s alpha was .63 for adolescents, .78 for mothers, and .77 for fathers.

Ethnic Socialization

The 10-item ethnic socialization scale was adopted from the Ethnic Identity Questionnaire ( Bernal and Knight, 1993 ). The scale assesses the extent to which parents socialize children into Mexican culture. A sample item asks how often parents “tell their child that the color of a person’s skin does not mean that person is better or worse than anyone else?” Responses range from “1=almost never or never” to “4=a lot of the time (frequently)”. In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was .74 for mothers and .75 for fathers.

Social Support

The Multidimensional scale of Perceived Social Support ( Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988 ) assesses perceived social support from family (e.g., “you can talk about your problems with your family”) and friends (e.g., “your friends really try to help you”). We added items to assess social support from “relatives you do not live with” (e.g., “you can count on your relatives when things go wrong”). Respondents indicated to what degree each of 12 statements is true on a Likert-type scale ranging from “1=not true at all” to “5=very true”. Reliabilities for the scale were .84 for adolescents, .86 for mothers, and .89 for fathers.

The acceptance subscale is an eight item measure based upon Schaefer’s (1965) Child Report of Parental Behavior Inventory (CRPBI) and assesses warmth within the parent child relationship (e.g., “Your mother cheered you up when you were sad”). This measure has since been adapted to assess parents’ perceptions as well ( Barrera et al., 2002 ). Respondents were asked how often the parent performed the behavior described in the item and to respond on a 5 point Likert scale from almost never to almost always. In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was .82 for adolescents’ reports on mothers, .87 for adolescents’ reports on fathers, .79 for mothers, and .74 for fathers.

This 10-item scale assesses adolescents’ perceptions of their parent’s knowledge of their children’s actions, whereabouts, and friends (e.g. “Your mother/father knew what you were doing after school”). The scale is an adaptation of a scale used by Small (1994) . The response scale ranges from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always). The target child reported separately on his/her father and mother. In the current study the Cronbach’s alpha was .75 for adolescents’ reports on mothers and .85 for adolescents’ reports on fathers.

Positive Family Role Models

The 5-item Positive Family Role Models scale was developed for La Familia to provide information about behavioral models that youths are exposed to within their extended families. Parents were asked to report the extent to which extended family members have had different types of experiences. The scale includes experiences associated with academic engagement and success as important characteristics of positive role models . Because youths may be influenced in different ways by the adults and youths in their extended family, and because there may be generational differences in the type of behaviors exhibited within a family, we asked separate questions about the behavior of adults (18 years of age or older) and children in the extended family. Responses ranged from “1=none of them” to “5=all of them” for the following questions, (1) How many of the adults in your family have graduated from high school, (2) how many of the adults in your family hold full-time jobs, (3) how many of the adults in your family have gone to college, (4) how many of the younger members of your family were recognized for outstanding school work, and (5) how many of the younger members of your family were recognized for performance in extracurricular activities like sports, music, or art. Cronbach’s alphas for positive family role models were .73 for mothers and .68 for fathers.

Not Enough Money for Necessities

This 7-item measure, derived from economic hardship measures ( Conger et al., 1991 ; Conger & Elder, 1994 ), assesses the sense of not having enough money for one’s needs. For example, parents were asked to respond to the following question on a scale ranging from “1= not true at all” to “5=very true”: “your family had enough money to afford the kind of home you needed”. In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was .92 for mother’s reports and .94 for father’s reports.

Adolescent Defiance

This 6-item measure was developed for La Familia to assess what adolescents do if they have a disagreement or difference of opinion with their mother. Adolescents responded using a scale ranging from “1 = almost never or never” to “5 = almost always or always” to rate the following statements, (1) You defend your opinions when you think you are right, (2) You argue with your mother until you get your way, (3) You tell you mother when you think she is wrong, (4) You ignore your mother’s wishes and just do what you want, (5) You try to persuade your mother to change her mind, and (6) You disobey your mother. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .64.

Country of Birth

Mothers reported the country in which their child was born and mothers and fathers reported the country in which they were born (U.S. or Mexico).

Twenty-three of the 27 individual subscale CFAs using the La Familia data indicated an acceptable fit based upon the Hu and Bentler (1999) criteria. The four CFAs that did not produce an acceptable fit were: adolescent’s report of Familism Support; and mother’s report of Familism Obligation, Respect, and Independence& Self-Reliance. However, these model fits were not far from acceptable. The individual subscale internal consistency coefficients (i.e., Cronbach’s) alphas for adolescent, mother, and father reports are: Familism Support (.62, .60, and .57, respectively); Familism Obligations (.54, .55, .52); Familism Referents (.61, .63, .57); Religion (.71, .86, .86); Respect (.51, .69, .66); Traditional Gender Roles (.73, .73, .75); Material Success (.82, .81, .82); Independence & Self Reliance (.50, .50, .51); and Competition & Personal Achievement (.75, .71, .71). The internal consistency coefficients for a composite of the items from the three familism subscales are .80 for adolescents, .79 for mothers, and .79 for fathers. The internal consistency coefficients for a composite of the items from the overall Mexican American values subscales are .84 for adolescents, .88 for mothers, and .88 for fathers. The internal consistency coefficients for a composite of the items from the overall Mainstream values subscales are .84 for adolescents, .81 for mothers, and .82 for fathers.

Initial analyses of the higher order factor models produced modification indices that indicated that the model would fit slightly better if correlated errors were allowed between the traditional gender roles subscale and the mainstream culture values subscales. Table 3 displays the fit indices for the higher order latent factor models. Three models, the nine correlated factors model, the two uncorrelated higher order factors model, and the two higher order correlated factor model, fit the data well according to the cutoffs for the RMSEA and SRMR. A comparison of the adolescent alternative models revealed that the AIC value was lowest for the nine correlated factors model, whereas the BIC was lowest for the two correlated higher order factors model. For mother and father report, the lowest AIC and BIC values were reported for the nine correlated factors models. The chi-square difference indicated that compared to the two uncorrelated higher order factors, the two correlated higher order factors model fit significantly better for adolescents [χ 2 difference (1) = 21.513], mothers [χ 2 difference (1) = 76.705], and fathers [χ 2 difference (1) = 101.052]. The two higher order factors correlated between 0.21 and 0.51 across the three reporters. In addition, the proposed two higher order correlated factor model provided an adequate fit to the data when factor loadings were constrained to be identical for adolescents, mothers, and fathers when accounting for dependencies between scores within families (χ2 = 5384.88, p < .001, RMSEA = .043; SRMR = .061). The factor loading for each item from the model constraining these loadings to be equal for adolescents, mothers, and fathers are reported in Appendix 1 (see footnote 3 ).

Fit indices for the latent measurement models in the La Familia study

Among adolescents, immigrant status was not significantly associated with ethnic cultural values (Familism Support, Familism Obligations, Familism Referents, Respect, Religion and Traditional Gender Roles: Wilks’ Lambda = .965, Multivariate F = 1.45, p = ns, Partial Eta Squared = .035) nor the mainstream cultural values (Material Success, Independence & Self-Reliance, and Competition & Personal Achievement: Wilks’ Lambda = 970, Multivariate F = 2.52, p = ns, Partial Eta Squared = .030, see Table 4 ).

Means (Standard Deviations) for each Mexican American Cultural Values Scale subscale for immigrants and non-immigrants in the La Familia study

Significant differences between participants born in Mexico and those born in the U.S. :

Among mothers, immigrant status was significantly associated with ethnic cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .856, Multivariate F = 6.61, p < .001, Partial Eta Squared = .144) and mainstream cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .790, Multivariate F = 21.13, p < .001, Partial Eta Squared = .210). Mothers born in Mexico scored significantly higher (using a univariate F -test) on Familism Referent, Traditional Gender Roles, and overall Mexican American values (see Table 4 ) compared to mothers born in the U.S.. Mothers born in Mexico also scored significantly higher on Material Success, Independence & Self-Reliance, Competition & Personal Achievement, and overall mainstream values (see Table 4 ). In general, the overall pattern of mean differences among the mothers in La Familia was quite similar to the pattern of mean differences among the mothers in Puentes . All but three of the significant differences detected in Puentes were also significant in La Familia , and all of the three non-significant mean differences in La Familia were in the same direction as in Puentes .

Among fathers, immigrant status was significantly associated with ethnic cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .776, Multivariate F = 11.18, p < .001, Partial Eta Squared = .224) and mainstream cultural values (Wilks’ Lambda = .766, Multivariate F = 24.08, p = .001, Partial Eta Squared = .234). Fathers born in Mexico scored significantly higher (using a univariate F -test) on Familism Referent, Traditional Gender Roles, and overall Mexican American values (see Table 4 ), compared to fathers born in the U.S. Fathers born in Mexico also scored significantly higher on Material Success, Competition & Personal Achievement, and overall mainstream values. Once again, the overall pattern of mean differences for fathers in La Familia was quite similar to the pattern of mean differences for fathers in Puentes . Four of the eight significant differences detected in Puentes were similarly significant in La Familia , and all of the four non-significant mean differences in La Familia were in the same direction as in Puentes .

Construct validity analyses 4

Table 5 presents construct validity relations for the individual MACVS subscales, as well as the overall Mexican American values and the mainstream values scores, in La Familia . The coefficients presented are based upon separate structural modeling analyses where each individual value subscale, and the overall Mexican American and overall mainstream values scales, were treated as latent constructs and the individual construct validity variables were treated as observed variables. Because of the number of pair-wise relations between values subscales and construct validity variables, and the large sample size, significance tests of these relations were Bonferroni corrected for the number of construct validity variables available. Generally, the pattern of construct validity relations was as expected. Ethnic pride, ethnic socialization, social support, parental acceptance, and monitoring were generally positively related to the ethnic values, with the exception of the Traditional Gender Roles subscale. Although, ethnic pride and ethnic socialization were also somewhat positively related to some of the mainstream values; social support, parental acceptance, and monitoring were either much less related or not significantly related to Material Success, Independence & Self-Reliance, Competition & Personal Achievement, and the overall mainstream values scores. Further, either the direction of the relation between positive role models in the family, not enough money for necessities, and defiance with ethnic cultural values and mainstream cultural values were different, or these construct validity variables were only significantly related to mainstream cultural values. Furthermore, tests of the moderation of these construct validity relations indicated that the magnitude of these relations was the same regardless of immigrant status or gender.

Construct validity relations of the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale subscales in the La Familia study

Several key findings emerged from the confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs). The preliminary analyses indicated that the individual items on each subscale generally held together quite well. The fit indices for these individual subscale analyses were not good only for father’s report of respect in Puentes , for adolescent’s report of Familism Support in La Familia , and for mother’s report of Familism Obligation, Respect, and Independence& Self-Reliance in La Familia . However, none of these very few cases of relatively poor fit in the individual subscale analyses were replicated across reporters or studies. The multiple subscale CFAs indicated that the two higher order correlated factor model fit the data better than several alternative factor models in the Puentes study. In the La Familia study both the two higher order correlated factor model and the nine correlated factor model fit the data well and relative comparably. The consistency of the two higher order correlated factor model with the dual cultural adaptation theory guiding this research, and the support for this model in the Puentes findings, clearly supports the validity of the MACVS. As expected based upon the focus groups, the fit of the two higher order correlated factor model indicates that the ethnic cultural values were more highly related to one another, and the mainstream cultural values were more highly related to one another, than these sets of values were related across these higher order factors. Further, this supports the use of the overall Mexican American values and the overall mainstream values scores in future research.

However, should researchers choose to use scores on the individual subscales in their analyses they should do so with caution. While all of the confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the items within each subscale are measuring a common construct, some of the internal consistency coefficients are low, likely because of the small number of items on each subscale. Across reporters and studies the internal consistency coefficients are generally low (i.e., around .50 or lower) for the Independence & Self-Reliance subscale; reasonable (i.e., around .70 or higher) for the Religion and the Material Success subscales; and modest (i.e., around .60) for the remaining subscales. However, a recent Monte Carlo study ( Yang, 2007 ) indicates that confirmatory factor analysis generally provides more precise estimates of reliability, compared to Cronbach’s alpha, except when sample sizes are low (i.e., N = 50). In contrast to the relatively low alphas for some individual subcales; the composite of the three familism subscales, the overall Mexican American values scale, and the Mainstream values scale, which are based upon a more substantial number of items, produced quite good (i.e., around .80 and above) internal consistency coefficients across reporters and studies. Hence, researchers interested in studying familism without differentiating elements of familism should feel free to use a composite these subscales.

The results of the cross-sectional confirmatory factor analyses constraining the item loadings among adolescents and the adults in both studies provides some limited support for the MACVS as a tool for measuring culturally related values among Mexican American adolescents and adults. These findings also provide limited support for the use of this measure in longitudinal assessments and analyses. However, assessments of the equivalence of item loadings from longitudinal assessments would be more direct evidence of longitudinal utility of the MACVS. Nevertheless, the equivalence of the item loadings across age groups within these two data sets is a useful first approximation. The confirmatory factor analysis findings and the construct validity findings also supported the use of this measure for examining static single-point in time relations of culturally related values to other culturally related phenomena.

The availability of a measure that can be used to examine changes over time in the internalization of culturally related values represents a valuable contribution to the methodological toolbox of researchers interested in studying acculturation and enculturation processes in communities largely populated by Mexican American and European American families. There has generally been an over reliance on studies that use proxies (i.e., comparisons across age, generation, or immigrant status) to estimate changes associated with the adaptation to a dual cultural context. Indeed, we know of only three longitudinal studies of individual changes in cultural orientation ( French, Seidman, Allen, & Aber, 2006 ; Phinney & Chavira, 1992 ; Knight, Vargas-Chanes, Losoya, Cota-Robles, Chassin, & Lee, in press ). One of these had a sample size and selection procedure insufficient for making scientific inferences and only one examined dual-axial changes. There are several ways in which these proxy studies may not adequately represent the psychological and behavioral changes associated with the dual cultural adaptation processes. First, cross-sectional comparisons across middle school to college students (e.g., Phinney & Chavira, 1992 ) are potentially problematic because these samples are not equally representative of the ethnic or cultural population being studied and the factors that make these samples differentially representative are likely to be associated with difficulties in dual cultural adaptation. The relatively substantial reported drop-out rates among Mexican Americans ( U.S. Dept. of Education, 2000 ) create differential representativeness among school participants selected from diverse grade levels. This is particularly worrisome because increasing dropout rates with grade level may be associated with difficulties in dual cultural adaptation. Second, the selective and potentially time varying reasons for immigration from Mexico, the differential rates of undocumented status across generations, and frequent reliance on assessments exclusively in English in many studies ( French, Seidman, Allen, & Aber, 2006 ; Phinney & Chavira, 1992 ; Knight, Vargas-Chanes et al., 2006) create the possibility that observed ethnic group, generational and age differences reflect more than the psychological and behavioral changes associated with dual cultural adaptation. We believe there is a great need for longitudinal assessments of dual cultural adaptation, and this research will require measures that are appropriate for use across a wide range of ages.

Our examination of the relation of the MACVS subscales with several other variables provides some limited evidence of construct validity. The Mexican American cultural values subscales are generally correlated with ethnic pride, ethnic socialization, social support, parental acceptance, and monitoring, as expected. The differential relations of the Mexican American and mainstream values to select construct validity variables, along with the fact that these subscales fit the expected two higher order correlated factor model indicates that the Mexican American values and mainstream values subscales are assessing distinct but related values. Furthermore, perhaps with the exception of the relations of the MACVS scores to the mother’s report of social support, the construct validity relations observed in the La Familia data are remarkably similar across reporters.

As expected, positive family role models was positively associated with two of the ethnic oriented values, specifically with family support and respect. However, what was even more noteworthy was the significant and opposite (negative) pattern of relations this variable showed with the mainstream values for adults (the family role models variables was not available for adolescents). When the adults in this sample reported more positive role models in the extended family, reflecting higher levels of academic and job success within their family, they were less likely to endorse materialistic and competitive values themselves. This finding is consistent with the positive relations of the lack of money for necessities with material success and the competition and personal achievement values. Together these findings suggest that a lack of educational / occupational success and financial stability may heighten the desire for material success and one’s willingness to adopt more competitive, self-focused values to achieve it. As expected, defiance was positively related to independence and self reliance. In fact, defiance showed positive relations with all three of the mainstream values. Unfortunately, measures of constructs even more conceptually related to material success, independence and self-reliance, and competition and personal achievement were not available in this preexisting data set.

The implication of the differences between the immigrants and non-immigrants for the validity of the MACVS is less clear because there is sound theoretical reason for at least two expected sets of relations. That the immigrant adolescents and adults scored higher than their non-immigrant peers on most of the Mexican American values is exactly what one would expect based upon their relative exposure to Mexican culture. However, at least among adults in our study, immigrants also scored higher on the mainstream values, perhaps because these values are intimately tied to their reasons for immigrating. Portes and Bach (1985) suggest that mass media in Mexico has heightened the attractiveness of modern consumerism; but underemployment and inequality in incomes deny access to goods to many in Mexico. They also suggest that the desire to immigrate and stay in the U.S. is based upon the desire for economic gains and a relatively positive assessment of their new life setting. However, with increases in education, English fluency, and information about the U.S. comes more critical attitudes and perceptions of discrimination among later generations. Similarly, Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco (1996) suggest that immigrants’ from Mexico come to the U.S. to better the lives of their family by finding a job, earning money, learning English, and getting their children educated. Despite relatively limited opportunities for them after they arrive, their dual frame of reference leads many immigrants to feel better off than they did in their country of origin. Mexican Americans born in the U.S., by comparison are more likely to have a single frame of reference and feel deprived relative to the members of the majority culture. If Mexican individuals come to the U.S. with the full awareness that valuing material success, independence & self-reliance, and competition & personal achievement are directly linked to economic prosperity in the U.S., endorsement of these values may be instrumentally linked to the decision to immigrate. The incongruence between these mainstream values and the Mexican American values may become more salient to Mexican Americans born in the U.S. and/or to those who may question whether they have fully realized the “promise” of immigration. Hence, Mexican adults who immigrate, relative to their U.S. born counterparts, may more highly endorse mainstream values. Further, while dual cultural adaptation may lead to relatively linear changes in some behavioral dimensions (e.g., language use, association with European Americans), the pattern of changes in other dimensions, particularly more significant ( Marin, 1992 ) dimensions (e.g., culturally linked values) may not be so linear. Indeed, the consistent finding that immigrant adults in both samples reported greater endorsement of both Mexican American and mainstream values illustrates the importance of a dual axial framework and a bicultural identity (e.g., Padilla, 2006 ; Rudmin, 2008 ; Schwartz, Montgomery, & Briones, 2006 ). One cannot assume the adoption of a mainstream orientation necessarily means the loss of one’s traditional cultural orientation. These aspects of cultural adaptation can vary independently and one of the key contributions of the current measure is that it can allow future research to unpack key cultural value domains to better model and understand these complex patterns of adaptation.

There are a number of important limitations to the present studies. First, the selection of variables available for the examination of construct validity was limited by the variables available in the La Familia data set. Additional research will be necessary to fully identify the usefulness of the MACVS measure. Second, it was not reasonably possible to evaluate the similarity of factor loadings across either language or immigrant status. In Puentes, mothers, fathers and adolescents within each family all completed measures in the same language identified as the family’s dominant language because all three would subsequently participate in an intervention in a common language. Thus, family members did not select their strongest or preferred language which would best support tests of language invariance. In La Familia the distribution of language selection was highly confounded with reporter status because 17.6% of adolescents, and 69.7% of mothers, and 76.8% of fathers completed measures in Spanish. In addition, the computer assisted administration of the measures in both studies allowed participants to switch the language of administration of any item with which they had difficulty. Further, immigrant status was also highly confounded with reporter (adult, child) status in both studies. The comparison of factor loadings for this relatively large number of items across reporters would require us to combine all three samples within each study (while controlling for the dependency in the data within each family). The confounds between language and immigrant status with reporter status prevented us from combining data across reporters to allow for the very demanding test of the comparability of factor loadings for such a large number of items. However, given these confounds and the comparability of the factor loadings across reporters in both studies and the similarity of model fit across studies, it is reasonably unlikely to expect that the factor loadings would be greatly different across language versions and immigrant status. Finally, although immigrant status is a relatively crude indicator, these preexisting data sets were very limited in the available indicators of exposure to the Mexican American and mainstream cultures.

In conclusion, the present cross-sectional assessments clearly supported the MACVS as an indicator of the degree to which Mexican Americans endorse values more frequently associated with Mexican/Mexican American culture. Although the findings with regard to values more associated with mainstream culture are more limited, the confirmatory factor analyses and construct validity analyses did consistently indicate substantial relations among these items and of these scales to other variables. The present study provided substantial preliminary findings regarding the psychometric properties of the MACVS, and the utility of the integration of qualitative and quantitative research approaches in the development of culturally sensitive measures. However, a longitudinal examination of the changes in endorsement of these values subscales is needed to more fully explore the usefulness of this new measure.

Acknowledgments

Preparation of this manuscript was supported by NIMH (grant #s 5-RO1-MH68920, 5-P30-MH39246, and 1-R01-MH64707), NICHD (grant # RO1-HD39666), and NSF (grant # BCS0132409).

The Mexican American Cultural Values scales

1 The label “mainstream values” (to refer to the American or American mainstream culture) is used throughout this manuscript because this and the “Mexican or Mexican American values” terminology were the most effective means to stimulate the discussion of culturally related values in the focus groups.

2 The instructions, item stems, and response alternatives were slightly different from those in Appendix A . The instructions were, “These questions will ask your opinion about how you think people should behave. There are no right or wrong answers. Just say what you believe.” The item stems were, “How much do you agree that ---.” The response alternatives were, Strongly Disagree, Somewhat Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Somewhat Agree, and Strongly Agree.“ The changes included in the Appendix enhance understanding of the items and response alternatives. Researchers may wish to use a modified seven-point response scale because many value items were somewhat skewed by the avoidance of the ”Strongly Disagree“ response alternative. Some researchers may also wish to create an overall familism score.

3 The factor loadings for each item are presented in parentheses at the end of the English language version of each item in the appendix . The first coefficient is from the Puentes data and the second coefficient is from the data. Two factor loadings in Puentes and one in La Familia were below .30.

4 We did not examine the significance of the differences in construct validity relations across reporters because of the very large number of significance tests required, the likelihood of differential attenuation of these relations across reporters, and the sensitivity of such tests.

• Barrera M, Jr., Prelow HM, Dumka LE, Gonzales NA, Knight GP, Michaels ML, Roosa MW, Tein J-Y. Pathways from family economic conditions to adolescents’ distress: Supportive parenting, stressors outside the family, and deviant peers. Journal of Community Psychology. 2002; 30 :135–152. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behling O, Law KS. Translating Questionnaires and Other Research Instruments: Problems and Solutions. Sage Publications; London: 2000. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bernal ME, Knight GP, editors. Ethnic identity: Formation and transmission among Hispanics and other minorities. State University of New York Press; Albany, NY: 1993. [ Google Scholar ]
• Berry JW. Conceptual approaches to acculturation. In: Chun KM, Organista PB, Marin G, editors. Acculturation: Advances in Theory, Measurement and Applied Research. American Psychological Association; Washington, D.C.: 2003. pp. 17–37. [ Google Scholar ]
• Birman D. Biculturalism and perceived competence of Latino immigrant adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology. 1998; 26 :335–354. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brown TA. Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. Guilford Press; New York: 2006. [ Google Scholar ]
• Conger RD, Elder GH., Jr. Families in troubled times: Adapting to change in rural America. 1st Ed. Aldine De Gruyter; New York: 1994. [ Google Scholar ]
• Conger RD, Lorenz FO, Elder GH, Jr., Melby JN, Simons RL, Conger KJ. A process model of family economic pressure and early adolescent alcohol use. Journal of Early Adolescence. 1991; 11 :430–449. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cuellar I, Arnold B, Maldonado R. Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II: A revision of the original ARSMA scale. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 1995; 17 (3):275–304. [ Google Scholar ]
• French SE, Seidman E, Allen L, Aber JL. The development of ethnic identity during adolescence. Developmental Psychology. 2006; 42 :1–10. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fridrich A, Flannery D. The effects of ethnicity and acculturation on early adolescent delinquency. Journal of Child and Family Studies. 1995; 4 (1):69–87. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fuligni AJ. Family obligation and the academic motivation of adolescents from Asian and Latin American, and European backgrounds. In: Fuligni A, editor. Family obligation and assistance during adolescence: Contextual variations and developmental implications, (New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development Monograph) Jossey-Bass, Inc.; San Francisco: 2001. pp. 61–76. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gonzales NA, Dumka LE, Mauricio AM, German M. Building bridges: Strategies to promote academic and psychological resilience for adolescents of Mexican origin. In: Lansford JE, Deater-Deckard K, Bornstein MH, editors. Immigrant Families in Contemporary Society. Guilford Press; New York, NY: 2007. pp. 268–286. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gonzales NA, Germán M, Kim SY, George P, Fabrett F, Millsap R, Dumka LE. Mexican American Adolescents’ Cultural Orientation, Externalizing Behavior and Academic Engagement: The Role of Traditional Cultural Values. American Journal of Community Psychology. 2008; 41 :151–164. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gonzales NA, Kim LS. Stress and coping in an ethnic minority context: Children’s cultural ecologies. In: Wolchik SA, Sandler IN, editors. Handbook of children’s coping: Linking theory and intervention. Plenum Press; New York, NY, USA: 1997. pp. 481–511. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gonzales NA, Knight GP, Birman D, Sirolli AA. Acculturation and enculturation among Latino youths. In: Maton KI, Schellenbach CJ, Leadbeater BJ, Solarz AL, editors. Investing in children, youth, families, and communities: Strengths-based research and policy. American Psychological Association; Washington, DC: 2004. pp. 285–302. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gonzales NA, Knight GP, Morgan-Lopez A, Saenz D, Sirolli A. Acculturation and the mental health of Latino youths: An integration and critique of the literature. In: Contreras JM, Kerns KA, Neal-Barnett AM, editors. Latino Children and Families in the U.S.: Current Research and Future Directions. Praeger; Westport, CT: 2002. pp. 45–74. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hu L, Bentler PM. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling. 1999; 6 :1–55. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kline RB. Principals and practice of structural equation modeling. 2nd ed. Guilford Press; New York: 2005. [ Google Scholar ]
• Knight GP, Kagan S. Acculturation of prosocial and competitive behaviors among second- and third-generation Mexican-American children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 1977; 8 :273–284. [ Google Scholar ]
• Knight GP, Jacobson RP, Gonzales NA, Roosa MW, Saenz DS. An Evaluation of the Psychological Research on Acculturation and Enculturation Processes among Recently Immigrating Populations. In: Dalla RL, DeFrain J, Johnson J, Abbot D, editors. Strengths and challenges of new immigrant families: Implications for research, policy, education, and service. Lexington Publishers, Inc.; Lanham, MD: 2009. pp. 9–31. [ Google Scholar ]
• Knight GP, Jacobson RP, Gonzales NA, Roosa MW, Saenz DS. An Evaluation of the Psychological Research on Acculturation and Enculturation Processes among Recently Immigrating Populations. In: Dalla RL, DeFrain J, Johnson J, Abbot D, editors. Strengths and Challenges of New Immigrant Families: Implications for Research, Policy, Education, and Service. Lexington Publishers, Inc.; Lanham, MD: 2009. [ Google Scholar ]
• Knight GP, Vargas-Chanes D, Losoya SH, Sonia Cota-Robles S, Chassin L, Lee JM. Acculturation and enculturation trajectories among Mexican American adolescent offenders. Journal of Research on Adolescence. in press. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kuha J. AIC and BIC: Comparisons of assumptions and performance. Sociological Methods & Research Special Issue: Model Selection. 2004; 33 :188–229. [ Google Scholar ]
• Marin G. Issues in the measurement of acculturation among Hispanics. In: Geisenger KF, editor. Psychological Testing of Hispanics. American Psychological Association; Washington, D.C.: 1992. pp. 235–251. [ Google Scholar ]
• Padilla AM. Bicultual social development. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2006; 28 :467–497. [ Google Scholar ]
• Peck RF, Diaz-Guerrero R. Two core-culture patterns and the diffusion of values across their border. International Journal of Psychology. 1967; 2 :275–282. [ Google Scholar ]
• Phinney JS. The multigroup ethnic identity measure: A new scale for use with diverse groups. Journal of Adolescent Research. 1992; 7 :156–176. [ Google Scholar ]
• Phinney JS, Chavira V. Ethnic identity and self-esteem: An exploratory longitudinal study. Journal of Adolescence. 1992; 15 :271–281. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Portes A, Bach RL. Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States. University of California Press; Los Angeles, CA: 1985. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rigdon EE. CFI versus RMSEA: A comparison of two fit indexes for structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling. 1996; 3 :369–379. [ Google Scholar ]
• Roosa MW, Morgan-Lopez A, Cree W, Specter M. Ethnic culture, poverty, and context: Sources of influence on Latino families and children. In: Contreras J, Neal-Barnett A, Kerns K, editors. Latino Children and Families in the United States: Current Research and Future Directions. Praeger Publishers; Westport, CT: 2002. pp. 27–44. [ Google Scholar ]
• Roosa MW, Deng S, Ryu E, Burrell G, Tein J, Lopez V, Crowder S. Family and child characteristics linking neighborhood context and child externalizing behavior. Journal of Marriage and Family. 2005; 67 :514–528. [ Google Scholar ]
• Roosa MW, Liu F, Torres M, Gonzales N, Knight G, Saenz D. Sampling and recruitment in studies of cultural influences on adjustment: A case study with Mexican Americans. Journal of Family Psychology. 2008; 22 :293–302. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rudmin FW. Critical history of the acculturation psychology of assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. Review of General Psychology. 2003; 7 :3–37. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rudmin FW. Immigrant youth in cultural transition: Acculturation, identity, and adaptation across national contexts. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 2008; 39 :230–233. [ Google Scholar ]
• Samaniego R, Gonzales N. Multiple mediators of the effects of acculturation status on delinquency for Mexican American adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology. 1999; 27 (2):189–210. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schaefer ES. Children’s reports of parental behavior: An inventory. Child Development. 1965; 36 :413–424. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schwartz SJ, Montgomery MJ, Briones E. The role of identity in acculturation among immigrant people: Theoretical propositions, empirical questions, and applied recommendations. Human Development. 2006; 49 :1–30. [ Google Scholar ]
• Small SA, Luster T. Adolescent sexual activity: An ecological, risk-factor approach. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 1994; 56 :181–192. [ Google Scholar ]
• Suárez-Orozco C, Suárez-Orozco M. Transformations: Immigration, Family Life, and Achievement Motivation among Latino Adolescents. Stanford University Press; Stanford, CA: 1996. [ Google Scholar ]
• Szapocznik J, Kurtines WM. Acculturation, biculturalism and adjustment among Cuban Americans. In: Padilla AM, editor. Acculturation: Theory, models, and some new findings. Westview Press; Boulder, CO: 1980. pp. 139–159. [ Google Scholar ]
• Szapocznik J, Kurtines WM. Family psychology and cultural diversity: Opportunities for theory, research and application. American Psychologist. 1993; 48 :400–407. [ Google Scholar ]
• Szapocznik J, Kurtines W, Santisteban DA, Rio AT. Interplay of advances between theory, research, and application in treatment interventions aimed at behavior problem children and adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1990; 58 :696–703. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thayer SM, Valiente C, Hageman D, Delgado MY, Updegraff KA. Conflict resolution in friendships: A comparison of Mexican American and Anglo American adolescents; Poster presented at the annual conference of the National Council of Family Relations; Houston, TX. 2002. [ Google Scholar ]
• Triandis HC, Marín G, Lisansky J, Betancourt H. Simpatía as a cultural script of Hispanics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1984; 47 :1363–1375. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tsai JL, Chentsova-Dutton Y, Wong Y. Why and how researchers should study ethnic identity, acculturation, and cultural orientation. In: Hall GCN, Okazaki S, editors. Asian American Psychology: The Science of Lives in Context. American Psychological Association; Washington, DC: 2002. pp. 41–65. [ Google Scholar ]
• Umaña-Taylor AJ, Yazedjian A, Bámaca-Gómez MY. Developing the Ethnic Identity Scale using Eriksonian and social identity perspectives. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research. 2004; 4 :9–38. [ Google Scholar ]
• U.S. Census Bureau Projections of resident population by race, Hispanic origin, and nativity: Middle series, 2050-2070 [On-line] 2001. Available: http://census.gov/population/projections/nation/summary/np-t5-g.txt .
• U.S. Census Bureau . Census 2000, Public Law 94-171 Summary File: Tables for Race and Ethnic Distribution in the U.S. EEO Visions, Inc.; Bethesda, MD: 2002a. http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/census/majorgroups/US/US_states.html . [ Google Scholar ]
• U.S. Census Bureau . U.S. Census Projections: Population Division, Populations Projectsions Branch. Maintained by Information & Research Services Internet Staff. U.S. Census Bureau; Washington, D.C.: 2002b. http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/natproj.html . [ Google Scholar ]
• U.S. Census Bureau . Census 2000 Special Reports. U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration; Washington, D.C.: 2004. We the People: Hispanics in the United States. [ Google Scholar ]
• Yang Y. Doctoral Dissertation. Arizona State University; Tempe, AZ: 2007. Structural equation modeling estimates of reliability: A Monte Carlo study. [ Google Scholar ]
• Zea MC, Asner-Self KK, Birman D, Buki LP. The Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale: Empirical validation with two Latino/Latina samples. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. 2003; 9 (2):107–126. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Zimet GD, Dahlem NW, Zimet SG, Farley GK. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Journal of Personality Assessment. 1988; 52 :30–41. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]

Mexican culture: Customs and traditions

Mexican culture brings together elements of ancient Central-American heritage and European customs.

Population of Mexico

Languages of mexico, religions of mexico, ​​values of the mexican people, mexican food, mexican arts, mexican fashion, doing business in mexico, mexican holidays and celebrations, additional resources and reading, bibliography.

Mexican culture has undergone a tremendous transformation in its recent history with varying impacts in different regions. Many Mexicans live in cities, but smaller rural communities still play a strong role in defining the country's collective vibrant community. 

Mexico can trace some of its cultural heritage back to the Aztec and Maya peoples who once controlled much of Central America, but equally it owes a great deal to the colonial heritage from Spain. Many of the customs in Mexico can be traced back through one of these branches of history.

"Mexico's characteristics set it apart from other Spanish American nations. No other country among them has so actively traced its cultural origins [through] so dramatic a history to such deep roots; none has so thoroughly fused European and non-European cultural influences," wrote Peter Standish and Steven M. Bell in " Culture and customs of Mexico " (Greenwood, 2004).

Mexico is the 10th most populous country in the world, with over 128 million people according to the United States Census Bureau estimate published on July 1, 2021 . According to the Index Mundi , Mexico consists of several ethnic groups. The mestizo (meaning people of mixed indigenous Central American heritage and European heritage) group accounts for 62% of the population. Indigenous Central American or predominantly indigenous Central American people account for 21%, while 10% of the population has a mostly European background. These groups create a culture that is unique to Mexico. However Index Mundi notes that Mexico does not collect census data on ethnicity.

According to the Mexican National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI) the median age of the population is 29 years old, which is a jump up from 2015 when it was 27. Index Mundi adds that 26% of the population is under 14-years-old, just under 17% is 15 to 24, 41% is 25 to 54, a little over 8% is 55 to 64 and nearly 8% are 65 or older.

It's estimated that 81% of the total population of Mexico lives in urban areas with Mexico City alone having a population of nearly 22 million in the wider area, according to Index Mundi, making it the fifth most populous city in the world.

The overwhelming majority of Mexicans today speak Spanish. According to the CIA , Spanish is spoken by 93.8% of the Mexican population. About 5.4% of the population speaks Spanish as well as indigenous languages, such as Mayan, Nahuatl and other regional languages. Indigenous Mexican words have also become common in other languages, including English. For example, chocolate, coyote, tomato and avocado all originated in Nahuatl.  

"Much of Mexican culture revolves around religious values and the church, as well as the concept of family and inclusiveness," said Talia Wagner , a marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles. Around 78% of Mexicans identify themselves as Catholic, according to the CIA, although many have incorporated pre-Hispanic Mayan elements as part of their faith. Some of this dates back to the first colonists looking to merge the approaches of Europe and Central America to bring Christianity to the region.

"Public ritual had always been essential to both pre-Columbian religion and Spanish Catholicism. Consequently, priests quickly introduced their aboriginal parishioners to religious plays, music, and festivals, especially at Easter and Corpus Christi, both of which celebrated the Holy Eucharist," wrote Linda A Curcio-Nagy, professor of history at the University of Nevada in " The Oxford History of Mexico " (Oxford University Press, 2010), edited by Michael C. Meyer and William H. Beezley.

Other Christian denominations represented in Mexico include Presbyterians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists and Anglicans. There are also small communities of Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. 

Especially outside of cities, families are typically large and Mexicans are very conscious of their responsibilities to immediate family members and extended family such as cousins and even close friends. Hosting parties at their homes plays a large part of Mexican life and making visitors feel comfortable is a large part of the values and customs of the country.

"Family units are usually large, with traditional gender roles and extensive family involvement from the external members who assist one another in day to day life," Wagner told Live Science. There is a strong connection among family members. "Parents are treated with a high degree of respect, as is the family in general and there may be constant struggle, especially for the growing children between individual wants and needs and those wants and needs of the family," added Wagner.

One large event in a Mexican family is the quinceañera. This is a celebration of a young lady's 15th birthday. It signifies the girl's journey from childhood to womanhood. The party includes an elaborate dress for the girl of honor, food, dancing, friends and families. Before the party there is often a mass at the girl's church. The girl is accompanied throughout the festivities by her damas (maids of honor) and chambelánes (chamberlains), according to Encyclopedia Britannica .

Mexican cuisine varies widely between regions, as each town has its own culinary traditions, according to "Mexico For You," a publication of the Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington, D.C. Tortillas and other food made from corn are common everywhere, though, as are pepper, tomatoes and beans. Rice is also a staple, according to History.com. 

Many foods that originated in Mexico are popular worldwide, including avocados, chocolate and pumpkins, in fact Mexican food is one of the country's most popular cultural exports. "Salsa now outsells catsup in the United States and $5 billion worth of tortillas are sold internationally each year," wrote Robert Buffington, Suzanne B. Pasztor, and Don M. Coerver in " Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History " (ABC-CLIO, 2004)

Mexico is known for its tequila, which is made from agave cactus that is well suited to the climate of central Mexico. Soda is a very popular drink in Mexico, as the country has a well-developed beverage industry.

Clay pottery, embroidered cotton garments, wool shawls and outer garments with angular designs, colorful baskets and rugs are some of the common items associated with Mexican folk art. Millennia-old traditions continue in silver-smithing, mosaics, textiles, pottery and basket-weaving, according to "Mexico For You."

The country is closely associated with the Mariachi style of folk music. Originated in the southern part of the state of Jalisco sometime in the 19th century, it involves a group of musicians — playing violins, guitars, basses, vihuelas (a five-string guitar) and trumpets — and wearing silver-studded charro suits and elaborate hats. "La Cucaracha" is a well-known Mariachi staple.

Two of Mexico's most famous artists are Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Their paintings include vibrant colors and depictions of life in Mexico. Rivera was a pioneer of Muralism, a movement that used expansive wall art to educate the people. Kahlo's work drew from personal pain and also the deep history of Mexico itself. "The work of Frida Kahlo (1907–54) is also steeped in Mexicanness, although it is primarily a record of her difficult life, marked in pain, disappointment, and loneliness," wrote Helen Delpar, a professor of history at the University of Alabama in " The Oxford History of Mexico " (Oxford University Press, 2010). 

Many may not think of Mexico as a place that fosters high fashion, but many fashion designers hail from Mexico, such as Jorge Duque and Julia y Renata. There is also a Mexico Fashion Week . In the cities, fashion in Mexico is influenced by international trends, so the typical urban Mexican dresses similar to people in Europe and the United States.

Traditional Mexican clothing for women includes a sleeveless tunic-like dress called a huipil, according to Don Quijote Spanish School. Originally, these cotton dresses were made very simple with garnishes of color. However, traditional Mexican women's clothing now regularly includes lots of ornate embroidery, often including images and patterns that have symbolic meaning attached to them.

One distinguishing article of traditional men's clothing is a large blanket cape called a sarape. Boots are also a wardrobe staple. The charro suit, with its origins as the outfit worn by Mexican cowboys, is most associated with Mariachi musicians. The suit is also an acceptable substitute for a tuxedo at formal events in Mexico. The charro suit includes the sombrero, a wide-brimmed hat that provides plenty of shade.

Mexico's currency is the peso. Almost 65% of the country's GDP comes from the service sector with industry making up 31% and agriculture contributing 3.6%, according to the CIA. Its primary agricultural products are sugar cane, maize, milk, oranges , sorghum, tomatoes, poultry, wheat, green chillies/peppers and eggs.

Mexican business culture tends to value personal relationships, a strong hierarchy and a clear consciousness of status, according to Santander . "Doing business of any sort is normally preceded by a period of socializing," wrote Peter Standish and Steven M. Bell in "Culture and customs of Mexico."

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe , which is celebrated on Dec. 12, is a major Mexican holiday celebrating the appearance of the Virgin Mary to an indigenous Mexican in the first years of Spanish rule. She is the patron saint of the country. This is followed closely by Posadas, a nine-day celebration in which people re-enact Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem to search for a place to stay. Families go from door to door carrying candles and singing, asking for shelter until the owners open the door, at which point the party begins.

The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), celebrated on Nov. 2, is a day set aside to remember and honor those who have died, according to the University of New Mexico. Carnival is also celebrated in many communities throughout Mexico to mark the period before Lent.

Independence Day , marking the country's separation from Spain in 1810, is celebrated on Sept. 16. Cinco de Mayo, which marks a Mexican military victory over the French in 1862, is more widely celebrated in the United States (as a beer promotion) than it is in Mexico.

Learn more about the colonial history of Mexico and Central America more widely by reading about one of the men who helped to shape events, Hernán Cortés .

If the culture and life of Central America before the arrival of European colonists is what interests you, then a deep dive into the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán is for you.

• " Culture and customs of Mexico " by Peter Standish and Steven M. Bell (Greenwood, 2004)
• " The Oxford History of Mexico " edited by Michael C. Meyer and William H. Beezley (Oxford University Press, 2010)
• " Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History " by Robert Buffington, Suzanne B. Pasztor, and Don M. Coerver (ABC-CLIO, 2004)
• Mercedes Benz Fashion Week
• "Mexico Business Practices" Santander Trade Markets
• "Our Lady of Guadalupe" Catholic Online
• " The History of Mexican Independence" Mexonline

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

Jonathan is the Editor of All About History magazine, running the day to day operations of the brand. He has a Bachelor's degree in History from the University of Leeds . He has previously worked as Editor of video game magazines games™ and X-ONE and tech magazines iCreate and Apps. He is currently based in Bournemouth, UK.

• Alina Bradford Live Science Contributor

30,000 years of history reveals that hard times boost human societies' resilience

'We're meeting people where they are': Graphic novels can help boost diversity in STEM, says MIT's Ritu Raman

'It was not a peaceful crossing': Hannibal's troops linked to devastating fire 2,200 years ago in Spain

Most Popular

• 2 Long-lost branch of the Nile was 'indispensable for building the pyramids,' research shows
• 3 Newfound 'glitch' in Einstein's relativity could rewrite the rules of the universe, study suggests
• 4 Scientists prove 'quantum theory' that could lead to ultrafast magnetic computing
• 5 'Quantum-inspired' laser computing is more effective than both supercomputing and quantum computing, startup claims
• 2 Newfound 'glitch' in Einstein's relativity could rewrite the rules of the universe, study suggests
• 3 Atoms squished closer together than ever before, revealing seemingly impossible quantum effects
• 4 Orcas have attacked and sunk another boat in Europe — and experts warn there could be more attacks soon

RITM Center

Into the archives of tourism: mexican beaches and the challenges of contemporary history, written by carlos r. hernández.

Image courtesy of Carlos R. Hernández, Ph.D. candidate in History

Sweating profusely from the tropical climate, I entered Prof. Sergio Quezada’s airconditioned office at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, where he kindly agreed to meet with me on my second day in Mérida—the capital of Mexico’s southeastern state of Yucatán—after I had obtained his contact information from Ms. Beatriz Heredia de De Pau, one of the senior archivists at the Biblioteca Yucatanense. After shaking my hand and inviting me to sit down, Sergio asked me about my dissertation research. “So, you’re writing about beach tourism in the Yucatán Peninsula. Well, Carlos, you have a very interesting problem,” he chuckled, “Mexican history ends in 1955. After that, it’s up to social scientists to figure out what happened.”

In many respects, Sergio’s opening remarks encapsulated the challenges of writing “contemporary” Mexican history. For unlike Mexican historiography in the United States, Mexican historiography in Mexico tends to end with President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines (1952-58). According to Quezada, a leading scholar of colonial Maya history and author of Yucatán: Historia breve (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2011), this is because “contemporary” Mexico is inundated with statistics. Although the Mexican state certainly maintains its hegemony in part through a coterie of U.S.-trained economists, Sergio’s joke also highlighted deeper differences in the ways in which Mexican history is written in both countries, particularly when it comes to treating the recent past.

For me, however, history always concerns the relationship between the past and the present, which is in part why my dissertation research is fundamentally and unapologetically anchored in “contemporary” (post-1960s) Mexican history.

Although beach tourism has a long history in Mexico, dating back to the postrevolutionary initiatives of the Department of Tourism in the early twentieth century, which sought to promote tourism as a form of cultural diplomacy, its most aggressive measures began in the late twentieth century in an attempt to combat the nation’s flagging economy and wavering political stability. After two massacres of student activists in 1968 and 1971, respectively, the Mexican state, which had been under the control of a single political party since 1929, began to lose some of its power. But it still endured, effectively founding the popular tourist pole of Cancún in 1970 on the northeastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Biblioteca Yucatanense. Image courtesy of Carlos R. Hernández, Ph.D. candidate in History

With the support of Yale’s Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (RITM), I had the privilege to spend a week in Mérida while I conducted archival research at the Biblioteca Yucatanense and the Archivo General del Estado de Yucatán (AGEY). Building on my previous research, mostly in Mexico City’s Archivo General de la Nación (the National Archive, or AGN), this trip allowed me to consult new and more local types of primary sources (e.g., two rare collections of newspapers) beyond the official reports available in the nation’s capital. Although Cancún is located in the state of Quintana Roo—the Yucatan Peninsula has three states (from west to east: Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo)—I traveled to Mérida because Quintana Roo did not gain statehood until 1974. In fact, its status oscillated during the twentieth century between being a federal territory and serving as an extension of Yucatán, and it was largely because of tourism in Cozumel and Cancún that Quintana Roo became sufficiently populated for its politicians to advance a successful bid for statehood. For these reasons, much of the relevant documentation remains in Mérida.

As I process my research findings and further revise my dissertation prospectus, I continually return to my conversation with Sergio Quezada about the challenges of writing “contemporary” history. Although Cancún alone accounts for half of Mexico’s tourist dollars, few scholars have examined its history. According to Sergio, this is because, “It’s easy to write political histories. The problem with contemporary history is that historians don’t have the tools of social scientists. For that, we have to turn to economists.” Indeed, the very history of modern Mexico has shaped its historiography in ways which are distinct from U.S. historiographical currents.

While the U.S. historical academy grappled with the challenges of the Vietnam generation, shifting its orientation from “top-down” to “bottom-up” approaches, its counterpart in Mexico confronted the legacies of the 1910 revolution at a time when the state had all but abandoned its revolutionary commitments to agrarian reform. Despite Mexico’s turn to microhistory and regional history in the 1970s, many Mexican intellectuals struggled to write popular histories without reifying the state’s populistic claims. Compounded by the fact that most of the funding for historical research in Mexico is derived from federal sources, this explains why, even today, most Mexican historians shy away from “contemporary” problems.

As a Mexican American historian of Mexico, I am both personally and professionally interested in these tensions between past and present. However, working on “contemporary” history also poses specific challenges. Despite the abundance of statistics on topics such as flight information, I have struggled to find more inclusive types of sources, particularly as they relate to labor history. Nevertheless, I hope that by returning to the archive I can refine my structural understanding of the history of beach tourism in the Yucatán Peninsula, which will in turn prepare me for oral interviews. As Sergio reminded me in parting, “ Hay que hablar con la gente .”

Carlos R. Hernández is a Ph.D. Candidate in History who specializes in Latin America and, in particular, modern Mexico. 

Carlos is a 2017 recipient of the RITM Travel and Research Awards, which support research, course development, and conference travel by Yale graduate students, Yale professional school students, and Yale faculty members on topics related to race, indigeneity, or transnational migration.

The Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration advances work related to Ethnic Studies fields; to intersectional race, gender, and sexuality research; and to Native and diasporic communities in the United States and abroad.

Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply.

• About WordPress
• Get Involved
• WordPress.org
• Documentation
• Learn WordPress

Articles on Mexican culture

Displaying all articles.

Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution is insightful and beautiful; a reminder of how Anglo-American our conception of modern art is

Catherine Speck , University of Adelaide

#MeToo in Mexico: women finding their voice as campaign gathers force

Deborah Shaw , University of Portsmouth

Alfonso Cuarón’s Venice Golden Lion triumph for Roma highlights innovative new Netflix approach

Oscars 2018: another Mexican triumph as awards move towards diversity

Deborah Shaw , University of Portsmouth and Dolores Tierney , University of Sussex

Before Trump, Mexicans really liked the US

Jesus Velasco , Tarleton State University

Mexicans are migrating, just not across the US border

Jeffrey H. Cohen , The Ohio State University and Bernardo Ramirez Rios , Skidmore College

Should artists pay their taxes in art?

Usman W. Chohan , UNSW Sydney

Here’s looking at Frida Kahlo’s Self-portrait with monkeys

Barry Carr , La Trobe University

La Llorona: Hispanic folklore goes mainstream

Domino Renee Perez , The University of Texas at Austin

Related Topics

• Frida Kahlo
• Guillermo del Toro
• Mexican immigrants
• Mexico City
• US immigration
• US-Mexico border

Top contributors

Professor of Film and Screen Studies, University of Portsmouth

Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies and Associate Professor, Department of English and Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, The University of Texas at Austin

Economist, UNSW Sydney

Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Sussex

Professor of Anthropology, Director, Transnational Research Lab, The Ohio State University

Emeritus Professor of History, La Trobe University

Professor of Anthropology, Skidmore College

Joe and Teresa Endowed Chair in Social Sciences, Tarleton State University, Tarleton State University

Emerita Professor, Art History and Curatorship, University of Adelaide

• X (Twitter)
• Unfollow topic Follow topic

• ETHN 116 - Home
• Topic Ideas
• GVRL eBooks
• EBSCO eBooks
• Salem eBooks
• EBSCO host Articles
• Facts on File Articles

Course Content for ETHN 116

ETHN 116 COURSE CONTENT

Order and emphasis of core topics may vary from instructor to instructor.

I. Introduction to Chicano Studies

A. Chicano/a Studies as a field of scholarly inquiry

B. History and culture as a dynamic processes

C. Main historical periods in Chicano History

1. Pre-Columbian era, pre- 1519

2. Spanish colonial era, 1521-1821

3. Mexican independence and nationalism, 1821-1846

4. Anglo period, 1846-1960s

5. Diversity and modern Chicano issues

II. Historical roots of Chicano culture and society

A. Pre-Columbian period

1. Human evolution in Mesoamerica

a. Ecological adaptation

b. Agricultural adaptation

c. Sociocultural life

2. Mesoamerican civilization and societies

b. Huastecas

d. Teotihuacanos

e. Zapotecos

3. Aztec civilization, society and social order

a. History – Chichimecas to Tenochtitlan

b. Social hierarchy

c. Land system and the calpulli

d. Artisan production

e. Alliances and trade

f. Mythology

g. Culture, religious practices and education

4. Spanish conquest

a. Spanish society and culture – Reconquest – 16th century

b. Background to exploration and discovery

c. Hernan Cortes versus Moctezuma and the legend of Quetzalcoatl

d. The fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan

e. The legacy of conquest in the Chicano worldview

B. Spanish colonialism in Mexico – 1521 – 1810

1. Cross-fertilization of Spanish and Aztec societies

a. The Columbian exchange

b. Religious syncretism – Virgin of Guadalupe

c. Mestizaje

d. The forging of the “cosmic race”

2. Economy and Social order

a. Gold, encomienda and repartimiento

b. Hacienda system and debt peonage

c. Social role of hacendados

d. Life of debt peons

e. Castas, mestizaje and the social hierarchy

3. Culture

a. Daily changes in indigenous ways of life

b. Introduction of Catholicism

1. Cultural aspects of mestizaje

c. Indigenous resistance to Spanish culture

d. Women and family life 

4. Color and racism

a. Spanish ethnocentrism

b. Race and social class

c. Effects of racism

d. The flexibility of mestizaje

C.The making of Mexican nationalism – 1810-1840s

1. Politics and the break up of the colonial social order

a. Influence o indigenous elites – caciques

b. Influence of the age of Enlightenment

c. Bourbon reforms and imperial crisis

d. Liberals versus conservatives

e. El grito de Dolores and the war for independence

f. Rise of caudillo

g. Post-war instability in Mexico

2. Class – Mexican society under criollo rule

a. Conservatives versus liberals

b. Social groups and economic enterprises in the north

c. Break up of California missions

d. Hispanics and indigenous in New Mexico 

e. Cattle ranching in California and the Californios

3. Culture – rise of a Mexican identity

a. The decline of cultural imperialism

b. Mexican influence in California and New Mexico

c. Increasing mestizaje and its challenge to racism

4.The break-up of Mexico and a new system for Mexican-Americans

a. Anglo-American expansion – Manifest Destiny

b. Annexation of Texas

c. Mexican American War

d. Mexican resistance and social banditry

e. Treaty of 1848

f. Anglo expropriation of Mexicans’ lands

g. New cultural blending in US Southwest and California

h. Economic growth and Mexican labor 

D. Anglo-American period – 1846-1960s

1. Social order and social classes in the United States

a. Industrialization and economic expansion

b. Chicano role in the economy

c. Mexican Revolution and immigration

d. Chicano discrimination in the workplace

e. Chicanos in trade unionism

f. Chicanos on the margin of political process

2. Culture – assimilation versus nativist acculturation

a. American versus Mexican culture

b. Strategies and problems of Mexican adaptation to American culture

c. Syncretism – pachucos

d. Separatism

e. American work ethic versus Mexican celebration

f. Cultural imperialism and educational practices

3. Race and racism

a. Roots of prejudice and discrimination

b. Tejano versus Anglo culture

c. Anglo violence toward Tejanos

d. White supremacists in California

e. Institutional racism and public barriers

f. Chicano reactions to mistreatment – reverse racism

g. The continuation of mestizaje

E. The Chicano movement of the 1960s-70s

1. Roots of Chicano resistance and organization

2. Precursors of change

a. Black Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s 

b. Johnson’s War on Poverty 

c. The Vietnam War.

3. Chicano political organizations, groups and actions

a. The Brown Berets

b. United Mexican American Students

c. Los Angeles high school walk outs

d. La Raza Unida Partido

e. Chicano moratoriums of the 1970s

f. Association of Mexican-American Educators

g. Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanos de Aztlan – MECha

h. August 29 Moratorium

i. Diversity within the movement

4. Chicano cultural expression

a. Chicanozaje/Chicanismo

b. Mestizaje to Chicanismo

c. Chicano arts

d. Educational transformations

III. Selected contemporary social, economic and/or cultural issues related to Mexican Americans

A. Economic principles of Mexican immigration

1. Reasons for immigration

2. History of Mexican immigration to US

a. The Mexican Revolution and economic expansion in the US, 1910 – 1929

b. The Depression and the Bracero program, 1930 – 1964

c. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and increased Mexican immigration

d. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Amnesty and increased restrictions

e. Immigration Act of 1990 and limits on family-sponsored immigration

3. Racism and increased risks for undocumented immigrants crossing the border

4. Selected personal accounts/case studies

B. Mexican immigrants in the US today – social and economic issues

1. Economic and demographic profiles

2. Income and poverty

3. Settlement patterns

4. Wage assimilation

5. Economic impacts of immigration

6. Undocumented immigrants

7. Naturalization

8. Selected personal accounts/case studies

C. Mexican immigrants and cultural development in US urban centers

1. Becoming Mexican-American/Chicano/a

2. Settlement patterns

3. Divided loyalties

4. New nationalism, Mexican style

5. Religious adaptations

6. Music and growth of mass culture

7. The rise of communities

8. Ambivalent Americanism

D. The education of Mexican Americans

1. Educational profiles

2. Secondary education

3. Bilingual education

4. College education

5. California Community Colleges and Chicanos Studies

6. Education, language and empowerment

7. Economic incentives to invest in education

8. Social and cultural factors affecting the decision to invest in education

9. Selected personal accounts/case studies

E. Mexican Americans in the labor market

1. Employment patterns

2. Occupational patterns

3. Annual income

4. Wages, human capital and discrimination

5. Selected personal accounts/case studies

F. Mexican Americans toward the middle class

1. Income distribution

2. Factors affecting poverty rates

3. Public assistance

4. Mexican americans as an exception to the underclass model of poverty

5. Wealth and asset accumulation

6. Mexican American home ownership

7. Selected personal accounts/ case studies

• << Previous: ETHN 116 - Home
• Next: Print >>

Powered by Springshare │ LibApps Login

Majority of Latinas feel cross-cultural pressures, new report finds

According to a new report from the pew research center, 63% of latinas say they are under pressure to succeed in the workplace and help support their family..

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

Latinas living in the U.S. have a lot on their plate.

According to a new report from the Pew Research Center published Tuesday, 63% of Latinas say they are under pressure to succeed in the workplace and help support their family; 62% feel the need to be beautiful; 68% feel responsible for household chores; and 56% are pressured to get married and start their own family.

Wealth gap between white families and Latino families surpasses $1 million

In 2022, the average wealth of white families was approximately $1.36 million. It was $227,544 for Latino families and $211,596 for Black families. For Asian American households, the average wealth was $1.8 million.

April 30, 2024

This data comes from Pew’s bilingual National Survey of Latinos, in which 5,078 Latino adults were polled. The report aims to better understand Latinas’ life experiences in U.S. society, where they make up 17% of the population.

Focusing on their stressors and joys, Pew Research concludes that Latinas are expected to live up to standards held across several cultures.

“There is this duality with what they face in their lives. Of course, many Latinas have immigrant connections, whether they are the child of an immigrant or an immigrant themselves. They have to live in this cross-cultural reality,” said Luis Noe-Bustamante, a Pew Research associate who helped compile the report.

Seventy-seven percent of adult Latinas have ties to immigration, with 52% being immigrants themselves and 25% having at least one immigrant parent. They are affected by the cultural expectations from their family’s country of origin and from the United States.

“The whole purpose of our families immigrating is so that the next generation can have opportunities that were not available in our countries of origin,” said Rebeca Melendez, program director of the East Los Angeles Women’s Center, a nonprofit that emphasizes outreach to the Latino community and provides a safe space for women through their varying health and housing services.

Young Latines are leaving organized religion. This divided family is learning to cope

Gisselle Palomera left their religion at 15, causing a rift in the relationship with their mother. Now at 26-years-old, they are finding new ways to improve their communication.

“We see the sacrifices our parents have made for us. Our desire to make them proud is inherent,” Melendez said.

Even with these multicultural expectations, 88% of Latinas say they are at least somewhat satisfied with their family life. Regardless of age, immigration status or political party, the population remains positive on the topic of joy.

“Most Latinas say they are happy and they rate their family satisfaction really high as well,” Noe-Bustamante said. “When we asked them what brings them joy, most say that sharing time with family and friends is something that brings them joy. It was at the top of the list.”

Under spending time with family (56%) is their social life (36%), then the quality of life in their local community (34%) and lastly, their financial situation (21%). Despite how much pressure surrounds a Latina and her family life, they are more likely to be satisfied with their quality of life.

“As families, we are so connected,” Melendez said. “We share our success and become a source of joy. If we make our family members feel like all of the sacrifices they made for us fulfills them, then that is what makes us happy.”

More to Read

More than half of foreign-born people in U.S. live in just 4 states and half are naturalized citizens

April 13, 2024

Op Comic: My Mexican grandfather’s infinite garden

March 18, 2024

Retirement looks different for our Latino parents, so how can we help them plan?

Jan. 12, 2024

Cerys Davies is a spring reporting intern in the De Los section of the Los Angeles Times. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she focuses her writing on the Latinx experience within the context of the city. Often looking to art and music as tools and sources of inspiration, she finds her passion for the arts, writing and her community all come together within the context of journalism.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Meet Estevie, the Gen Z cumbia pop star in the making

May 15, 2024

Comic: How one artist confronted his alcoholism

May 13, 2024

The Running Mamis are helping Latina moms go the distance

May 11, 2024

Q&A: Anjelah Johnson-Reyes lives out her own quinceañera on Tubi’s ‘My Crazy Quince’

May 10, 2024

126 Hispanics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best hispanics topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on hispanics, 📌 most interesting hispanics topics to write about, 📃 interesting topics to write about hispanics, 🔍 simple & easy hispanics essay titles.

• Gender Roles and Family Systems in Hispanic Culture In the Hispanic culture, amarianismo’ and amachismo’ are the terms used to determine the various behavioral expectations among the family members.
• Overview and Analysis of Hispanic & Latino Theology The Hispanic theology is shown as a representation of the religious and theological inflections of the Hispanic people staying in the United States.
• Hispanic Culture in “Como Agua Para Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel The subject matter of the book is Hispanic culture and traditions, particularly the cuisine and the family traditions in Mexico. They have a special term “machismo” which is associated with the responsibility of a man […]
• Asian American and Hispanic Identities in the US This is especially true of immigrants from Laos, who may not feel a strong sense of belonging to the greater Asian American group because they come from different cultural and historical backgrounds.
• Cultural Empowerment in the Hispanic Community In the case of the Hispanic community prone to obesity, the use of cultural empowerment tools might help identify and incorporate positive elements in the culture.
• Preventing Obesity Among the Hispanic Population The first factor within the dimension of relationships and expectations is associated with the perception of health-related values, beliefs, and attitudes that create a basis for an individual to engage in healthy behaviors.
• Epidemiology: Type II Diabetes in Hispanic Americans The prevalence of type II diabetes in Hispanic Americans is well-established, and the search for inexpensive prevention methods is in the limelight.
• Obesity Among Black and Hispanic Adults In conclusion, obesity is a health issue that is likely to be faced by black and Hispanic adults following poverty, lack of health education, and cultural beliefs.
• Type 2 Diabetes in Hispanic Americans The HP2020 objectives and the “who, where, and when” of the problem highlight the significance of developing new, focused, culturally sensitive T2D prevention programs for Hispanic Americans.
• COVID-19 Among Hispanics in the United States Since the findings demonstrate that the condition is significant for the selected population, it seems reasonable to conduct another study to investigate the epidemiology of COVID-19 among Hispanics living in the United States.
• Expanding Knowledge of Hispanic Culture In a family, the men are the ones who are expected to provide for that family and as well be the individuals in charge of that family.
• Hispanic Patients: The Cultural Differences Due to the processes of economic development of the United States, the import of foreign labor into the country is growing.
• Obesity in Adolescent Hispanic Population According to Kemp, “the percent of Black and Hispanic teens with obesity increased significantly over the past decade, but the prevalence of obesity remained unchanged for non-Hispanic White adolescents and young children, according to data […]
• Reduction of Obesity in the Adolescent Hispanic Population According to Kemp, “the percent of Black and Hispanic teens with obesity increased significantly over the past decade, but the prevalence of obesity remained unchanged for non-Hispanic White adolescents and for young children, according to […]
• Child Obesity in Hispanic Community The problem of obesity among children in the Latin American community is not primarily related to the lack of attention of parents to the growing problem.
• “Diabetes Prevention in U.S. Hispanic Adults” by McCurley et al. This information allows for supposing that face-to-face interventions can be suitable to my practicum project that considers measures to improve access to care among African Americans with heart failure diseases. Finally, it is possible to […]
• Conditions of People Migrating to the U.S.: Hispanic Migration In the first half of the century, Mexican comprised the majority of the Hispanic migrants to the country, with a small proportion of immigrants from the Caribbean countries.
• “In the Heights”: A Depiction of Hispanic Immigrant Experience in the United States In many cases, immigrants form or join the closed communities, and the people, who live there, are often not adjusted to the environment of the main population. Nina Rosario is the daughter of two hard-working […]
• Discrimination Against Hispanics in America Today, Mexicans and all other Hispanics are still victims of the stereotypes and inequalities faced by their people in the US over a hundred years ago.
• Hispanic American History: Importance and Impact The study of the complex interrelationships and general trends of Hispanic-American economic, political, and social developments helped deepen and understand the features of the people, which is helpful for professional activities.
• Hispanic Americans and Immigrants The people of Hispanic origin account for a considerable part of the population of the United States. More specifically, the Hispanic population of the country has surpassed sixty million by the year 2019, and this […]
• Addressing the Needs of Hispanic Patients With Diabetes Similarly, in the program at hand, the needs of Hispanic patients with diabetes will be considered through the prism of the key specifics of the community, as well as the cultural background of the patients.
• Hispanic and Black Community Injustice Moreover, in the letter to environmental organizations, people of color demanded to include them in the ruling positions of unions and to raise funding in the polluted areas.
• High Blood Pressure Management in Hispanic Patient These symptoms are complemented by heavy snoring and the lack of pain except for the headaches, which are becoming more frequent and last for a couple of hours.
• Hispanic and Latino Community’s Health in Florida In terms of the present presentation, the community health assessment will be focused on the health state of the Hispanic and Latino community in the state of Florida and Broward County, in particular.
• Anxiety and Depression in Hispanic Youth in Monmouth County Therefore, the Health Project in Monmouth County will help Hispanic children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 to cope with anxiety and depression through behavioral therapy.
• Heart Disease Among Hispanic and Latino Population Hispanics and Latinos have the highest propensity for heart related diseases in the society. They are at a very high risk of developing diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
• Hispanic Migrant Workers’ Community The primary language spoken by Hispanics in the United States is Spanish as in the case of the farm workers of Mexican origin or Latin American nationalities.
• Nursing in Different Cultures – Hispanic Cultures Cultural conflicts can occur when nurses acknowledge the influence of their values on global health. Cultural values are the lasting belief systems, which a society focuses on.
• Heart Disease Among Hispanic & Latino Population One of the causes of the rise in the case of heart diseases in Westminster is the literacy rate of the Hispanic/Latinos in the county.
• Community Health Advocacy Project: Diabetes Among Hispanics It will be important to evaluate the performance of the intervention plan in order to determine how appropriate it is in addressing the identified problem.
• Community Health Advocacy Project: Hispanics With Diabetes Statistics clearly show that age, gender, socio-economic status, and weight management are some of the key factors that affect the distribution of type-2 diabetes amongst the Hispanics.
• Hispanics Are More Susceptible to Diabetes That Non-Hispanics This trend is persistent to date, and is the reason behind the prevalence of diabetes among Hispanics. The condition of the environments in which Hispanics live also adds increases their susceptibility to diabetes.
• Rates Diabetes Between Hispanics Males and Females An increase in the period that one spends in the US correlates with the chances of developing the disease. In this context, all the levels would be used to address the high prevalence rates of […]
• Hispanics: Scholarly Culture Paper Duran, notes that the absence of information about Hispanics contributes largely to the unavailability of competitive healthcare services of the same.
• Hispanic Americans Opinion Takeyuki Tsuda The book Immigration and Ethnic Relations in the U.S.speaks on the theme of reshaping the face of the United States during the period of the past few decades.
• A Portrait of Hispanics Living in California The originality of the Hispanic population in the US can be traced to different ethnic groups comprising of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cubans.
• Educational Disparities: Non-Hispanic Whites vs. Blacks The segregation set up the course for disparities in the education sector because the black schools mainly in the south were poor and thus could not afford to provide adequate facilities for the students.
• Boosting Education and Culture Among Hispanic Women There is also the fact that the Hispanic women who have managed to go to school do not demonstrate a strong attachment to the Hispanic culture.
• Hispanic Males in the 19th-21st Centuries This change in the family setup has led to the change in the role of the Hispanic male. The family’s security was in the hands of the Hispanic male while the woman acted as the […]
• Norms, and Characteristics of African American and Hispanic Living in Florida The two minority groups selected for my research are African American people and Hispanic groups with whom I am familiar from my locality.
• African Americans and Hispanics in New Jersey In fact, “African-American history starts in the 1500s with the first Africans coming from Mexico and the Caribbean to the Spanish territories of Florida, Texas, and other parts of the South”.
• Hispanic Americans as Illegal Immigration Thus a historical loyalty to the Democratic Party is still sustained even today At 15% the Hispanic-American population of the United States makes up the fastest growing minority in the United States.
• Hispanic Nation: Brief Retrospective The number of the baby born to Hispanics in comparison to other groups is very high. Another threat is of the low skill set of the Hispanics and their ability to learn new skill for […]
• Hispanic American Diversity Analysis Mexican started migrating to the United States in considerable numbers as early as 1850 following the discovery of Gold in Sierra Nevada of California and continued doing so as the economy of the United States […]
• Assessing Learning: Hispanic Lessons and Assessments Assessment is a vital activity in the process of learning in the modern educational framework and it is through assessment that the learning of the content is evaluated and central changes in the process are […]
• Health Effects of Tobacco Smoking in Hispanic Men The Health Effects of Tobacco Smoking can be attributed to active tobacco smoking rather than inhalation of tobacco smoke from environment and passive smoking.
• Hispanic American Diversity and Conventions According to the analysis in these countries majority of these people are catholic, that is 70 %, the Protestants are 23%, and 6% have no affiliation.
• Immigration, Hispanics, and Mass Incarceration in the U.S. This article evaluates the effect of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, that led to the legalization of approximately 3 million immigrants had on the crime rates in the U.S.
• Human Papillomavirus Vaccination in Hispanic Women The study is justified because establishing the level of HPV, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccine knowledge among Hispanic women would pave the way for the formulation of strategies on patient education on the issue.
• National Association of Hispanic Nurses: Importance of Involvement The official website of the organization, http://nahnnet.org/, stipulates that the primary purpose of the organization is to unite the nurses and make sure that they provide the Hispanic population with adequate care.
• Hispanic Women’s Stereotypes in the USA Importantly, the single-story related to Hispanic females refers to the representatives of the entire continent since people pay little attention to the origin of the Latino population.
• Hispanic Culture: Juan’s Health Case If he obtains the necessary documents, it would be possible to bring his family to the country, and this will facilitate family therapy. He will have to forget about his family for some time because […]
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Hispanic Teenager Family dynamics and social withdrawal do not seem to have affected the client’s academic history; her grades are good and she has no history of behavioral problems.
• Bilingual Education for Hispanic Americans The right to learn a native language is incorporated as Article 29 of the Convention of Right of a Child in the General assembly of the United Nations in 1989.
• Perception of Diabetes in the Hispanic Population Diabetes is also defined as one of the leading causes of death among the citizens of the United States. Despite the possibility to create certain measurements of this nursing research project, it is also required […]
• Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Reduction in Hispanic Women Its purpose is to reduce STI’s Gonorrhea/Chlamydia among Hispanic women in Michigan and to plan a culturally appropriate intervention to address this area of health. The final data is also inclusive of the ethnic and […]
• Anti-Obesity Program for Hispanic Children It is expected that the successful implementation of the program will lead to a subsequent 15% drop in the levels of obesity among Hispanic children in the target community.
• Hispanic Student’s Cultural and Ethical Issues Unfortunately, there is a lot of evidence supporting the fact that the educational experience for Hispanics in the United States is one of the most pressing problems.
• Hispanic and Asian Americans’ Mobility Factors As for me, I believe that the level of discrimination and assimilation have a critical impact on the socioeconomic flexibility of the immigrants due to the ability of the society to create stereotypes while the […]
• Obesity in Hispanic Adolescents and Fast Food Most of these, however, describe the relationship existing between the prevalence of diabetes in the population and the consumption of fast foods.
• Hispanic Patients and Dietary Approaches (DASH) As to sugars, the DASH diet limits the sweets intake to the daily servings of fructose from fruit and additional 5 servings of sugar per week.
• African, Caribbean, Hispanic, Pakistani, Dutch Cultures In addition, Nigerians are believed to speak their own Nigerian pidgin, which is not true since the official language of the country is English, and many people speak it fluently.
• Counseling and Mentorship Program for Hispanic Children The purpose of the mentorship program was to educate and widen their learning skills of the targeted children. The program also targeted to inform these individuals about the relevance of schooling in the Hispanic society.
• The Hispanic Project” by Nikki S. Lee One of the most complicated and at the same time the most essential problems of the modern world, the racial segregation, and the racial hegemony is to be considered because of the growing number of […]
• Hispanic American Diversity: Mexican, Cubans, Guatemalans and the Puerto Ricans These groups are the Mexican Americans, Cubans, Guatemalans and the Puerto Ricans. The main political issue relates to the Mexican American borders and the reduction of illegal immigrants.
• The Hispanic Community Concept: History and Characteristics It could refer to the current Spain; it can also be used to refer to the Spanish language, or the term can be used to refer to the communities in the world that speak the […]
• Hispanic American Culture and its Impact in America Impact of Hispanic Americans culture in American is evident. Hispanic Americans are the most culturally influential minority cultural and ethnic group in United States today.
• Hispanic Childhood Poverty in the United States Importance of the Problem The problem of childhood poverty in Hispanic groups in America is important to this study and to the social studies in America.
• Ethnic Stratification, Prejudice, Discrimination: Hispanics The author of this paper discusses the effects of ethnic stratification on the Hispanics/Latinos, and how prejudice and discrimination are relevant to this ethnic group.
• Hispanic Americans: Roles Played in the American Society. In the first place, it is necessary to remember that Hispanic Americans constitute about 15 % of the entire American population, which makes them the second largest ethnic group in the USA.
• Hispanic Americans: Racial Status Starting the discussion with the identification of the Hispanic Americans and their place in the population of the USA, the author says that some cities inhabit more Hispanic Americans than Americans.
• The US Ethnic Groups: the Hispanic Americans Of all the Hispanic Americans ethnic groups in the US, the Mexican is the largest, followed by Puerto Ricans, and then Cubans. The population of the Hispanic Americans has increased rapidly and is now the […]
• The Role of Hispanic Americans in Counseling Family structure and gender roles Family commitment in different cultures is an indispensable characteristic, which involves loyalty, a strong support system, the behavior of a child, which is associated with the honor of the family, […]
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Sexuality in the Hispanic Culture Men are the breadwinners of the family, a duty that requires men to play the father figure role in the family.
• Assessing the Challenges in Treating Substance Abuse Among Members of Hispanic Families In this respect, it is necessary to define the peculiarities of Hispanic culture in terms of family structure traditions, gender role distributions, and influence of family problems on members’ substance abuse.
• Mexican American, Chicano, Latino, Hispanic Cultural Variations in Childrearing Most of the Mexican Americans lived in areas in the USA that once belonged to Mexico that is areas such as California, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and others and in the regions that they […]
• The Minority Groups: African Americans and Hispanics All the challenges facing African Americans and Hispanics have been there for a very long time and the authorities do not seem to care the plight of these groups.
• Immigration bias on Hispanics in North Carolina Immigration bias against the Hispanics has been witnessed in the State of North Carolina based on implementation of Section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• The Hispanic Population in the United States The Hispanic population represents the largest minority group in the United States. Around one half of Hispanic residents in the United States were born in a foreign country.
• The Ethnic Issues of the Hispanic American People In the article, it is evident that the population of people from the Hispanic American origin has risen over the years, and currently, they contribute to approximately fourteen percent of the entire population of the […]
• The Social and Economic Conditions of the Hispanic Immigrants In the course of time, the attitude to Latin Americans has changed due to the shifts in perceiving cultural and social beliefs.
• Economic and Social Inequalities in the United States Between Whites, Asian Americans, Hispanics and African Americans Although, there are similarities in the wellbeing of whites and Asian American, Asian Americans are still seen as foreigners. However, to further isolate them, they are indentified with a tag inclined to the origin of […]
• The Aspects of Hispanic History and Culture S history emphasize on how the British colonies of North America were found and their subsequent growth, their gaining of independence in 1776 and the east to west growth of the U.S.
• Annotation Of: Hispanics and the Death Penalty It also identified several manifestations of racial discrimination between the whites and non whites by comparing Asian Americans and Hispanics marriages with the whites and discovered that the Asian Americans and Hispanics had higher chances […]
• African Americans and Hispanics of Mental Health Facilities
• Assimilation and Health: Linked Birth Records of Second and Third-Generation Hispanics
• Background Knowledge Immigration Hispanics From the United States
• Blacks, Hispanics, and White Ethnic Groups: Are Blacks Uniquely Disadvantaged?
• Bragging About Online Purchases: Comparing Consumer Word-Of-Mouth Among Hispanics and Non-Hispanics Groups
• Brain Amyloid Burden and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Late Middle-Aged Hispanics
• Cancer, Respiratory and Cardiovascular Diseases: Mortality Rates Among African-Americans and Hispanics
• Gender Disparity in Automobility Among Hispanics in the U.S
• Child Sexual Abuse Among Hispanics and TF-CBT
• Comparing Modernity Between Hispanics and Tibetans in Baltimore
• Considering the Economic Status of Black Americans and Hispanics
• Contextual Factors and Weight Change Over Time: U.S. Hispanics and Other Groups Comparison
• Diversity Analysis: The Impact of Hispanics in the Workplace
• Domestic Violence Against Hispanics and Latinas in Louisiana
• The Problem of Domestic Violence Among Hispanics
• Educational Disparities Among Black and Hispanics
• Racial Discrimination and Hispanics in the United States
• Ethnic Stratification, Prejudice, Discrimination: Hispanics
• Overview of Healthcare Disparity Among the Hispanics
• The Case of Direct Marketing Advertising for Hispanics
• The Problem of Teenage Pregnancies Anong Hispanics
• Hispanics and the American Dream: Analysis of Hispanic Male Labor Market Wages
• The Problem of Alcoholism Among Hispanics
• Hispanics and Their Contribution to America’s Human Capital
• Analysis of Hispanic Health Care Issues in Texas
• Hispanics, Black, Substance Abuse, and Multicultural Counseling
• Legal and Social Justice for Hispanics and Women
• Looking Through the Eyes of Undocumented Hispanics in the United States
• Hispanics’ Habits and Attitudes Towards Drinking
• Marital Assimilation Among Hispanics: Evidence of Declining Cultural and Economic Incorporation
• His Panic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S
• Mind, Body, and Culture: Somatization Among Hispanics
• Minority Groups: African Americans, Women, and Hispanics
• Mortality Among Elderly Hispanics in the USA: Past Evidence and New Results
• Operant Conditioning and Parenting Practices Between Hispanics and North Americans
• Police Brutality Against Hispanics and African Americans
• Racial and Ethnic Inequality of Hispanics in the USA
• Self-Selection, Prenatal Care, and Birthweight Among Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics in New York
• Racial Prejudice and Bias Against Hispanics
• Police Brutality: Hispanics, Asians, and African American
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). 126 Hispanics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/hispanics-essay-topics/

"126 Hispanics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/hispanics-essay-topics/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '126 Hispanics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "126 Hispanics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/hispanics-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "126 Hispanics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/hispanics-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "126 Hispanics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/hispanics-essay-topics/.

• International Studies Ideas
• US History Topics
• African Americans Paper Topics
• Native American Questions
• Christopher Columbus Essay Topics
• Racism Paper Topics
• Discrimination Essay Titles
• Race Essay Ideas

Cultural Relativity and Acceptance of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Article sidebar.

Main Article Content

There is a debate about the ethical implications of using human embryos in stem cell research, which can be influenced by cultural, moral, and social values. This paper argues for an adaptable framework to accommodate diverse cultural and religious perspectives. By using an adaptive ethics model, research protections can reflect various populations and foster growth in stem cell research possibilities.

INTRODUCTION

Stem cell research combines biology, medicine, and technology, promising to alter health care and the understanding of human development. Yet, ethical contention exists because of individuals’ perceptions of using human embryos based on their various cultural, moral, and social values. While these disagreements concerning policy, use, and general acceptance have prompted the development of an international ethics policy, such a uniform approach can overlook the nuanced ethical landscapes between cultures. With diverse viewpoints in public health, a single global policy, especially one reflecting Western ethics or the ethics prevalent in high-income countries, is impractical. This paper argues for a culturally sensitive, adaptable framework for the use of embryonic stem cells. Stem cell policy should accommodate varying ethical viewpoints and promote an effective global dialogue. With an extension of an ethics model that can adapt to various cultures, we recommend localized guidelines that reflect the moral views of the people those guidelines serve.

Stem cells, characterized by their unique ability to differentiate into various cell types, enable the repair or replacement of damaged tissues. Two primary types of stem cells are somatic stem cells (adult stem cells) and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells exist in developed tissues and maintain the body’s repair processes. [1] Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are remarkably pluripotent or versatile, making them valuable in research. [2] However, the use of ESCs has sparked ethics debates. Considering the potential of embryonic stem cells, research guidelines are essential. The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) provides international stem cell research guidelines. They call for “public conversations touching on the scientific significance as well as the societal and ethical issues raised by ESC research.” [3] The ISSCR also publishes updates about culturing human embryos 14 days post fertilization, suggesting local policies and regulations should continue to evolve as ESC research develops. [4]  Like the ISSCR, which calls for local law and policy to adapt to developing stem cell research given cultural acceptance, this paper highlights the importance of local social factors such as religion and culture.

I.     Global Cultural Perspective of Embryonic Stem Cells

Views on ESCs vary throughout the world. Some countries readily embrace stem cell research and therapies, while others have stricter regulations due to ethical concerns surrounding embryonic stem cells and when an embryo becomes entitled to moral consideration. The philosophical issue of when the “someone” begins to be a human after fertilization, in the morally relevant sense, [5] impacts when an embryo becomes not just worthy of protection but morally entitled to it. The process of creating embryonic stem cell lines involves the destruction of the embryos for research. [6] Consequently, global engagement in ESC research depends on social-cultural acceptability.

a.     US and Rights-Based Cultures

In the United States, attitudes toward stem cell therapies are diverse. The ethics and social approaches, which value individualism, [7] trigger debates regarding the destruction of human embryos, creating a complex regulatory environment. For example, the 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment prohibited federal funding for the creation of embryos for research and the destruction of embryos for “more than allowed for research on fetuses in utero.” [8] Following suit, in 2001, the Bush Administration heavily restricted stem cell lines for research. However, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 was proposed to help develop ESC research but was ultimately vetoed. [9] Under the Obama administration, in 2009, an executive order lifted restrictions allowing for more development in this field. [10] The flux of research capacity and funding parallels the different cultural perceptions of human dignity of the embryo and how it is socially presented within the country’s research culture. [11]

b.     Ubuntu and Collective Cultures

African bioethics differs from Western individualism because of the different traditions and values. African traditions, as described by individuals from South Africa and supported by some studies in other African countries, including Ghana and Kenya, follow the African moral philosophies of Ubuntu or Botho and Ukama , which “advocates for a form of wholeness that comes through one’s relationship and connectedness with other people in the society,” [12] making autonomy a socially collective concept. In this context, for the community to act autonomously, individuals would come together to decide what is best for the collective. Thus, stem cell research would require examining the value of the research to society as a whole and the use of the embryos as a collective societal resource. If society views the source as part of the collective whole, and opposes using stem cells, compromising the cultural values to pursue research may cause social detachment and stunt research growth. [13] Based on local culture and moral philosophy, the permissibility of stem cell research depends on how embryo, stem cell, and cell line therapies relate to the community as a whole. Ubuntu is the expression of humanness, with the person’s identity drawn from the “’I am because we are’” value. [14] The decision in a collectivistic culture becomes one born of cultural context, and individual decisions give deference to others in the society.

Consent differs in cultures where thought and moral philosophy are based on a collective paradigm. So, applying Western bioethical concepts is unrealistic. For one, Africa is a diverse continent with many countries with different belief systems, access to health care, and reliance on traditional or Western medicines. Where traditional medicine is the primary treatment, the “’restrictive focus on biomedically-related bioethics’” [is] problematic in African contexts because it neglects bioethical issues raised by traditional systems.” [15] No single approach applies in all areas or contexts. Rather than evaluating the permissibility of ESC research according to Western concepts such as the four principles approach, different ethics approaches should prevail.

Another consideration is the socio-economic standing of countries. In parts of South Africa, researchers have not focused heavily on contributing to the stem cell discourse, either because it is not considered health care or a health science priority or because resources are unavailable. [16] Each country’s priorities differ given different social, political, and economic factors. In South Africa, for instance, areas such as maternal mortality, non-communicable diseases, telemedicine, and the strength of health systems need improvement and require more focus [17] Stem cell research could benefit the population, but it also could divert resources from basic medical care. Researchers in South Africa adhere to the National Health Act and Medicines Control Act in South Africa and international guidelines; however, the Act is not strictly enforced, and there is no clear legislation for research conduct or ethical guidelines. [18]

Some parts of Africa condemn stem cell research. For example, 98.2 percent of the Tunisian population is Muslim. [19] Tunisia does not permit stem cell research because of moral conflict with a Fatwa. Religion heavily saturates the regulation and direction of research. [20] Stem cell use became permissible for reproductive purposes only recently, with tight restrictions preventing cells from being used in any research other than procedures concerning ART/IVF.  Their use is conditioned on consent, and available only to married couples. [21] The community's receptiveness to stem cell research depends on including communitarian African ethics.

c.     Asia

Some Asian countries also have a collective model of ethics and decision making. [22] In China, the ethics model promotes a sincere respect for life or human dignity, [23] based on protective medicine. This model, influenced by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), [24] recognizes Qi as the vital energy delivered via the meridians of the body; it connects illness to body systems, the body’s entire constitution, and the universe for a holistic bond of nature, health, and quality of life. [25] Following a protective ethics model, and traditional customs of wholeness, investment in stem cell research is heavily desired for its applications in regenerative therapies, disease modeling, and protective medicines. In a survey of medical students and healthcare practitioners, 30.8 percent considered stem cell research morally unacceptable while 63.5 percent accepted medical research using human embryonic stem cells. Of these individuals, 89.9 percent supported increased funding for stem cell research. [26] The scientific community might not reflect the overall population. From 1997 to 2019, China spent a total of $576 million (USD) on stem cell research at 8,050 stem cell programs, increased published presence from 0.6 percent to 14.01 percent of total global stem cell publications as of 2014, and made significant strides in cell-based therapies for various medical conditions. [27] However, while China has made substantial investments in stem cell research and achieved notable progress in clinical applications, concerns linger regarding ethical oversight and transparency. [28] For example, the China Biosecurity Law, promoted by the National Health Commission and China Hospital Association, attempted to mitigate risks by introducing an institutional review board (IRB) in the regulatory bodies. 5800 IRBs registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry since 2021. [29] However, issues still need to be addressed in implementing effective IRB review and approval procedures.

The substantial government funding and focus on scientific advancement have sometimes overshadowed considerations of regional cultures, ethnic minorities, and individual perspectives, particularly evident during the one-child policy era. As government policy adapts to promote public stability, such as the change from the one-child to the two-child policy, [30] research ethics should also adapt to ensure respect for the values of its represented peoples.

Japan is also relatively supportive of stem cell research and therapies. Japan has a more transparent regulatory framework, allowing for faster approval of regenerative medicine products, which has led to several advanced clinical trials and therapies. [31] South Korea is also actively engaged in stem cell research and has a history of breakthroughs in cloning and embryonic stem cells. [32] However, the field is controversial, and there are issues of scientific integrity. For example, the Korean FDA fast-tracked products for approval, [33] and in another instance, the oocyte source was unclear and possibly violated ethical standards. [34] Trust is important in research, as it builds collaborative foundations between colleagues, trial participant comfort, open-mindedness for complicated and sensitive discussions, and supports regulatory procedures for stakeholders. There is a need to respect the culture’s interest, engagement, and for research and clinical trials to be transparent and have ethical oversight to promote global research discourse and trust.

d.     Middle East

Countries in the Middle East have varying degrees of acceptance of or restrictions to policies related to using embryonic stem cells due to cultural and religious influences. Saudi Arabia has made significant contributions to stem cell research, and conducts research based on international guidelines for ethical conduct and under strict adherence to guidelines in accordance with Islamic principles. Specifically, the Saudi government and people require ESC research to adhere to Sharia law. In addition to umbilical and placental stem cells, [35] Saudi Arabia permits the use of embryonic stem cells as long as they come from miscarriages, therapeutic abortions permissible by Sharia law, or are left over from in vitro fertilization and donated to research. [36] Laws and ethical guidelines for stem cell research allow the development of research institutions such as the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, which has a cord blood bank and a stem cell registry with nearly 10,000 donors. [37] Such volume and acceptance are due to the ethical ‘permissibility’ of the donor sources, which do not conflict with religious pillars. However, some researchers err on the side of caution, choosing not to use embryos or fetal tissue as they feel it is unethical to do so. [38]

Jordan has a positive research ethics culture. [39] However, there is a significant issue of lack of trust in researchers, with 45.23 percent (38.66 percent agreeing and 6.57 percent strongly agreeing) of Jordanians holding a low level of trust in researchers, compared to 81.34 percent of Jordanians agreeing that they feel safe to participate in a research trial. [40] Safety testifies to the feeling of confidence that adequate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, whereas trust in researchers could represent the confidence in researchers to act in the participants’ best interests, adhere to ethical guidelines, provide accurate information, and respect participants’ rights and dignity. One method to improve trust would be to address communication issues relevant to ESC. Legislation surrounding stem cell research has adopted specific language, especially concerning clarification “between ‘stem cells’ and ‘embryonic stem cells’” in translation. [41] Furthermore, legislation “mandates the creation of a national committee… laying out specific regulations for stem-cell banking in accordance with international standards.” [42] This broad regulation opens the door for future global engagement and maintains transparency. However, these regulations may also constrain the influence of research direction, pace, and accessibility of research outcomes.

e.     Europe

In the European Union (EU), ethics is also principle-based, but the principles of autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability are interconnected. [43] As such, the opportunity for cohesion and concessions between individuals’ thoughts and ideals allows for a more adaptable ethics model due to the flexible principles that relate to the human experience The EU has put forth a framework in its Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being allowing member states to take different approaches. Each European state applies these principles to its specific conventions, leading to or reflecting different acceptance levels of stem cell research. [44]

For example, in Germany, Lebenzusammenhang , or the coherence of life, references integrity in the unity of human culture. Namely, the personal sphere “should not be subject to external intervention.” [45]  Stem cell interventions could affect this concept of bodily completeness, leading to heavy restrictions. Under the Grundgesetz, human dignity and the right to life with physical integrity are paramount. [46] The Embryo Protection Act of 1991 made producing cell lines illegal. Cell lines can be imported if approved by the Central Ethics Commission for Stem Cell Research only if they were derived before May 2007. [47] Stem cell research respects the integrity of life for the embryo with heavy specifications and intense oversight. This is vastly different in Finland, where the regulatory bodies find research more permissible in IVF excess, but only up to 14 days after fertilization. [48] Spain’s approach differs still, with a comprehensive regulatory framework. [49] Thus, research regulation can be culture-specific due to variations in applied principles. Diverse cultures call for various approaches to ethical permissibility. [50] Only an adaptive-deliberative model can address the cultural constructions of self and achieve positive, culturally sensitive stem cell research practices. [51]

II.     Religious Perspectives on ESC

Embryonic stem cell sources are the main consideration within religious contexts. While individuals may not regard their own religious texts as authoritative or factual, religion can shape their foundations or perspectives.

The Qur'an states:

“And indeed We created man from a quintessence of clay. Then We placed within him a small quantity of nutfa (sperm to fertilize) in a safe place. Then We have fashioned the nutfa into an ‘alaqa (clinging clot or cell cluster), then We developed the ‘alaqa into mudgha (a lump of flesh), and We made mudgha into bones, and clothed the bones with flesh, then We brought it into being as a new creation. So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators.” [52]

Many scholars of Islam estimate the time of soul installment, marked by the angel breathing in the soul to bring the individual into creation, as 120 days from conception. [53] Personhood begins at this point, and the value of life would prohibit research or experimentation that could harm the individual. If the fetus is more than 120 days old, the time ensoulment is interpreted to occur according to Islamic law, abortion is no longer permissible. [54] There are a few opposing opinions about early embryos in Islamic traditions. According to some Islamic theologians, there is no ensoulment of the early embryo, which is the source of stem cells for ESC research. [55]

In Buddhism, the stance on stem cell research is not settled. The main tenets, the prohibition against harming or destroying others (ahimsa) and the pursuit of knowledge (prajña) and compassion (karuna), leave Buddhist scholars and communities divided. [56] Some scholars argue stem cell research is in accordance with the Buddhist tenet of seeking knowledge and ending human suffering. Others feel it violates the principle of not harming others. Finding the balance between these two points relies on the karmic burden of Buddhist morality. In trying to prevent ahimsa towards the embryo, Buddhist scholars suggest that to comply with Buddhist tenets, research cannot be done as the embryo has personhood at the moment of conception and would reincarnate immediately, harming the individual's ability to build their karmic burden. [57] On the other hand, the Bodhisattvas, those considered to be on the path to enlightenment or Nirvana, have given organs and flesh to others to help alleviate grieving and to benefit all. [58] Acceptance varies on applied beliefs and interpretations.

Catholicism does not support embryonic stem cell research, as it entails creation or destruction of human embryos. This destruction conflicts with the belief in the sanctity of life. For example, in the Old Testament, Genesis describes humanity as being created in God’s image and multiplying on the Earth, referencing the sacred rights to human conception and the purpose of development and life. In the Ten Commandments, the tenet that one should not kill has numerous interpretations where killing could mean murder or shedding of the sanctity of life, demonstrating the high value of human personhood. In other books, the theological conception of when life begins is interpreted as in utero, [59] highlighting the inviolability of life and its formation in vivo to make a religious point for accepting such research as relatively limited, if at all. [60] The Vatican has released ethical directives to help apply a theological basis to modern-day conflicts. The Magisterium of the Church states that “unless there is a moral certainty of not causing harm,” experimentation on fetuses, fertilized cells, stem cells, or embryos constitutes a crime. [61] Such procedures would not respect the human person who exists at these stages, according to Catholicism. Damages to the embryo are considered gravely immoral and illicit. [62] Although the Catholic Church officially opposes abortion, surveys demonstrate that many Catholic people hold pro-choice views, whether due to the context of conception, stage of pregnancy, threat to the mother’s life, or for other reasons, demonstrating that practicing members can also accept some but not all tenets. [63]

Some major Jewish denominations, such as the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements, are open to supporting ESC use or research as long as it is for saving a life. [64] Within Judaism, the Talmud, or study, gives personhood to the child at birth and emphasizes that life does not begin at conception: [65]

“If she is found pregnant, until the fortieth day it is mere fluid,” [66]

Whereas most religions prioritize the status of human embryos, the Halakah (Jewish religious law) states that to save one life, most other religious laws can be ignored because it is in pursuit of preservation. [67] Stem cell research is accepted due to application of these religious laws.

We recognize that all religions contain subsets and sects. The variety of environmental and cultural differences within religious groups requires further analysis to respect the flexibility of religious thoughts and practices. We make no presumptions that all cultures require notions of autonomy or morality as under the common morality theory , which asserts a set of universal moral norms that all individuals share provides moral reasoning and guides ethical decisions. [68] We only wish to show that the interaction with morality varies between cultures and countries.

III.     A Flexible Ethical Approach

The plurality of different moral approaches described above demonstrates that there can be no universally acceptable uniform law for ESC on a global scale. Instead of developing one standard, flexible ethical applications must be continued. We recommend local guidelines that incorporate important cultural and ethical priorities.

While the Declaration of Helsinki is more relevant to people in clinical trials receiving ESC products, in keeping with the tradition of protections for research subjects, consent of the donor is an ethical requirement for ESC donation in many jurisdictions including the US, Canada, and Europe. [69] The Declaration of Helsinki provides a reference point for regulatory standards and could potentially be used as a universal baseline for obtaining consent prior to gamete or embryo donation.

For instance, in Columbia University’s egg donor program for stem cell research, donors followed standard screening protocols and “underwent counseling sessions that included information as to the purpose of oocyte donation for research, what the oocytes would be used for, the risks and benefits of donation, and process of oocyte stimulation” to ensure transparency for consent. [70] The program helped advance stem cell research and provided clear and safe research methods with paid participants. Though paid participation or covering costs of incidental expenses may not be socially acceptable in every culture or context, [71] and creating embryos for ESC research is illegal in many jurisdictions, Columbia’s program was effective because of the clear and honest communications with donors, IRBs, and related stakeholders.  This example demonstrates that cultural acceptance of scientific research and of the idea that an egg or embryo does not have personhood is likely behind societal acceptance of donating eggs for ESC research. As noted, many countries do not permit the creation of embryos for research.

Proper communication and education regarding the process and purpose of stem cell research may bolster comprehension and garner more acceptance. “Given the sensitive subject material, a complete consent process can support voluntary participation through trust, understanding, and ethical norms from the cultures and morals participants value. This can be hard for researchers entering countries of different socioeconomic stability, with different languages and different societal values. [72]

An adequate moral foundation in medical ethics is derived from the cultural and religious basis that informs knowledge and actions. [73] Understanding local cultural and religious values and their impact on research could help researchers develop humility and promote inclusion.

IV.     Concerns

Some may argue that if researchers all adhere to one ethics standard, protection will be satisfied across all borders, and the global public will trust researchers. However, defining what needs to be protected and how to define such research standards is very specific to the people to which standards are applied. We suggest that applying one uniform guide cannot accurately protect each individual because we all possess our own perceptions and interpretations of social values. [74] Therefore, the issue of not adjusting to the moral pluralism between peoples in applying one standard of ethics can be resolved by building out ethics models that can be adapted to different cultures and religions.

Other concerns include medical tourism, which may promote health inequities. [75] Some countries may develop and approve products derived from ESC research before others, compromising research ethics or drug approval processes. There are also concerns about the sale of unauthorized stem cell treatments, for example, those without FDA approval in the United States. Countries with robust research infrastructures may be tempted to attract medical tourists, and some customers will have false hopes based on aggressive publicity of unproven treatments. [76]

For example, in China, stem cell clinics can market to foreign clients who are not protected under the regulatory regimes. Companies employ a marketing strategy of “ethically friendly” therapies. Specifically, in the case of Beike, China’s leading stem cell tourism company and sprouting network, ethical oversight of administrators or health bureaus at one site has “the unintended consequence of shifting questionable activities to another node in Beike's diffuse network.” [77] In contrast, Jordan is aware of stem cell research’s potential abuse and its own status as a “health-care hub.” Jordan’s expanded regulations include preserving the interests of individuals in clinical trials and banning private companies from ESC research to preserve transparency and the integrity of research practices. [78]

The social priorities of the community are also a concern. The ISSCR explicitly states that guidelines “should be periodically revised to accommodate scientific advances, new challenges, and evolving social priorities.” [79] The adaptable ethics model extends this consideration further by addressing whether research is warranted given the varying degrees of socioeconomic conditions, political stability, and healthcare accessibilities and limitations. An ethical approach would require discussion about resource allocation and appropriate distribution of funds. [80]

While some religions emphasize the sanctity of life from conception, which may lead to public opposition to ESC research, others encourage ESC research due to its potential for healing and alleviating human pain. Many countries have special regulations that balance local views on embryonic personhood, the benefits of research as individual or societal goods, and the protection of human research subjects. To foster understanding and constructive dialogue, global policy frameworks should prioritize the protection of universal human rights, transparency, and informed consent. In addition to these foundational global policies, we recommend tailoring local guidelines to reflect the diverse cultural and religious perspectives of the populations they govern. Ethics models should be adapted to local populations to effectively establish research protections, growth, and possibilities of stem cell research.

For example, in countries with strong beliefs in the moral sanctity of embryos or heavy religious restrictions, an adaptive model can allow for discussion instead of immediate rejection. In countries with limited individual rights and voice in science policy, an adaptive model ensures cultural, moral, and religious views are taken into consideration, thereby building social inclusion. While this ethical consideration by the government may not give a complete voice to every individual, it will help balance policies and maintain the diverse perspectives of those it affects. Embracing an adaptive ethics model of ESC research promotes open-minded dialogue and respect for the importance of human belief and tradition. By actively engaging with cultural and religious values, researchers can better handle disagreements and promote ethical research practices that benefit each society.

This brief exploration of the religious and cultural differences that impact ESC research reveals the nuances of relative ethics and highlights a need for local policymakers to apply a more intense adaptive model.

[1] Poliwoda, S., Noor, N., Downs, E., Schaaf, A., Cantwell, A., Ganti, L., Kaye, A. D., Mosel, L. I., Carroll, C. B., Viswanath, O., & Urits, I. (2022). Stem cells: a comprehensive review of origins and emerging clinical roles in medical practice.  Orthopedic reviews ,  14 (3), 37498. https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.37498

[2] Poliwoda, S., Noor, N., Downs, E., Schaaf, A., Cantwell, A., Ganti, L., Kaye, A. D., Mosel, L. I., Carroll, C. B., Viswanath, O., & Urits, I. (2022). Stem cells: a comprehensive review of origins and emerging clinical roles in medical practice.  Orthopedic reviews ,  14 (3), 37498. https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.37498

[3] International Society for Stem Cell Research. (2023). Laboratory-based human embryonic stem cell research, embryo research, and related research activities . International Society for Stem Cell Research. https://www.isscr.org/guidelines/blog-post-title-one-ed2td-6fcdk ; Kimmelman, J., Hyun, I., Benvenisty, N.  et al.  Policy: Global standards for stem-cell research.  Nature   533 , 311–313 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/533311a

[4] International Society for Stem Cell Research. (2023). Laboratory-based human embryonic stem cell research, embryo research, and related research activities . International Society for Stem Cell Research. https://www.isscr.org/guidelines/blog-post-title-one-ed2td-6fcdk

[5] Concerning the moral philosophies of stem cell research, our paper does not posit a personal moral stance nor delve into the “when” of human life begins. To read further about the philosophical debate, consider the following sources:

Sandel M. J. (2004). Embryo ethics--the moral logic of stem-cell research.  The New England journal of medicine ,  351 (3), 207–209. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp048145 ; George, R. P., & Lee, P. (2020, September 26). Acorns and Embryos . The New Atlantis. https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/acorns-and-embryos ; Sagan, A., & Singer, P. (2007). The moral status of stem cells. Metaphilosophy , 38 (2/3), 264–284. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24439776 ; McHugh P. R. (2004). Zygote and "clonote"--the ethical use of embryonic stem cells.  The New England journal of medicine ,  351 (3), 209–211. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp048147 ; Kurjak, A., & Tripalo, A. (2004). The facts and doubts about beginning of the human life and personality.  Bosnian journal of basic medical sciences ,  4 (1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.17305/bjbms.2004.3453

[6] Vazin, T., & Freed, W. J. (2010). Human embryonic stem cells: derivation, culture, and differentiation: a review.  Restorative neurology and neuroscience ,  28 (4), 589–603. https://doi.org/10.3233/RNN-2010-0543

[7] Socially, at its core, the Western approach to ethics is widely principle-based, autonomy being one of the key factors to ensure a fundamental respect for persons within research. For information regarding autonomy in research, see: Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, & National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (1978). The Belmont Report. Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research.; For a more in-depth review of autonomy within the US, see: Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (1994). Principles of Biomedical Ethics . Oxford University Press.

[8] Sherley v. Sebelius , 644 F.3d 388 (D.C. Cir. 2011), citing 45 C.F.R. 46.204(b) and [42 U.S.C. § 289g(b)]. https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/6c690438a9b43dd685257a64004ebf99/$file/11-5241-1391178.pdf

[9] Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, H. R. 810, 109 th Cong. (2001). https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hr810/text ; Bush, G. W. (2006, July 19). Message to the House of Representatives . National Archives and Records Administration. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060719-5.html

[10] National Archives and Records Administration. (2009, March 9). Executive order 13505 -- removing barriers to responsible scientific research involving human stem cells . National Archives and Records Administration. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/removing-barriers-responsible-scientific-research-involving-human-stem-cells

[11] Hurlbut, W. B. (2006). Science, Religion, and the Politics of Stem Cells.  Social Research ,  73 (3), 819–834. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40971854

[12] Akpa-Inyang, Francis & Chima, Sylvester. (2021). South African traditional values and beliefs regarding informed consent and limitations of the principle of respect for autonomy in African communities: a cross-cultural qualitative study. BMC Medical Ethics . 22. 10.1186/s12910-021-00678-4.

[13] Source for further reading: Tangwa G. B. (2007). Moral status of embryonic stem cells: perspective of an African villager. Bioethics , 21(8), 449–457. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2007.00582.x , see also Mnisi, F. M. (2020). An African analysis based on ethics of Ubuntu - are human embryonic stem cell patents morally justifiable? African Insight , 49 (4).

[14] Jecker, N. S., & Atuire, C. (2021). Bioethics in Africa: A contextually enlightened analysis of three cases. Developing World Bioethics , 22 (2), 112–122. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12324

[15] Jecker, N. S., & Atuire, C. (2021). Bioethics in Africa: A contextually enlightened analysis of three cases. Developing World Bioethics, 22(2), 112–122. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12324

[16] Jackson, C.S., Pepper, M.S. Opportunities and barriers to establishing a cell therapy programme in South Africa.  Stem Cell Res Ther   4 , 54 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/scrt204 ; Pew Research Center. (2014, May 1). Public health a major priority in African nations . Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/05/01/public-health-a-major-priority-in-african-nations/

[17] Department of Health Republic of South Africa. (2021). Health Research Priorities (revised) for South Africa 2021-2024 . National Health Research Strategy. https://www.health.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/National-Health-Research-Priorities-2021-2024.pdf

[18] Oosthuizen, H. (2013). Legal and Ethical Issues in Stem Cell Research in South Africa. In: Beran, R. (eds) Legal and Forensic Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32338-6_80 , see also: Gaobotse G (2018) Stem Cell Research in Africa: Legislation and Challenges. J Regen Med 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2325-9620.1000142

[19] United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. (1998). Tunisia: Information on the status of Christian conversions in Tunisia . UNHCR Web Archive. https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20230522142618/https://www.refworld.org/docid/3df0be9a2.html

[20] Gaobotse, G. (2018) Stem Cell Research in Africa: Legislation and Challenges. J Regen Med 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2325-9620.1000142

[21] Kooli, C. Review of assisted reproduction techniques, laws, and regulations in Muslim countries.  Middle East Fertil Soc J   24 , 8 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43043-019-0011-0 ; Gaobotse, G. (2018) Stem Cell Research in Africa: Legislation and Challenges. J Regen Med 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2325-9620.1000142

[22] Pang M. C. (1999). Protective truthfulness: the Chinese way of safeguarding patients in informed treatment decisions. Journal of medical ethics , 25(3), 247–253. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.25.3.247

[23] Wang, L., Wang, F., & Zhang, W. (2021). Bioethics in China’s biosecurity law: Forms, effects, and unsettled issues. Journal of law and the biosciences , 8(1).  https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsab019 https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/8/1/lsab019/6299199

[24] Wang, Y., Xue, Y., & Guo, H. D. (2022). Intervention effects of traditional Chinese medicine on stem cell therapy of myocardial infarction.  Frontiers in pharmacology ,  13 , 1013740. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1013740

[25] Li, X.-T., & Zhao, J. (2012). Chapter 4: An Approach to the Nature of Qi in TCM- Qi and Bioenergy. In Recent Advances in Theories and Practice of Chinese Medicine (p. 79). InTech.

[26] Luo, D., Xu, Z., Wang, Z., & Ran, W. (2021). China's Stem Cell Research and Knowledge Levels of Medical Practitioners and Students.  Stem cells international ,  2021 , 6667743. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6667743

[27] Luo, D., Xu, Z., Wang, Z., & Ran, W. (2021). China's Stem Cell Research and Knowledge Levels of Medical Practitioners and Students.  Stem cells international ,  2021 , 6667743. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6667743

[28] Zhang, J. Y. (2017). Lost in translation? accountability and governance of Clinical Stem Cell Research in China. Regenerative Medicine , 12 (6), 647–656. https://doi.org/10.2217/rme-2017-0035

[29] Wang, L., Wang, F., & Zhang, W. (2021). Bioethics in China’s biosecurity law: Forms, effects, and unsettled issues. Journal of law and the biosciences , 8(1).  https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsab019 https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/8/1/lsab019/6299199

[30] Chen, H., Wei, T., Wang, H.  et al.  Association of China’s two-child policy with changes in number of births and birth defects rate, 2008–2017.  BMC Public Health   22 , 434 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12839-0

[31] Azuma, K. Regulatory Landscape of Regenerative Medicine in Japan.  Curr Stem Cell Rep   1 , 118–128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40778-015-0012-6

[32] Harris, R. (2005, May 19). Researchers Report Advance in Stem Cell Production . NPR. https://www.npr.org/2005/05/19/4658967/researchers-report-advance-in-stem-cell-production

[33] Park, S. (2012). South Korea steps up stem-cell work.  Nature . https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2012.10565

[34] Resnik, D. B., Shamoo, A. E., & Krimsky, S. (2006). Fraudulent human embryonic stem cell research in South Korea: lessons learned.  Accountability in research ,  13 (1), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989620600634193 .

[35] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics, 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

[36] Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies.  https://www.aabb.org/regulatory-and-advocacy/regulatory-affairs/regulatory-for-cellular-therapies/international-competent-authorities/saudi-arabia

[37] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: Interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia.  BMC medical ethics ,  21 (1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

[38] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: Interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics , 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

Culturally, autonomy practices follow a relational autonomy approach based on a paternalistic deontological health care model. The adherence to strict international research policies and religious pillars within the regulatory environment is a great foundation for research ethics. However, there is a need to develop locally targeted ethics approaches for research (as called for in Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics, 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6), this decision-making approach may help advise a research decision model. For more on the clinical cultural autonomy approaches, see: Alabdullah, Y. Y., Alzaid, E., Alsaad, S., Alamri, T., Alolayan, S. W., Bah, S., & Aljoudi, A. S. (2022). Autonomy and paternalism in Shared decision‐making in a Saudi Arabian tertiary hospital: A cross‐sectional study. Developing World Bioethics , 23 (3), 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12355 ; Bukhari, A. A. (2017). Universal Principles of Bioethics and Patient Rights in Saudi Arabia (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/124; Ladha, S., Nakshawani, S. A., Alzaidy, A., & Tarab, B. (2023, October 26). Islam and Bioethics: What We All Need to Know . Columbia University School of Professional Studies. https://sps.columbia.edu/events/islam-and-bioethics-what-we-all-need-know

[39] Ababneh, M. A., Al-Azzam, S. I., Alzoubi, K., Rababa’h, A., & Al Demour, S. (2021). Understanding and attitudes of the Jordanian public about clinical research ethics.  Research Ethics ,  17 (2), 228-241.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120966779

[40] Ababneh, M. A., Al-Azzam, S. I., Alzoubi, K., Rababa’h, A., & Al Demour, S. (2021). Understanding and attitudes of the Jordanian public about clinical research ethics.  Research Ethics ,  17 (2), 228-241.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120966779

[41] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East.  Nature  510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[42] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East.  Nature  510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[43] The EU’s definition of autonomy relates to the capacity for creating ideas, moral insight, decisions, and actions without constraint, personal responsibility, and informed consent. However, the EU views autonomy as not completely able to protect individuals and depends on other principles, such as dignity, which “expresses the intrinsic worth and fundamental equality of all human beings.” Rendtorff, J.D., Kemp, P. (2019). Four Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw: Autonomy, Dignity, Integrity and Vulnerability. In: Valdés, E., Lecaros, J. (eds) Biolaw and Policy in the Twenty-First Century. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05903-3_3

[44] Council of Europe. Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (ETS No. 164) https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=164 (forbidding the creation of embryos for research purposes only, and suggests embryos in vitro have protections.); Also see Drabiak-Syed B. K. (2013). New President, New Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Policy: Comparative International Perspectives and Embryonic Stem Cell Research Laws in France.  Biotechnology Law Report ,  32 (6), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.1089/blr.2013.9865

[45] Rendtorff, J.D., Kemp, P. (2019). Four Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw: Autonomy, Dignity, Integrity and Vulnerability. In: Valdés, E., Lecaros, J. (eds) Biolaw and Policy in the Twenty-First Century. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05903-3_3

[46] Tomuschat, C., Currie, D. P., Kommers, D. P., & Kerr, R. (Trans.). (1949, May 23). Basic law for the Federal Republic of Germany. https://www.btg-bestellservice.de/pdf/80201000.pdf

[47] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Germany . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-germany

[48] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Finland . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-finland

[49] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Spain . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-spain

[50] Some sources to consider regarding ethics models or regulatory oversights of other cultures not covered:

Kara MA. Applicability of the principle of respect for autonomy: the perspective of Turkey. J Med Ethics. 2007 Nov;33(11):627-30. doi: 10.1136/jme.2006.017400. PMID: 17971462; PMCID: PMC2598110.

Ugarte, O. N., & Acioly, M. A. (2014). The principle of autonomy in Brazil: one needs to discuss it ...  Revista do Colegio Brasileiro de Cirurgioes ,  41 (5), 374–377. https://doi.org/10.1590/0100-69912014005013

Bharadwaj, A., & Glasner, P. E. (2012). Local cells, global science: The rise of embryonic stem cell research in India . Routledge.

For further research on specific European countries regarding ethical and regulatory framework, we recommend this database: Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Europe . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-europe   

[51] Klitzman, R. (2006). Complications of culture in obtaining informed consent. The American Journal of Bioethics, 6(1), 20–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265160500394671 see also: Ekmekci, P. E., & Arda, B. (2017). Interculturalism and Informed Consent: Respecting Cultural Differences without Breaching Human Rights.  Cultura (Iasi, Romania) ,  14 (2), 159–172.; For why trust is important in research, see also: Gray, B., Hilder, J., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Dowell, A., & Stubbe, M. (2017). Are research ethics guidelines culturally competent?  Research Ethics ,  13 (1), 23-41.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016116650235

[52] The Qur'an  (M. Khattab, Trans.). (1965). Al-Mu’minun, 23: 12-14. https://quran.com/23

[53] Lenfest, Y. (2017, December 8). Islam and the beginning of human life . Bill of Health. https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2017/12/08/islam-and-the-beginning-of-human-life/

[54] Aksoy, S. (2005). Making regulations and drawing up legislation in Islamic countries under conditions of uncertainty, with special reference to embryonic stem cell research. Journal of Medical Ethics , 31: 399-403.; see also: Mahmoud, Azza. "Islamic Bioethics: National Regulations and Guidelines of Human Stem Cell Research in the Muslim World." Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2022. https://doi.org/10.36837/ chapman.000386

[55] Rashid, R. (2022). When does Ensoulment occur in the Human Foetus. Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association , 12 (4). ISSN 2634 8071. https://www.jbima.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2-Ethics-3_-Ensoulment_Rafaqat.pdf.

[56] Sivaraman, M. & Noor, S. (2017). Ethics of embryonic stem cell research according to Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic, and Islamic religions: perspective from Malaysia. Asian Biomedicine,8(1) 43-52.  https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0801.260

[57] Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.),  Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues  (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press.  https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[58] Lecso, P. A. (1991). The Bodhisattva Ideal and Organ Transplantation.  Journal of Religion and Health ,  30 (1), 35–41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27510629 ; Bodhisattva, S. (n.d.). The Key of Becoming a Bodhisattva . A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. http://www.buddhism.org/Sutras/2/BodhisattvaWay.htm

[59] There is no explicit religious reference to when life begins or how to conduct research that interacts with the concept of life. However, these are relevant verses pertaining to how the fetus is viewed. (( King James Bible . (1999). Oxford University Press. (original work published 1769))

Jerimiah 1: 5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”

In prophet Jerimiah’s insight, God set him apart as a person known before childbirth, a theme carried within the Psalm of David.

Psalm 139: 13-14 “…Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

These verses demonstrate David’s respect for God as an entity that would know of all man’s thoughts and doings even before birth.

[60] It should be noted that abortion is not supported as well.

[61] The Vatican. (1987, February 22). Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Replies to Certain Questions of the Day . Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[62] The Vatican. (2000, August 25). Declaration On the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells . Pontifical Academy for Life. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_acdlife_doc_20000824_cellule-staminali_en.html ; Ohara, N. (2003). Ethical Consideration of Experimentation Using Living Human Embryos: The Catholic Church’s Position on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology . Retrieved from https://article.imrpress.com/journal/CEOG/30/2-3/pii/2003018/77-81.pdf.

[63] Smith, G. A. (2022, May 23). Like Americans overall, Catholics vary in their abortion views, with regular mass attenders most opposed . Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/23/like-americans-overall-catholics-vary-in-their-abortion-views-with-regular-mass-attenders-most-opposed/

[64] Rosner, F., & Reichman, E. (2002). Embryonic stem cell research in Jewish law. Journal of halacha and contemporary society , (43), 49–68.; Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.),  Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues  (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press.  https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[65] Schenker J. G. (2008). The beginning of human life: status of embryo. Perspectives in Halakha (Jewish Religious Law).  Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics ,  25 (6), 271–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-008-9221-6

[66] Ruttenberg, D. (2020, May 5). The Torah of Abortion Justice (annotated source sheet) . Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/234926.7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

[67] Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.),  Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues  (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press.  https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[68] Gert, B. (2007). Common morality: Deciding what to do . Oxford Univ. Press.

[69] World Medical Association (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA , 310(20), 2191–2194. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.281053 Declaration of Helsinki – WMA – The World Medical Association .; see also: National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1979).  The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html

[70] Zakarin Safier, L., Gumer, A., Kline, M., Egli, D., & Sauer, M. V. (2018). Compensating human subjects providing oocytes for stem cell research: 9-year experience and outcomes.  Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics ,  35 (7), 1219–1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1171-z https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6063839/ see also: Riordan, N. H., & Paz Rodríguez, J. (2021). Addressing concerns regarding associated costs, transparency, and integrity of research in recent stem cell trial. Stem Cells Translational Medicine , 10 (12), 1715–1716. https://doi.org/10.1002/sctm.21-0234

[71] Klitzman, R., & Sauer, M. V. (2009). Payment of egg donors in stem cell research in the USA.  Reproductive biomedicine online ,  18 (5), 603–608. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1472-6483(10)60002-8

[72] Krosin, M. T., Klitzman, R., Levin, B., Cheng, J., & Ranney, M. L. (2006). Problems in comprehension of informed consent in rural and peri-urban Mali, West Africa.  Clinical trials (London, England) ,  3 (3), 306–313. https://doi.org/10.1191/1740774506cn150oa

[73] Veatch, Robert M.  Hippocratic, Religious, and Secular Medical Ethics: The Points of Conflict . Georgetown University Press, 2012.

[74] Msoroka, M. S., & Amundsen, D. (2018). One size fits not quite all: Universal research ethics with diversity.  Research Ethics ,  14 (3), 1-17.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016117739939

[75] Pirzada, N. (2022). The Expansion of Turkey’s Medical Tourism Industry.  Voices in Bioethics ,  8 . https://doi.org/10.52214/vib.v8i.9894

[76] Stem Cell Tourism: False Hope for Real Money . Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). (2023). https://hsci.harvard.edu/stem-cell-tourism , See also: Bissassar, M. (2017). Transnational Stem Cell Tourism: An ethical analysis.  Voices in Bioethics ,  3 . https://doi.org/10.7916/vib.v3i.6027

[77] Song, P. (2011) The proliferation of stem cell therapies in post-Mao China: problematizing ethical regulation,  New Genetics and Society , 30:2, 141-153, DOI:  10.1080/14636778.2011.574375

[78] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East.  Nature  510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[79] International Society for Stem Cell Research. (2024). Standards in stem cell research . International Society for Stem Cell Research. https://www.isscr.org/guidelines/5-standards-in-stem-cell-research

[80] Benjamin, R. (2013). People’s science bodies and rights on the Stem Cell Frontier . Stanford University Press.

Mifrah Hayath

SM Candidate Harvard Medical School, MS Biotechnology Johns Hopkins University

Olivia Bowers

MS Bioethics Columbia University (Disclosure: affiliated with Voices in Bioethics)

Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .