The study of Latino/Hispanic families in the United States has been the subject of prolific scholarly research since the 1970s. Sociologists, economists, anthropologists, educators, geographers, psychologists and communication scholars have studied the Latino/Hispanic domestic sphere in order to understand immigration, labor, delinquency, teen pregnancy, educational attainment, youth development and media consumption. As a result, a vast body of knowledge on the cultural characteristics of Latino/Hispanic families has emerged.
Relying on quantitative data collected by the U.S. government and other institutions, early studies on Latino/Hispanic families have often overemphasized their disadvantaged position and fostered the creation of a pathological narrative of a “culture of poverty” and social ill around this segment of the population. As Robin Harwood et al. (2002) state, “Demographic trends have contributed to research emphasizing social ills among Latinos” and have created a bias “towards problem-focused research in studies of Latino children, youth, and families.” (22) For instance, one of the long lasting assumptions made by U.S. social scientists was that low academic achievement and failure was directly related to the cultures of Latino/Hispanic families, especially Mexican ones. Such bias positioned these cultures as a deficit and contributed to strengthening ideologies of racial/ethnic superiority and hierarchy (Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco 1995; Valdez 1996; Villenas and Deyhle 1999). In reaction to these biases, some scholars called for more studies that examine the Latino/Hispanic population in terms of normative growth, development and resilience (Fisher et al. 1998; Garcia Coll et al. 1995).
Other scholars have turned to critical qualitative methods in order to analyze the population in their specific sociocultural, political, and economic contexts, revealing their cultural strengths, resilience, and agency. Since the 1990s, sociologists and anthropologists in the field of education and youth development have developed various critical qualitative studies about Latino/Hispanic families. Understanding Latino/Hispanic as a heterogeneous group, researchers have begun to reveal the diversity of this population and its cultural power in the context of racial and social inequalities and demand for low skill labor. Ethnographic works have documented the voices and stories of Latinos/Hispanics and provided new insight on their contexts and practices, revealing them as positive, creative, and appropriate. Instead of analyzing the Mexican and Latino/Hispanic culture as a deficit, these researchers focused on its strengths, and explained how cultural traits such as bilingualism, strong family cohesiveness (familismo), and ethnic notions of education have become resources to succeed in the U.S. (Suarez Orozco 1995; Trueba & Delgado-Gaitan 1990; Trueba et al. 1993; Valenzuela & Dornbusch 1994).
As researchers have tried to come to terms with the homogenous notion of the Latino/Hispanic population and its heterogeneous reality, they have been able to identify ethnic characteristics that persist across most U.S. Latino/Hispanics and are especially salient among the Mexican immigrant community. Although these traits serve to differentiate Latino/Hispanics from the dominant culture, they are not static and remain in constant flux as immigrant and host cultures interact, come closer, and influence one another. Familismo (family unity), respeto (respect), marianismo (feminine respectability and purity), machismo (misogyny), and educación (moral education), are some of the most salient values that shape Latino/Hispanic family dynamics, parent-children relationships, and gender roles. Familismo refers to the existence of a strong family orientation, identification, and cohesiveness in which all the family members feel responsibility and attachment to each other (Baca Zinn 1982; Cortes 1995; Fulligni et al. 1999; Marin 1993; Parra-Cardona et al. 2006). The value of respeto is related to the conformity with strict age and gender roles, the respect toward elders and authority, and can at sometimes involve passivity and lack of questioning (Sabogal et al. 1987; Valdez 1996). Marianismo and machismo are associated with the specific gender roles that mothers and fathers play within the family (D’Alonzo and Sharma 2010; Ingoldsby 1991; Jezzini et al. 2008; Opazo, R. M 2008; Paternostro 1998). While the latter emphasizes the mother’s self-sacrifice and principal role in child-rearing, the former refers to the role of the father reinforcing a patriarchal culture. Finally, the value of educación refers to a broader and encompassing notion of education that includes both moral education (being good) and academic achievement. On the one hand, Hispanic/Latino parents emphasize moral development as they strive to make sure their children “follow the good path of life” (el buen camino) (Azmitia and Brown 2002; Delgado-Gaitan 1992; Sabogal et al. 1987; Reese et al. 1995; Valdez 1996). On the other, researchers have also found that academic achievement is also part of the value of educación, and, contrary to popular U.S. dominant culture mythologies, Latino/Hispanic parents have high educational aspirations for their children (Henderson 1997, Goldernber & Gallimore, 1995).
