The Spanish term “machismo” connotes emphatic masculinity, particularly in males, though it can also be applied to women (e.g., marimacha). Some sources trace its semantic roots to the Vulgar Latin masclu, masculu, or masculus, from where we derived “masculine,” particularly as applied to animals and husbandry. An etymological hypothesis posits that it came from the arcane Portuguese muacho, from mulus, mule, with semantic emphasis on stubbornness and foolishness. The word entered English in the 1920s. It has also been introduced into other languages with the primary meaning of exaggerated masculinity (French machisme, Italian maschilismo). In Costa Rica and other parts of Central America, macho can also mean blond or light skinned. Some linguists in Nicaragua note that macho proceeds from the verbs machar and machacar, meaning “to pound, break, crush, hammer, beat, bruise, screw.”
Patria Potestas in the Roman system
 As a male ideology, machismo has existed in many cultures, with special salience in traditional Mediterranean cultures, especially in Spain from where derived the legend of Don Juan. In the legal system of Roman law in Latin Mediterranean societies, women were under one of the following three types of legal authority: patria potestas (paternal power), manus (subordination to a husband’s legal power), or tutela (guardianship). Patria potestas is still prevalent in some Latin American countries where the men are considered as masters or heads of the households (paterfamilias) and have absolute authority and superiority over wife and children in virtually all legal and social situations. The sociocultural lineage of Latin American machismo is from Andalusian Spain and partly from the Saracen Moors who ruled southern Spain from 711 to 1492 CE. The confluence of Iberian, Roman, and Islamic cultures that merged in Spain evolved into a complicated code of chivalry and male honor with the rise of knighthood.
Don Juan - Moliere

Spanish conquistadors introduced machismo through cultural and interracial interaction with American indigenous populations. The indigenous gender ideology was primarily based on a militaristic and patriarchal society where men were socialized to be warriors and women to be caretakers of the home subordinate to men. In the case of the Aztecs, for instance, the Spanish male ideology, especially in donjuanismo, the quintessence of Spanish machismo who was not interested in indigenous women per se, but only as tokens of his social and military dominance or conquering virility, reinforced Aztec warrior bravado.

As a stereotype, machismo has had a negative connotation, especially in the American popular culture, meaning, aggressive hypermasculinity, an obsession with status, power, and control at any cost, rigid self-sufficiency, misogynistic and domineering attitudes typically ascribed to authoritative husbands, patriarchal fathers, paternalistic landlords, and abusive womanizers. A traditional Hispanic saying embodying some of these attitudes is La mujer en la casa, el hombre en la calle (Woman in the home, man in the street), suggesting a strict differentiation of roles assigned by gender. Mexican folkloric glamorizing of machismo is often found in corridos (ballads) and rancheras (Mexican polkas) where vengeance, drinking, womanizing, banditry, and glorification of male sexual prowess are extolled. Hispanic popular images of this typical macho are personified in the Spanish matador (bullfighter), Mexican charro or cowboy, the Argentinean gaucho, often portrayed as tough (meaning unafraid and unemotional) and full of strength and virility, and the caudillos (military dictators) with their bold and authoritarian presidential machismo, willing to use violence and oppression to achieve their ends.

A form of machismo some consider to be positive denotes a man as head of the household for an entire extended family, and this includes responsible and protective roles as well as the instillment of cultural values of familismo, respeto (respect), dignidad (dignity), simpatia (niceness), confianza (trust), and personalismo. Familismo refers to strong traditional family values that emphasize interdependence, affiliation, cooperation, reciprocity, and loyalty.

Simpatia requires social politeness and smooth relations, which considers confrontations offensive and improper. Proper respect is due to all authority, and it is also displayed in relations with elders (e.g., parents). “Personalismo” refers to the trust and rapport that is established with others by developing warm, friendly, and personal relationships. Latino fathers often pride themselves on children who have developed these cultural values, which make them bien educados (well-educated). In this concept, being good providers, being hard workers, and silently suffering the consequences of both are part of being macho.

Chingón, mandilón, and maricón are three other important constructs in machismo discourse. The Chingón, from the verb chingar, which means to rape or to screw, is a macho type described by Octavio Paz in the Labyrinth of Solitude, and typifies the negative connotations of machismo. Some of the traits include a paternalistic attitude toward family and friends. The chingón does not show his emotions and uses his sexuality to feel virile and alive, thus acquiring manhood through sexual performance. The mandilón, on the other hand, is a male who wears the apron (mandil) instead of the pants, and it suggests a passive man dominated by his wife who has taken his wife’s role. “Maricón” is a pejorative term used to describe the effeminate man or presumed homosexual. Also, the failure of men to perform such acts as drinking, fighting, assertiveness, and heterosexual promiscuity earns the label of maricón.

Marianismo is a female corollary to machismo, and it is a cultural or religious description of the ideal woman as self-abnegating mother. This concept is explained by the veneration of the Virgin Mary, the ideal symbol of virgin and mother, and it presumes that since women are spiritually superior to men, they are capable of enduring all suffering inflicted by macho men. It exalts femininity and childbearing capacity by emphasizing women’s fated long-suffering or hembrismo, as well as the qualities of obedience, submission, fidelity, meekness, and humility. In traditional Latino societies, the macho is given the responsibility of defending family honor by protecting the virginity of wives, daughters, or sisters. These two polarities, machismo and marianismo, along with religion and traditional values have helped shape traditional gender role socialization in Latin America.

There is some evidence that secularization, new Catholic movements (such as Charismatics), as well as Protestantism are quite influential on contemporary gender roles. Since in almost any religion, gender roles and family are vital to its propagation, many scholars look especially to the role of men in family and society as a bellwether of current and future denominational affiliation.

Source: Ortiz, Fernando A., Kenneth G. Davis (2009). Machismo. In M. A. De La Torre (Ed.), Hispanic American Religious Cultures. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 339-341.

References and Further Reading

Aquino, Maria Pilar, Daisy Machado, and Jeanette Rodríguez, eds. A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002).

De La Torre, Miguel A. “Beyond Machismo: A Cuban Case Study.” The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics 19 (1999a): 213–233.

Gilmore, David. Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990).
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  1. The Spanish term “machismo” connotes emphatic masculinity, particularly in males, though it can also be applied to women (e.g., marimacha). Some sources trace its semantic roots to the Vulgar Latin masclu, masculu, or masculus, from where we derived “masculine,” particularly as applied to animals and husbandry. An etymological hypothesis posits that it came from the arcane Portuguese muacho, from mulus, mule, with semantic emphasis on stubbornness and foolishness. The word entered English in the 1920s. It has also been introduced into other languages with the primary meaning of exaggerated masculinity (French machisme, Italian maschilismo). In Costa Rica and other parts of Central America, macho can also mean blond or light skinned. Some linguists in Nicaragua note that macho proceeds from the verbs machar and machacar, meaning “to pound, break, crush, hammer, beat, bruise, screw.”
    Patria Potestas in the Roman system
     As a male ideology, machismo has existed in many cultures, with special salience in traditional Mediterranean cultures, especially in Spain from where derived the legend of Don Juan. In the legal system of Roman law in Latin Mediterranean societies, women were under one of the following three types of legal authority: patria potestas (paternal power), manus (subordination to a husband’s legal power), or tutela (guardianship). Patria potestas is still prevalent in some Latin American countries where the men are considered as masters or heads of the households (paterfamilias) and have absolute authority and superiority over wife and children in virtually all legal and social situations. The sociocultural lineage of Latin American machismo is from Andalusian Spain and partly from the Saracen Moors who ruled southern Spain from 711 to 1492 CE. The confluence of Iberian, Roman, and Islamic cultures that merged in Spain evolved into a complicated code of chivalry and male honor with the rise of knighthood.
    Don Juan - Moliere

    Spanish conquistadors introduced machismo through cultural and interracial interaction with American indigenous populations. The indigenous gender ideology was primarily based on a militaristic and patriarchal society where men were socialized to be warriors and women to be caretakers of the home subordinate to men. In the case of the Aztecs, for instance, the Spanish male ideology, especially in donjuanismo, the quintessence of Spanish machismo who was not interested in indigenous women per se, but only as tokens of his social and military dominance or conquering virility, reinforced Aztec warrior bravado.

    As a stereotype, machismo has had a negative connotation, especially in the American popular culture, meaning, aggressive hypermasculinity, an obsession with status, power, and control at any cost, rigid self-sufficiency, misogynistic and domineering attitudes typically ascribed to authoritative husbands, patriarchal fathers, paternalistic landlords, and abusive womanizers. A traditional Hispanic saying embodying some of these attitudes is La mujer en la casa, el hombre en la calle (Woman in the home, man in the street), suggesting a strict differentiation of roles assigned by gender. Mexican folkloric glamorizing of machismo is often found in corridos (ballads) and rancheras (Mexican polkas) where vengeance, drinking, womanizing, banditry, and glorification of male sexual prowess are extolled. Hispanic popular images of this typical macho are personified in the Spanish matador (bullfighter), Mexican charro or cowboy, the Argentinean gaucho, often portrayed as tough (meaning unafraid and unemotional) and full of strength and virility, and the caudillos (military dictators) with their bold and authoritarian presidential machismo, willing to use violence and oppression to achieve their ends.

    A form of machismo some consider to be positive denotes a man as head of the household for an entire extended family, and this includes responsible and protective roles as well as the instillment of cultural values of familismo, respeto (respect), dignidad (dignity), simpatia (niceness), confianza (trust), and personalismo. Familismo refers to strong traditional family values that emphasize interdependence, affiliation, cooperation, reciprocity, and loyalty.

    Simpatia requires social politeness and smooth relations, which considers confrontations offensive and improper. Proper respect is due to all authority, and it is also displayed in relations with elders (e.g., parents). “Personalismo” refers to the trust and rapport that is established with others by developing warm, friendly, and personal relationships. Latino fathers often pride themselves on children who have developed these cultural values, which make them bien educados (well-educated). In this concept, being good providers, being hard workers, and silently suffering the consequences of both are part of being macho.

    Chingón, mandilón, and maricón are three other important constructs in machismo discourse. The Chingón, from the verb chingar, which means to rape or to screw, is a macho type described by Octavio Paz in the Labyrinth of Solitude, and typifies the negative connotations of machismo. Some of the traits include a paternalistic attitude toward family and friends. The chingón does not show his emotions and uses his sexuality to feel virile and alive, thus acquiring manhood through sexual performance. The mandilón, on the other hand, is a male who wears the apron (mandil) instead of the pants, and it suggests a passive man dominated by his wife who has taken his wife’s role. “Maricón” is a pejorative term used to describe the effeminate man or presumed homosexual. Also, the failure of men to perform such acts as drinking, fighting, assertiveness, and heterosexual promiscuity earns the label of maricón.

    Marianismo is a female corollary to machismo, and it is a cultural or religious description of the ideal woman as self-abnegating mother. This concept is explained by the veneration of the Virgin Mary, the ideal symbol of virgin and mother, and it presumes that since women are spiritually superior to men, they are capable of enduring all suffering inflicted by macho men. It exalts femininity and childbearing capacity by emphasizing women’s fated long-suffering or hembrismo, as well as the qualities of obedience, submission, fidelity, meekness, and humility. In traditional Latino societies, the macho is given the responsibility of defending family honor by protecting the virginity of wives, daughters, or sisters. These two polarities, machismo and marianismo, along with religion and traditional values have helped shape traditional gender role socialization in Latin America.

    There is some evidence that secularization, new Catholic movements (such as Charismatics), as well as Protestantism are quite influential on contemporary gender roles. Since in almost any religion, gender roles and family are vital to its propagation, many scholars look especially to the role of men in family and society as a bellwether of current and future denominational affiliation.

    Source: Ortiz, Fernando A., Kenneth G. Davis (2009). Machismo. In M. A. De La Torre (Ed.), Hispanic American Religious Cultures. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 339-341.

    References and Further Reading

    Aquino, Maria Pilar, Daisy Machado, and Jeanette Rodríguez, eds. A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002).

    De La Torre, Miguel A. “Beyond Machismo: A Cuban Case Study.” The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics 19 (1999a): 213–233.

    Gilmore, David. Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990).
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  2. Personalismo is a Spanish term from persona (person) and the suffix -ismo (-ism), which linguistically refers to a distinctive interpersonal style that places a unique emphasis on the human person. Other examples of interpersonal “isms” are familism and altruism. It is considered a core value dimension of Latino/a cultures and it is conceptualized affectively, cognitively, and behaviorally. It affectively prescribes for people to be interpersonally warm and affectionate. Cultural anthropologists note that this “cultural script” is part of a cultural worldview characteristic of highly collectivistic and relational cultures that value people over tasks, things, and time. Latina/os engage in several verbal and nonverbal behaviors to show personable traits. They prefer face-to-face contact, personal close and informal attention, shaking hands when greeting someone, and hugging to express closeness and rapport, and formal and informal forms of address (usted versus tú, respectively). As part of the cultural interpersonal ethos, personalismo is cross-situational and expressed in a variety of settings. A Spanish-speaking religious minister would express personalismo by exhibiting simpatía (friendly affection) and inspiring confianza (trust) and respecto (respect). The religious audience, in turn, would demonstrate personalismo by addressing the religious leader as usted and demonstrating culturally appropriate manners (bien educado).


    Personalismo es una palabra en Español relacionada con la palabra persona, lo cual lingüísticamente se refiere al estilo interpersonal y distintivo que coloca un énfasis particular sobre la persona humana. Otros ejemplos de los “ismos” interpersonales incluyen el familismo y el altruismo. Es considerado un valor central y dimensional de las culturas Latinas y el cual puede ser definido afectivamente, cognoscitivamente, y conductualmente. Afectivamente prescribe para la gente las normas interpersonales de afecto y calor humano. Los antropólogos culturales han observado que esta “guía cultural” es parte de la cosmovisión cultural característica de sociedades colectivistas y de alto nivel relacional que valoran a la gente sobre las tareas, cosas, y el tiempo. Los Latinos/as se involucran en varias conductas verbales y no verbales que muestran estos rasgos personales. Ellos prefieren el contacto personal de cara a cara, la cercanía personal y la atención informal, a través del saludo a mano cuanto se encuentran con alguien por primera vez, y también el abrazo para expresar esta cercanía y conexión, asimismo las formas de saludo formal e informal (usted en vez de tú, respectivamente). Como parte de la ética interpersonal y cultural, el personalismo se expresa a través de situaciones y en varios contextos. Un ministro religioso hispanohablante expresaría personalismo al exhibir simpatía (afecto amigable) y al inspirar confianza y respeto. La audiencia religiosa a su vez demostraría personalismo al dirigirse al líder religioso con el termino usted y al demonstrar una manera apropiada dentro de la cultura (ser bien educado).

    Source:
    Ortiz, F. A. (2009). Personalismo. In M. A. De La Torre (Ed.), Hispanic American Religious Cultures
    . Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, p. 177.
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  3. El Nino Fidencio
    Don Pedro Jaramillo
    The most popular folk saints are Don Pedro Jaramillo (1829–1907), Jesús Malverde (1870–1909), Teresa Urrea (1873–1906), Pancho Villa (1878–1923), El Niño Fidencio (1898–1938), and Juan Soldado (1914–1938). Some consider Saint Toribio Romo González (1900–1928) the only Catholic orthodox border saint. In a top-down approach, the primary criterion for the orthodox canonization, or official acknowledgement and declaration of someone’s sainthood, is the recognition of someone’s virtuous and exemplary Christian life. In reaction to this perceived exclusivist right to define holiness and elitist notion of sanctity, the populace has defined “Robin Hood,” revolutionary, miraculous, and antiestablishment behaviors as worthy of celebration and veneration, especially when these are characterized as criminal, deviant, sinful, and superstitious by the powerful elites of police, military, government, medicine, and Church.

    Don Pedro Jaramillo, also known as Don Pedrito or the Healer of Los Olmos, was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and died at Paisano, Texas. According to legend, when his mother became very ill, Don Pedrito prayed for his mother’s recovery, but when she died he decided to leave Mexico. He crossed the border into Texas in 1881 and settled on Los Olmos (“The Elms”) ranch, near present-day Falfurrias. He immediately earned a reputation as a healer. As many as 500 people would come to see him at one time, often camping at Los Olmos Creek, waiting to see him for the miraculous healing of many types of physical ailments. Devotion to Don Pedrito is widely celebrated in northern Mexico and in southern Texas. His shrine is located at a grave site near Falfurrias, Texas.
    Jesus Malverde
    Jesús Juárez Maso, also known as Jesús Malverde, was probably born in the area around Culiacán, Sinaloa. According to some accounts, he was a bandit who helped the poor by robbing the wealthy. Some say that he was betrayed by a close confidant or comrade and allegedly some henchmen cut off his feet and dragged him to collect a monetary reward. After his death, his body was reportedly left hanging from a mesquite tree as a warning to others. His main shrine is located in Culiacan, Sinaloa, and is frequently visited by people who attribute miraculous healings to his intercession. He is known as the patron saint of drug traffickers, especially in the northern region of Mexico. Teresa Urrea, also known as Teresita or La Santa de Cabora, was born in the state of Sinaloa, an area then densely populated by Mexican Indians, during the rule of Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz. Protesting the dictatorial mistreatment of Indians by President Díaz and fearing political persecution, her family had to flee Mexico, and they crossed the border in June 1892 into Nogales, Arizona. Her arrival in the United States attracted a great deal of public attention. Risking deportation, her family unsuccessfully applied for citizenship in Tucson. Teresita earned a reputation as a healer and traveled extensively to other U.S. states, including California and Illinois. She earned a reputation as a strong political advocate for the rights of Indians in Mexico. She died in Clifton, Arizona.
    Pancho Villa was one of the great revolutionary heroes of the Americas. A general in the epic struggle of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Villa took on a legendary importance in Mexico for his social ideals and daring military exploits. Today he remains an easily recognizable symbol of Mexican nationalism and social justice.
    Doroteo Arango, or Pancho Villa, was born in the Rancho de la Coyotada in Durango. About the age of 16, Doroteo became a bandit and later got involved in the Mexican Revolution. He earned a reputation as a brave revolutionary, and many considered him a friend of the poor and an enemy of the wealthy and powerful. During his life he also gained fame as a great general and fearless warrior. One of the most celebrated events of his life is a military raid he led across the border into Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916. The United States ordered a punitive expedition into Mexico for his capture, and he became an instant hero of the Mexican people. He was assassinated on July 20, 1923, by a group of political enemies. His tomb and shrine are located in the city of Parral, Chihuahua, where one can find numerous petitions on scraps of paper. In his lifetime as a popular revolutionary, he was vilified by his enemies for being a ruthless criminal; as a folk saint, he is now venerated by his devotees for being a compassionate intercessor.

    José Fidencio Constantino Síntora, or Niño Fidencio, was born in Iramuco, Guanajuato. His mother died when he was young, and he was considered by his followers to have been an orphan left to care for himself from a very early age. At five or six years of age, he was living alone in a shack caring for a younger brother when he apparently had an apparition of Jesus Christ who gave him a book that included many cures and recipes to be made from plants and herbs. At the age of 13, he moved to the family hacienda at Espinazo, Nuevo León, where he stayed until his death. He started using herbal remedies and became a famous curandero. The peak of his notoriety as a healer was in the late 1920s and early 1930s when even the Mexican president, Plutarco Elías Calles, came to see him for healing. His shrine at Espinazo attracts thousands of devotees every year.
    Juan Soldado

    Juan Castillo Morales, or Juan Soldado, was originally from Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca. He moved to the border city of Tijuana with his family at an early age. On February 13, 1938, while he was a military recruit at the local garrison, he was implicated in the rape and death of an eight-year-old girl named Olga Consuelo Camacho Martínez. He was arrested and shot by the police without a trial. He immediately became a cause célèbre. People reported having visions at the site of his death and erected a shrine at his grave. This has become a place of miraculous healing for devotees. He is considered the patron of border crossers or people who attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexican border without legal documents.
    Saint Toribio Romo González was born in Jalisco and was ordained a priest. He was shot to death by federal soldiers during the bloody, anticlerical Cristero War. He was laid to rest in the town of Santa Ana de Guadalupe, which has become one of the fastest growing religious shrines in the country. Many immigrants visit his shrine to thank Saint Toribio for miracles performed on their journey to the United States. He has been called the Patron Saint of Immigrants.

    Source: Ortiz, F. A. (2009). Border Saints. In M. A. De La Torre (Ed.), Hispanic American Religious Cultures. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC: CLIO, pp. 81-83.

    References and Further Reading
    Griffith, James S. Folk Saints of the Borderlands: Victims, Bandits and Healers (Tucson, AZ: Rio Nuevo, 2003).

    Griffith, James S. Saints of the Southwest (Tucson, AZ: Rio Nuevo, 2000).

    Macklin, Barbara J., and Ross Crumrine. “Three North Mexican Folk Saint Movements.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 15 (1973): 89–105.

    Octavec, Eileen. Answered Prayers. Miracles and Milagros along the Border (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995).

    Ortiz, Fernando A., and Kenneth G. Davis. “Latino/a Folk Saints and Marian Devotions: Indigenous Alternative Healing Practices.” Mestizo Indigenous Healing Practices: A Handbook, ed. J. Velasquez and Brian M. McNeill (New York: Routledge Publishers, Inc., 2008).
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  4. Chalchihtlicue
    Motherhood is intrinsically related to spirituality in the Mexican culture. Prior to the Spanish colonization, Mesoamerican cultures in Mexico conceived detailed mythologies recounting the experience of motherhood where mother goddesses played prominent roles. The image of the great Mother in Pre-Hispanic theology is commonly represented with snakes, a symbol of fertility. Coatlicue, usually depicted with a skirt of serpents and a necklace of skulls, was the preeminent Aztec deity. She lived in a temple adhering to a life of solitude and chastity. One day, while sweeping the temple, she became pregnant by a ball of celestial feathers that landed on her bosom. She gave birth to the Sun god and was considered the Aztec mother of all the Gods. This mythical experience of motherhood resulting from celestial impregnation permeated the Pre-Colombian worldview. Chalchihtlicue, represented as a river to symbolize water and fertility, was considered the patroness of women in labor and the protector of children. Midwifes would consecrate children to Chalchihtlicue immediately after birth. The souls of mothers who would die in the process of childbirth would be entrusted to Cihuacoatl, the serpent mother associated with birth and death. These Aztecs mother goddess had equivalent representations among the Maya, the Olmec and other cultures. For example, Ix Chel was the Mayan mother goddess of childbirth.

    Ix Chel
    The arrival of the Spanish gave birth to a mestizo worldview that fused Mesoamerican and Catholic European concepts of motherhood. Three archetypal narratives from this period are particularly prominent: La Malinche, La Llorona and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Malinche is considered the first mother of Mexico. She is the Mexican indigenous woman who married the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, converted to Christianity and became an active agent in the founding of a Mestizo Mexican heritage. According to legend, La Llorona, or wailing mother, refers to a woman who was harshly mistreated, hurt and forced to commit infanticide. As a consequence of her suffering in life, after her death, she was endowed with supernatural powers and compelled to search for her children every night. Mexicans believe that nowadays she appears like a phantasm near watery places or on the streets, screaming and crying, “Ay, mis hijos!” Both La Malinche and La LLorona are typically portrayed as long-suffering mothers.

    Our Lady of Guadalupe at the National Shrine, Mexico City
    Our Lady of Guadalupe, or the Virgin Mary, however, has become the prototypical model of motherhood in Mexico. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in Mexico City on the hill of Tepeyac, where the Aztecs revered the mother goddess Coatlicue, from December 9 to 12, 1531. In her appearance to Juan Diego, a Mexican Nahuatl-speaking indigenous person, the Virgin Mary appeared pregnant, while surrounded by the sun and crushing a snake, and it is believed her pregnancy was also the result of heavenly intervention. Confused and frightened by the apparition, Juan Diego was assured by the Virgin Mary with the delivery of the following message: “Do not fear sickness or anguish. Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? ” These words are now etched on the entrance to the national shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Mexico City where she is revered as the Patroness of Mexico and Mexicans commonly referred to her as their mother.

    This devotion has resulted in a ubiquitous spirituality that attaches motherhood a divine role. Mexicans have a national holiday on December 12 when they celebrate the Holy Mother of God at this national shrine. This religious practice attracts millions of devotees every year and it is especially strong among Mexican indigenous people who devoutly pray using a rosary and repeatedly uttering the words: “blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” The Yaqui from the Mexican State of Sonora have fused the concept of the Virgin Mary with the Yaqui myth of Itom Aye (Our Mother). The Tarahumara indigenous peoples of the state of Chihuahua have assimilated the Virgin Mary into their pre-Columbian moon deity of Our Mother.

    The widespread Marian devotions have also contributed to the origin of marianismo, a Mexican belief system partly inherited from the Spanish family structure where the father is seen as supreme and absolute while the mother as self-sacrificing while emulating the Virgin Mary. Women are believed to be spiritually superior to men in their moral integrity and spiritual strength to self sacrifice in their sacred roles as nurturers of children and supporters of their husbands. In the the Labyrinth of Solitude Mexican Nobel laureate poet Octavio Paz asserts that the history of the Mexican people is grounded in an understanding of Mother as a ‘long-suffering Mexican mother.’ In Catholic theology, Mary is a mediator between God the Father and Jesus the Son. As symbolic mother, Mary’s role as mediator gave Catholic women a model of how they should be mediators within the family, for example, between the father and the children. Mary was a mother who suffered the greatest loss of a mother, the loss of her child. This spiritual and theological understanding of mother has also given rise to an ubiquitous religious iconography that reinforces the view of the nurturing mother. Small chapels, churches and home altars usually display the Marian avocation of La Dolorosa, or the Sorrowful Mother. This artistic representation of the Virgin Mary depicts her as draped in black in a state of mourning. Mexican mothers consider her their spiritual mediatory or intercessory in times of need. Religious imagery of motherhood in Mexico is pervasive and it generally includes a mystified woman who is very protective and religious and who adheres to notions of patriarchy while consigned to traditional roles.

    It is important to note that this spiritual conceptualization of motherhood is most likely endorsed by traditional Catholic populations. Whereas one might consider these roles as powerless and oppressive, mothers occupy a significant role in Mexican society, and a particular dominant position in the family hierarchy. The mother holds the family together and her mother sphere provides sustenance and thus a source of life and power. They instill cultural values and children hold them in high esteem and will always defer to them. It is common for children to liken their mothers to the Virgin Mary in terms of unconditional love and reverence. It has become the custom that on Mother’s Day, celebrated on May 10, the Mexican family typically comes together at the break of dawn to show gratitude for the many sacrifices of the mother and sing the mananitas (birthday songs) or a serenata, a short serenade celebrating motherhood. This is also done at the National Basilica of Our Lady of Gudalupe on December 12 to celebrate the spiritual motherhood of Mary.

    Coatlicue
    La maternidad esta intrínsecamente relacionada con la espiritualidad en la cultura Mexicana. Antes de la colonización española, las culturas mesoamericanas en México concebían mitologías detalladas describiendo la experiencia de maternidad donde las diosas jugaban un papel importante. La imagen de la gran Madre en la teología pre-hispánica esta comúnmente representada con serpientes, un símbolo de fertilidad. Coatlicue, generalmente representada con una falda de serpientes y un collar de cráneos, es la deidad pre-eminente de los aztecas. Ella vivió en un templo apegada a la vida de solitud y castidad. Un día, mientras barría en el templo, quedo empreñada con una bola de plumas celestiales que cayeron sobre su pecho. Ella dio luz al dios sol y se le consideraba entre los aztecas como la madre de todos los dioses. La experiencia mítica de maternidad como resultado del embarazo celestial permea toda la cosmovisión Pre-Colombina. Chalchihtlicue, representada como un rio para simbolizar el agua y la fertilidad, fue considerada como la patrona de las mujeres dando  luz y la protectora de los niños. Las parteras consagraban los niños a Chalchihtlicue inmediatamente después del nacimiento. Las almas de las madres que morían en el proceso de dar luz se encomendaban a Cihuacoatle, la serpiente madre asociada con el nacimiento y la muerte. Estas mujeres-diosas aztecas tienen representaciones equivalentes entre los mayas, los olmecas y otras culturas. Por ejemplo, Ix Chel era la mujer Maya diosa del parto.

    La llegada de los españoles dio nacimiento a una cosmovisión mestiza que se fundo con los conceptos mesoamericanos y europeos católicos de la maternidad. Estas narrativas arquetípicas del periodo son particularmente sobresalientes: La Malinche, La Llorona, y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. La Malinche es considerada la primera madre de México. Ella es una madre indígena mexicana que contrajo matrimonio con el conquistador español Hernán Cortes, convirtiéndose al cristianismo y convirtiéndose en un agente activo en la fundación de la herencia mexicana mestiza. De acuerdo a la legenda, La Llorona, o la madre que duele, se refiere a una mujer que fue maltratada duramente, herida y forzada a cometer infanticidio. Consecuentemente por su sufrimiento en vida, después de su muerte, fue dotada de poderes sobrenaturales y forzada a buscar a sus niños cada noche. Los mexicanos creen que se aparece en cualquier parte como un fantasma cerca de los lugares acuíferos o en las calles, llorando y gritando, “¡Ahí, mis hijos!”. Ambas la Malinche y La Llorona son típicamente representadas como madres perenemente sufriendo.

    Nuestra señora de Guadalupe, o la Virgen de Guadalupe, sin embargo, se ha convertido en el modelo prototípico de la maternidad en México. De acuerdo a la tradición, la Virgen María se apareció en la ciudad de México en la montana del Tepeyac, donde los Aztecas la reverenciaban como la madre diosa Coatlicue, desde Diciembre 9 al 12, 1531. En su aparición a Juan Diego, una persona indígena mexicana de habla Náhuatl, la Virgen María aparece embarazada, mientras se encuentra rodeada por el sol y mientras aplasta una serpiente. Se cree que el embarazo es por intervención divina. Confundido y asustado por la aparición, Juan Diego es consolado por la Virgen María con la entrega de este mensaje: “No temas enfermedad u angustia. ¿No estoy aquí, yo quien soy tu madre? ¿No te encuentras bajo mi sombra y protección?” Estas palabras se encuentran ahora grabadas en la entrada al santuario nacional dedicado a la Virgen María en la Ciudad de México donde es reverenciada como la Patrona de México y los mexicanos comúnmente se dirigen a ella como su madre. Esta devoción ha resultado en una espiritualidad ubicua que le vincula un papel divino a la maternidad. Los mexicanos tienen una celebración nacional el Diciembre 12 cuando celebran la Santa Madre de Dios en este santuario nacional. Esta practica religiosa atrae millones de devotos cada ano y es especialmente fuerte entre la gente indígena mexicana que devotamente oran con sus rosarios y repetidamente pronuncian las palabras: “bendito sea el fruto de tu vientre.” Los Yaqui del estado de Sonora han fundido el concepto de la Virgen María con el mito de los Yaqui de Itom Aye (Nuestra Madre). La gente Tarahumara indígena del Estado de Chihuahua han a la Virgen María con la deidad pre-Colombina de la luna de Nuestra Madre. 

    La amplia devoción mariana ha contribuido también al origen del marianismo, un sistema de creencia mexicano que en parte heredo de la estructura familiar española donde el padre es visto como un absoluto y supremo mientras a la madre se le percibe como auto-sacrificadora e imita a la Virgen María. Se cree que las mujeres son espiritualmente superiores al hombre en su integridad moral y en su fortaleza espiritual para el auto-sacrificio y en sus papeles sagrados como alimentadoras de niños y en su apoyo a sus esposos. En el Laberinto de la Soledad del premio nobel mexicano de literatura, poeta Octavio Paz, se dice que la historia de la gente mexicana esta cimentada en un entendimiento de la madre como “una madre perenemente sufriente.” En la teología católica, María es una mediadora entre Dios el Padre y Jesús el Hijo. Como madre simbólica, el papel de María como mediadora les ha otorgado a las mujeres un modelo de como ellas deben de ser mediadoras dentro de su familia, por ejemplo, entre el padre y los niños. María fue una madre que sufrió una de las pérdidas más grandes de una madre, la perdida de su hijo. Este entendimiento espiritual y teológico de madre también ha dado lugar a una iconografía ubicua que reforzó esta perspectiva de la madre cariñosa. En las pequeñas capillas, las iglesias y en los altares hogareños generalmente se le representa con el termino mariano de La Dolorosa. Esta representación artística de la Virgen María la representa vestida de negro en estado de luto. Las madres mexicanas la consideran su mediadora espiritual e intercesora en tiempos de necesidad. Las imágenes religiosas de la maternidad en México son dominantes y generalmente incluyen a la mujer mística quien es protectora y religiosa y que se adhiere a las nociones de patriarcado mientras se resigna a los papeles tradicionales.

    Es importante mencionar que este concepto de maternidad es mas común entre las poblaciones tradicionales católicas. Mientras uno pudiera considerar estos papeles como sin poder y opresores, las madres ocupan un papel muy significativo en la sociedad mexicana, y en particular la posición dominante dentro de la jerarquía familiar. La madre mantiene a la familia unida y su esfera maternal provee sostenimiento y es por lo tanto fuente de vida y poder. Ellas inculcan valores culturales y los niños las mantienen en alta estima y siempre les obedecen. Es común para los niños comparar a las madres con la Virgen María en términos del amor y reverencia incondicional. Se ha convertido en tradición que el Día de las Madres, celebrado en mayo 10, la familia mexicano típicamente se reúne al amanecer para mostrar gratitud por los muchos sacrificios de la madre y se le canten las mañanitas o una serenata para celebrar su maternidad. Esto se lleva a cabo también en la Basílica Nacional de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en diciembre 12 para celebrar la maternidad espiritual de María.

    Source: Originally published in Ortiz, F., & Ortiz, C. M.  (2010). Mexican Spirituality and Motherhood. In O'Reilly, A. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Motherhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 
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  5. Research and news reports continue to speak about the gradual deterioration of family structures among Latinos/as. One of the long-standing structures that has served as a strong protective factor for the healthy development and functioning of Latino families is godparenthood. The following is an entry for an encyclopedia that my colleague, Franciscan priest Fr. Kenneth Davis, OFM., Conv. and I published after reflecting on the importance of this valuable family system:

    Baptismal godparents assisting with the holding of the baptismal candle
                                                                     Compadrazgo
    The Spanish term ―compadrazgo‖ (godparenthood) refers to a system of fictive kinship resulting from ritual and contractual sponsorship. The structure of this cultural and religious institution consists of the godparents (padrinos), or sponsors, and the godchild (ahijado/a). The relationship between parents and godparents is very important (known as ―padrinazgo), and the participants usually address each other formally as compadre (male coparent) or comadre (female coparent), using the formal pronoun usted (you). Compadrazgo is found in many cultures, in both religious and secular forms. The Spanish system of godparenthood was introduced in Latin America and the Philippines by mendicant friars, who began the task of converting indigenous populations to Catholicism shortly after the conquest. The ideological and prescriptive components of Spanish godparenthood were established at the Council of Trent (1545–1563). Though theological and doctrinal aspects had been previously developed, with Tertullian using the word ―sponsor‖ for the first time (second century) and the first recorded use of the term patrinus (godfather) in 752. In his Summa, Saint Thomas Aquinas explained the reasons for having sponsors and provided a summary of their duties. Compadrazgo can be sacramental and nonsacramental. Sacramental results from ritual and spiritual sponsorship at Baptism, Confirmation, First Communion, and Marriage. Nonsacramental forms of sponsorship are also varied and include special nonreligious occasions (graduations).


    La investigación y reportes de noticias continúan hablando acerca de la deterioración gradual de las estructuras familiares entre los Latinos/as. Una de las estructuras más antiguas que ha servido como un factor protector para el desarrollo saludable y el funcionamiento de las familias latinas es el compadrazgo. La siguiente es una entrada para una enciclopedia que yo y me colega el padre franciscano Kenneth Davis, OFM publicamos después de reflexionar sobre la importancia de este sistema familiar valioso:

    Compadrazgo

    El termino en Español – compadrazgo, se refiere a un sistema de parentesco ficticio que resulta del patrocinado ritual y contractual. La estructura de esta institución cultural y religiosa consiste de padrinos, o patrocinadores, y un ahijado/a. La relación entre los padres y los padrinos es muy importante (conocido como padrinazgo) y que los participantes por lo general se dirigen a si mismos formalmente como compadre (masculino) o comadre (femenino) mientras usan el pronombre formal usted. El compadrazgo existe en muchas culturas, en formas religiosas y seculares. El sistema español de compadrazgo fue introducido a Latino América y a las Filipinas por los frailes mendicantes, quienes iniciaron la tarea de evangelización para convertir a las poblaciones indígenas al Catolicismo un poco después de la conquista. Los componentes ideológicos y prescriptivos del compadrazgo español fueron establecidos en el Concilio de Trento (1545-1563). Aunque los aspectos teológicos y doctrinales habían sido desarrollados previamente con Tertuliano usando la palabra patrocinador por la primera vez (segundo siglo) y por la primera vez en registro la palabra patrimus (compadre) en 752. En su Summa, Santo Tomas de Aquino explica las razones para tener patrocinadores y provee un resumen de sus obligaciones. El compadrazgo puede ser sacramental o no sacramental. Resulta ser sacramental si se basa en el patrocinio ritual o espiritual a través del bautismo, la confirmación, la primera comunión, y el matrimonio. Las formas no sacramentales de patrocinio pueden también variar e incluir ocasiones no religiosas (graduaciones).


    Source: Ortiz, F. A. & Davis, K. (2009). Compadrazgo. In M. A. De La Torre (Ed.), Hispanic American Religious Cultures. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC: CLIO, p. 246.
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  6. According to a recent estimate by the Pew Hispanic Center, deportations of undocumented immigrants have reached record levels during Barack Obama's presidency, rising to an annual average of nearly 400,000 since 2009. The psychological impact of deportation on immigrants families, particularly on those most vulnerable has not been extensively investigated by psychologists and social scientists. For example, there is no published research on the plight of young children when their parents are deported.

    From a psychological perspective, these factors should be considered when attempting to determine the psychological impact on children of deported parents.* Even though there is no specific study that has critically examined the psychological and emotional secuelae from deportation on children, a survey of the literature yields these findings:

    • Immigrant children are already disadvantaged by poverty (Princeton-Brookings, 2011)
    • Almost half of these children lack health insurance (Passel & Cohn, 2009).
    • Children in immigrant families tend to experience greater economic, health, and housing hardship (Child Trends, 2007).
    • In addition to economic stress, and as a consequence of lacking adequate employment and resources, children in immigrant families experience higher rates of poor health - more than twice the rate of native children (Capps & Fortuny, 2006).
    • The stress upon immigrant parents can negatively affect their children's development, such as reduced cognitive functioning, and increased symptoms of depression (Ayon & Marcenko, 2008).
    • The disruption of undocumented families, when parents are separated from their children, results in increased symptoms of mental health problems among children (Pottinger, 2005).
    •  Research has shown that immigrant children in the U.S. must struggle to cope with their experiences of racism, discrimination, and prejudice (Coll & Magnusson, 1997; Romero, Carvajal, Valle & Orduna, 2007; Slonim-Nevo, Mirsky, Rubinstein & Nauck, 2009).
    In some instances, the children themselves are in the process of being deported.** Children in these high-risk situations, of which impending deportation is an example, constitute a risk group for developmental impairment and for psychiatric illness and behavior disturbances such as aggression and social difficulties (Meir et al., 2012; Vostroknutov, 2011). Exposure to crisis has a potentially damaging effect on the development of sense of identity and integration of thoughts, images, feelings, and sensations (Pynoos, Steinberg, & Wraith, 1995). In a review of trauma and crisis responses of children, specific developmental psychopathological consequences have been reported, such as dependent behavior, temper trantrums, anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity (Norris et al., 2002). Specifically, reports on trauma responses among children of migrant and refugee populations include symptoms of emotional distress including depression and anxiety, difficulties in social functioning, and behavioral problems including aggression and hyperactivity (Henley & Robinson, 2011).


    De acuerdo a estimaciones recientes del Pew Hispanic Center, las deportaciones de inmigrantes indocumentados han alcanzado niveles muy elevados durante la presidencia de Barack Obama llegando a un promedio anual de casi 400,000 desde el 2009. El impacto psicológico de la deportación sobre las familias inmigrantes, especialmente sobre los más desprotegidos no ha sido extensamente investigado por los psicólogos y científicos sociales. Por ejemplo, no hay investigación publicada sobre la suerte de los niños cuando sus padres son deportados.
    Desde una perspectiva psicológica, estos factores deben de ser considerados cuando se trata de determinar el impacto psicológico sobre los niños con padres que han sido deportados. Aunque no existe un estudio especifico que ha examinado críticamente las consecuencias psicológicas y emocionales que resultan de la deportación, una revisión de la literatura nos ofrece los siguientes hallazgos:

    • Los niños inmigrantes están ya a desventaja por la pobreza (Princeton-Brookings, 2011).
    • Casi la mitad de estos niños carecen de seguranza médica (Passel & Cohn, 2009).
    • Los niños de familias inmigrantes padecen por lo general de más dificultad económica, de salud y de vivienda (Child Trends, 2007).
    • Además del estrés económico, y como consecuencia de padecer de deficiencias de recursos y empleo adecuado, los niños de familias inmigrantes experimentan tasas mas altas de salud empobrecida, y esto es más que doble de las tasas de niños no-inmigrantes (Capps & Fortuny, 2006).
    • El estrés sobre los padres inmigrantes puede afectar negativamente el desarrollo de los niños, y esto incluye funcionamiento cognoscitivo reducido, y un incremento en los síntomas de depresión (Ayon & Marcenko, 2008).
    • La interrupción en el funcionamiento familiar de las familias indocumentadas que resulta de la separación de los padres y de los niños resulta en un incremento en los síntomas de problemas con la salud mental entre los niños (Pottinger, 2005).
    • La investigación ha mostrado que los niños inmigrantes en los EE.UU. tienen que luchar para enfrentar experiencias de racismo, discriminación, y el prejuicio (Coll & Magnusson, 1997; Romero, Carvajal, Valle & Orduna, 2007; Slonim-Nevo, Mirsky, Rubinstein & Nauck, 2009).

    En algunos casos, los niños mismos se encuentran en el proceso de deportación. Los niños en situaciones de alto riesgo, por ejemplo en el caso de una deportación inminente, constituyen un grupo de gran riesgo para desarrollar incapacidades del desarrollo y de enfermedades psiquiátricas y de problemas conductuales tales como la agresión y dificultades sociales (Meir et al., 2012; Vostroknutov, 2011). Estar expuestos a crisis pudiera dañarles en el desarrollo de su sentido de identidad y en la integración de pensamientos, imágenes, sentimientos y sensaciones (Pynoos, Steinberg, & Wraith, 1995). En una revisión de la literatura sobre el trauma y las repuestas a las crisis por los niños se reportaron consecuencias muy específicas sobre la psicopatología del desarrollo y esto incluye conducta de dependencia, problemas explosivos de enojo, ansiedad, depresión, e hiperactividad (Norris et al., 2002). Específicamente, los reportes sobre las respuestas al trauma entre los niños de inmigrantes y de poblaciones de refugiados incluyen la angustia emocional, la depresión, y las dificultades en el funcionamiento social, y los problemas conductuales de la agresión e hiperactividad (Henley & Robinson, 2011).

    Sources:

    * Most of these findings are detailed in the study by Androff et al. (2011). U.S. Immigration Policy and Immigrant Children's Well-being: The Impact of Policy Shifts. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 38, (1), 77-98.

    **These consequences are well-documented by Meir et al. (2012). Crisis Intervention with Children of Illegal Migrant Workers Threatened with Deportation. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43, (4), 298-305.

                                                                              ---

    Ayon, C., & Marcenko, M. (2008). Depression among Latino children in the public child welfare system. Children and Youth Services Review, 30 (12), 1366-1375. 

    Capps, R., & Fortuny, K. (2006). Immigration and child and family policy. Paper 3. Washington, DC: Urban Institute and Child Trends.

    Child Trends (2007). New report on characteristics of immigrant families and their implications for social policies. Child Indicator, 7 (2), 1-6.

    Coll, C. G., & Magnusson, K. (1997). The psychological experience of immigration. In A. Booth, A.C. Crouter, & N. Landale (Eds.), Immigration and the family: Research and policy on U.S. immigrants (pp. 91-131). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Henley, J., & Robinson, J. (2011). Mental health among refugee children and adolescents. Clinical Psychologist, 15, 51-62. 

    Norris, F. H., Friedman, M. J., Watson, P. J., Byrne, C. M., Diaz, E., & Kaniasty, K. (2002). 60,000 disaster victims speak: Part I. An empirical review of the empirical literature, 1981-2001. Psychiatry, 65-207-239.

    Passel, J.S., & Cohn, D. (2009). A portrait of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Research Center.

    Pottinger, A. M. (2005). Children's experience of loss by parental migration in inner-city Jamaica. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75 (4), 485-496. 

    Pyhoos, R. S., Steinberg, A. M., & Wraith, R. (1995). A developmental model of childhood traumatic stress. In D. Cicchetti, & D. J. Cohen (Eds.). Developmental Psychopathology. Vol. 2: Risk, Disorder, and Adaptation (pp. 72-95). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

    Romero, A. J., Carvajal, S. C., Valle, F., & Orduna, M. (2007). Adolescent bicultural stress and its impact on mental well-being among Latinos, Asian Americans, and European Americans. Journal of Community Psychology, 35 (4), 519-534.

    Slohim-Nevo, V., Mirsky, J., Rubinstein, L., & Nauck, B. (2009). The impact of familial and environmental factors on the adjustment of immigrants; A longitudinal study. Journal of Family Issues, 30 (1), 92-123.

    Vostroknutov, N. V. (2011). New approaches to the diagnosis of mental state in children experiencing extreme stress events. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 41, 171-176.


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  7. The beneficial effect of physical activity on health has been extensively documented. However, these effects have been researched for the first time on the mental health of Mexicans, and more specifically on reducing the risk of depression among adult Mexicans.

    In a fascinating longitudinal study 1335 male and female employees from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) were invited to take part in this study. The baseline data was collected from 1998-2000 and participants were then assessed at a follow-up 6 years later, between 2004 and 2006.
    "This is the first study to assess the role of physical activity in protecting against depressive symptoms among a sample of Mexican adults. The present study is relevant because the estimated prevalence of major depressive disorders among Mexican adults is 3.7%" (p. 2).
    The investigators examined minutes devoted to the practice of different recreational physical activities during a typical week in the last year (including walking, running, cycling, aerobics, dancing, and swimming as well as playing volleyball, basketball, tennis, fronton, baseball, softball, and squash, among other activities). The researchers used the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale (CES-D).

    The results are very telling. At baseline, 40.1% of all participants who were free from depressive symptoms reported no or very low levels of physical activity. The prevalence of an inactive physical activity pattern was 52.9% in those over 60 years of age; 44.6% among women; 50.4% among separated or divorced individuals; and 55.9% among obese participants. Subjects in the high physical activity tercile shared the following characteristics: they were more likely to be male, to be under 40 years of age, single, and to have a high level of education.

    Exactly 36.5% of participants reported an inactive physical activity pattern and 40.2% had a moderately active physical activity pattern in the assessment made 6 years after the baseline measurements. Analysis of the physical activity patterns based on the characteristics of the study population at year 6 indicated significant differences by sex (men tended to have more active physical activity patterns than women); age (only 10% of those over age 60 reported a high physical activity pattern); and, marital status (15% of widowers had a highly active physical activity pattern).

    Incidence of depression in the follow-up assessment was higher in participants with an inactive physical pattern (16.5%), than those who had a highly active physical activity pattern throughout the study (10.6%).
    When adjusted by age, sex, and physical activity level at baseline, the logical regression results demonstrated that highly active physical activity patterns reduced the risk of depression in the follow-up assessment by 56%.

    Figure 2 shows that physical activity had a protective effect against the relative risk of depression.
    The results are very informative. They supported the notion that physical activity may reduce the incidence of depressive symptoms among Mexicans. The Mexicans who participated in this study lowered the risk of developing depressive symptoms as compared to those who have an inactive or moderate physical activity pattern. A highly active physical pattern reduced the risk of depression by about 56%.

    The researchers hypothesized that the positive and preventive effects of physical activity can be explained by the increased production of brain neurotransmitters, such as endorphins and monoamines, which are produced during physical activity.
    The link may also be explained by physical activity's ability to improve one's health status and, in turn, his or her self-esteem.


    Gallegos et al. (2012, September 3). Physical Activity and Reduced Risk of Depression: Results of a Longitudinal Study of Mexican Adults. Health Psychology.
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  8. Statistics consistently have shown poor educational outcomes for Hispanics/Latinos, and particularly for men of Mexican American ancestry. In a qualitative study published in Psychology of Men and Masculinity, Alison Cerezo and her team investigated the factors that either supported and/or hindered the educational journeys of 12 Latino college men. They approached the men from an ecological framework that conceptualizes human development as occurring within an ecology that includes family, school, and local neighborhood (microsystem), relationships between units within the microsystem, such as between family, school peers, and neighborhood peers (mesosystem), and messages from popular media about ethnicity, race, and masculinity. This ecological model of human development is particularly helpful for exploring the influences Latino men have had given the value they place on collectives (e.g., family, neighborhood, etc.).
    "The ecological model is a useful framework for examining Mexican American men in higher education because it helps explain how students' attitudes and behaviors, such as the pursuit of higher education, are shaped by various ecological spheres (e.g., family, schools, neighborhood community, and popular media" (p. 2).

    They noted that "in the lives of men, the endorsement of familismo is couched within male gender role expectations present in the United States and Latin America. Specific to Mexican American men, machismo and caballerismo have been described as gender norms that are culturally unique to this group" (p. 3). They point out that "in an effort to more accurately reflect the endorsement of male gender roles among Latinos, caballerismo has been introduced in the literature as the positive counterpart to machismo and is defined as by characteristics of masculinity that include emotional responsiveness, honor, caretaking, and providing for one's family" (p. 3). Moreover, "related to both the endorsement of familismo and caballerismo, many Mexican American men pursue college as a way to support the upward mobility of their family" (p. 3).
    "It is important to note that familial responsibilities are typically different between men and women and often include financial obligations for men" (p. 3). "A review of the literature reveals that emotional support from the family positively contributes to the pursuit of college for many Mexican American men" (p. 3).
    In addition to the powerful role that family support exerted on successful educational journey of Latino men, teachers played an equally important influence.

    "It is important to highlight that teachers hold a great deal of power given that most Mexican American parents do not possess postsecondary education and therefore have limited information about the necessary steps to access and succeed in university. Thus, teachers and school staff can create paths or impose barriers to higher education and are recognized as trusted 'gatekeepers' that can assess students' ability to succeed in college" (p. 3).
    The study found that for many Mexican American young men, messages from the neighborhood community influence future aspirations and plans. Just as rap and hip-hop culture have become the most accessible narratives and symbols of Black youth culture, the authors point out that for Mexican American youth, perceptions and messages on Mexican American men are based on the heavy concentrations of blue-collar and criminal behavior narratives in movies and the media.


    In addition to these "narrow scripts prescribed to Mexican American young men," these young men face enormous barriers related to economic hardship.

    The authors summarized some of the positive influences on young Latino men who successfully navigate their college experiences. The interviews with the men revealed that siblings and cousins who have been to college became role models to them, as one of them remarked:
    "One of my close cousins that I grew up with, she went to college and I remember I would go visit her and it seemed like, that [college] was really a much better thing than to drop out and just work your whole life" (p. 8).
     A "culture of college" was similarly influential on the lives of these young men. They discussed the importance of sharing the admissions process with high school peers because many were from the same neighborhood and experienced similar challenges in the contextual environment.

    "I had in high school, a lot of my friends that were applying to college. Not like the gang people or whatever, but other people in my classes. I remember taking an AP class and everybody was talking about college in there" (p. 8).
     Regarding negative influences or factors that hindered their ability to succeed on their educational pathway, they noted how detrimental "microaggressions" were for them. These are defined as "brief, subtle, and frequent slights and indignities related to a person's identity as a member of historically marginalized group that can be either verbal or behavioral, intention or unintentional" (p. 4). One example provided by a participant:

    "There was one teacher that had a kind of attitude that I wasn't capable of a lot of things. I missed class once and she blew up and said, 'You're ruining my class, you're making it so that I can't teach, you are stopping me from teaching and making it hard for me to teach my students, you're holding my students back" (p. 9).
     One of the protective factors that positively influenced the Latino men in this study was their participation in an ethnic student organization, most frequently Latino and multiethnic fraternities.
    "Ethnic student organizations, including fraternities and MEChA, were especially helpful to participants because they facilitated participants' ability to integrate socially in the campus environment, in addition to providing emotional support and an outlet for civic engagement. Shared experiences with ethnicity and gender helped students feel that they belonged on campus and had a support system that would work to keep there there" (p. 10).
    An interesting finding was that, in addition to support from peers and ethnic student organizations, many participants shared how important for them it was to be in romantic relationships and this played a role in their retention. One participant described the emotional encouragement he received from his girlfriend:
    "We need to build a future, go to school, work together...she's my inspiration...she's always tells me keep up, go to school, do your work...you don't want to be working those low paying jobs that you're at right now" (p. 10).
     The authors conclude by providing the following recommendations:

    1. Understand the educational journeys of Mexican American males.
    2. Campus academic, student services, and mental health counselors should consider the fundamental role that familismo plays in the lives of many Mexican American men.
    3. Competing messages from family and university may cause stress for the students and pose barriers to their mental health and adjustment to college.
    4. Campus mental health counselors should consider how endorsing familismo might result in added pressures for Mexican American men to succeed in university as a means to support the family's upward mobility; pressure to succeed may be fueled by a combination of Mexican American men's own interests and the desire to realize caballerismo.
    5. Mental health counselors should increase men's ability to connect with key segments of the university.
    6. As Latino men advance toward the later stages of their undergraduate degree, they become less likely to rely on others to cope with stress. Campus mental health counselors should initiate contact with Latino men at the early stages of their college careers as a coping resource.
    7. It is critical that support services, such as counseling centers, have men of color on staff to understand the nuanced experiences that men of color experience in college settings.
    8. Campus mental health counselors should consider how romantic partners facilitate male students' academic motivation and persistence. This is particularly importance because romantic partners represent a medium between "campus family" and the beginning of one's own immediate family (pp. 12-13).

    Source: Cerezo, A., Lyda, J., Beristianos, M., Enriquez, A., & Connor, M. (2012, August 20). Latino Men in College; Giving Voice to Their Struggles and Triumphs. Psychology of Men & Masculinity.
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  9. Today's New York Times front page had the following story "After Ruling, Hispanics Flee an Alabama Town." The psychological impact of the law on immigrant families is compelling as they desperately left the town of Albertville, Alabama: "The vanishing began Wednesday night, the most frightened families packing up their cars as soon as they heard the news. They left behind mobile homes, sold fully furnished for a thousand dollars or even less. Or they closed up and, in a gesture of optimism, left the keys with a neighbor: Dogs were fed one last time; if no home could be found, they were simply unleashed."
    The law allows state and local police to ask for immigration papers during routine traffic stops, rendering most contracts with illegal immigrants unenforceable and requiring schools to ascertain the immigration status of children at registration time.
    The article captured some of the reactions in the community: "By Monday afternoon, 123 students had withdrawn from the schools in this small town in the northern hills, leaving behind teary and confused classmates. Scores were absent. Statewide, 1,988 Hispanic students were absent on Friday, about 5 percent of the entire Hispanic population of the entire Hispanic population of the school system." Interviews done with farmers, contractors and home builders noted that "the measure has already been devastating, leaving rotting crops in fields and critial shortages of labor." The anxiety and fear of being arrested is pervasive, as a 54-year-old poultry plant worker named Caldelaria said: "I am afraid to drive to church. The lady that gives me a ride to work said she is leaving. She said she felt like a prisoner."
    One of the editorial opinions titled "Alabama's Shame" is equally compelling. These are some noteworthy points:
    "The law went into effect over the weekend, after being largely uphelp by a federal district judge. Volunteers on an immigrant-rights group's hot line said that since they they have received more than 1,000 calls from pregnant women afraid to go to the hospital, crime victims afraid to go the police, parents afraid to send their children to school."
    The op-ed concludes by posing some critical and poignant questions: "As for Alabama, one has to wonder at such counterproductive cruelty. Do Alabamans want children too frightened to go to school? Or pregnant women too frightened to seek one? Whom could that possibly benefit?."
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  10. Dr. Rogelio-Diaz Guerrero is a prominent Mexican psychologist considered a pioneer in the study of Mexican psychology and founder of an indigenous psychological movement in Mexico. He conducted multiple studies on the psychology of Mexicans and most of his findings are found in the now classic Psicologia del Mexicano. Descubrimiento de la Etnopsicologia [Psychology of the Mexican. Discovery of Ethnopsychology]. He advances the idea of a "typology of Mexicans" (chapter 'Tipos Mexicanos' pp. 15-34). Based on direct observation and summarizing research results on the personality of Mexicans, he reports that most Mexicans can be classified into four types: The Affiliative-Obedient and Passive Mexican, the Self-Affirming and Actively Rebellious Mexican, and Mexican with Active Internal Control, and the Mexican with Passive External Control. An obvious critique of this typology is that he did not derive this fourfold typology using an inductive scientific methodology. That is, he did not conduct, for example, an extensive survey of Mexicans and used an appropriate statistical, multivariate methodology (e.g., cluster analysis) to derive this typological classification of Mexicans. Also, the typological approach for conceptualizing individuals is methodologically dubious and theorists and researchers tend to favor a "dimensional approach." That is, instead of classifying people into discrete categories, most people's personality can be "ranked" along a dimensional continuum.
    The chapter La Neurosis y La Estructura Psicologica de la Familia Mexicana [The Neurosis and the Psychological Structure of the Mexican Family] contains two central theses: (a) The undisputable supremacy of the father, and (b) the necessary and absolute self-sacrifice of the mother. The chapter is primarily a study originally published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 112, no. 6, pp. 411-417 (1955). The study is meritorious in that it addressed cultural variables at at time when cross-cultural (and indigenous) psychologists were questioning the hegemony of U.S.-Made psychology. These psychologists began using indigenous methodologies and considering "culture" as an important variable to understand human behavior. However, the validity (especially ecological validity) of the study lacks robustness. The study was conducted over 50 years ago and the sample included mainly Mexican individuals who endorsed relatively traditional Mexican values of family structure and functioning. These findings may be different now, at a time when modernization, globalization, and feminist awareness has strongly challenged some of these "macho" and overly rigid gender values.
    The chapter El Amor y el Poder en la Sociocultura Mexicana [Love and Power in the Mexican Socioculture" contains this paragraph: "History seems to suggest that because of the Spanish Conquest and based on the natural historical evolution of the events in Mexico, and maybe in a non-articulated manner, it became a prescription that in the Mexican family the man must rely on power and the woman on love" (p. 77). Diaz-Guerrero then attributes this dynamic of love-versus-power as one of the primary influences on the structure of the Mexican family. This type of hypothesizing breeds a historical determinism in Mexican psychology and it is based on wide, and most likely baseless generalizations about the Mexican family.
    In the section Dos Patrones Culturales Medulares y la Difusion de Valores a traves de su Frontera [Two Medular and Cultural Patterns and the Diffusion of Values Across the Border] Diaz-Guerrero summarizes a study he and others conducted to investigate the meaning of respect in Mexico and in the United States. The study sampled 1814 high school and college students from high schools in both public and private schools in Mexico and from the PanAmerican College in Edimburgh, Texas. He used a 20-item scale he and his colleagues developed for this study and that purports to measure the construct of respect. Sample items include: To look up somebody with admiration, To look up to Somebody with Awe, To Fear Somebody, To Love Somebody, To be Willing to Treat Somebody Else on an Equal Footing., etc. In a nutshell, the study revealed that the North American (Texan) cultura pattern is that respect is perceived by the Texan sample as a relation among equals. It seems that for this sample of American students one may admire and consider another person as superior, maybe in reference to a specific attribute, without necessarily feeling inferior or subordinate to this person. Less than Mexicans, more Texan students associated respect with the idea of obedience and of protection. They rarely associated the experience of respect with aversion and fear. In fact, their ide of respect is less laden of personal and intense emotion. In general, respect carries an impersonal sentiment (detachment) and a democratic flavor of giving and receiving respect. Mexican students, on the other hand, endorsed an idea of respect as an intimately personal relationship which implies a high degree of personal feelings. For some of them, this was negative versus the positive emotions of love and affect. The majority of Mexicans portrayed the relationship of respect as involving an intricate network of duties and reciprocal dependencies embedded in a hierarchy that demands emotive involvement to meet these cultural duties. One criticism of the scale used (20 items) is that it asked students to place a mark next to the item they were endorsing. Psychometrically, this format is not desirable and a likert scale would be more recommended.
    In a related chapter Respeto y Posicion in Two Cultures [Respect and Position in Two Cultures] describes several studies that examined correlates of respect in both the U.S. and Mexico. In a study conducted by Anderson and Anderson (1959), it was found that North American children anticipate interpersonal relationships that are not authoritarian whereas Mexican children often anticipate and easily fit into relationships deeply rooted in authoritarianism, especially with older adults. In similar anthropological studies, Madsen (1961) reported that the concept of "donismo" (the cultivation of the formal address of 'Don' - Sir - in the Spanish language) conveys respect to the elderly and there is a predominance of machismo among Mexican Americans.

    References

    Anderson, H. H., & Anderson, G. L. (1959). Cultural Reactions to Conflict: A Study of Adolescent Children in Four Countries: Germany, England, Mexico, United States. The Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 47-55.

    Madsen, W. (1961). Society and Health in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. University of Texas, Austin.
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