Abstract
This exploratory, qualitative study looks at resilience in Mexican Nationals and Mexican Immigrants. Eight Mexican Nationals and six Mexican Immigrants participated in one to three hour semi-structured interviews that asked about their perceptions of stressors, motivation and success in life. Participant responses were analyzed thematically for resilience using Thematic Analysis (Boyatzis, 1998). Contrastive Analysis of themes indicated that resilience can differ based on cultural circumstances (i.e., Mexican National/Mexican Immigrant) given that barriers and therefore potential gains differ by population. In further results, resilience was highlighted as the result of a process, or combination and interaction of experiences as opposed to being due to any specific trait. Specific emergent themes for facilitating resilience included Environmental Resources, Positive Attitudes, and Response Frameworks. Limitations, suggestions for future research, and implications for psychologists are discussed.
References
Arcia, E., Keyes, L., & Gallagher, J.J. (1994). Indicators of developmental and functional
status of Mexican-American and Puerto Rican children. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 15(1), 27-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004703-199402000-00005
Bender, D. & Castro, D. (2000). Explaining the birth weight paradox: Latina immigrants’
perceptions of resilience and risk. Journal of Immigrant Health, 2(3), 155-173.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009513020506
Boyatzis, R. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Carranza, M. E. (2007). Building resilience and resistance against racism and discrimination among Salvadorian female youth in Canada. Child and Family Social Work, 12, 390-398. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2007.00492.x
Cederblad, M. (1996). The children of the Lundby study as adults: A salutogenic perspective. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 5, 38-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00538542
Clauss-Ehlers, C. S. & Wibrowski, C. R. (2007). Building educational resilience and social support: The effects of the educational opportunity fund program among first- and second-generation college students. Journal of College Student Development, 48, 574-584. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.2007.0051
Connor, K. M. & Davidson, J. R. T. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18, 76-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.10113
Coohey, C. (2001). The relationship between familism and child maltreatment in Latino and Anglo families. Child Maltreatment, 6, 130-142. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077559501006002005
Corsaro, W. (1981). Entering the child’s world: Research strategies fro field study and data collection. In (Eds. J.L. Green & C. Wallat) Ethnography and Language in Educational Settings. New Jersey: Ablex.
Corsaro, W. (1985). Friendship and peer culture of the young child. New Jersey: Ablex.
Creswell, J. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Escobar, J. (2000). Immigration and mental health: Mexican Americans in the United States. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 8(2), 64-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/hrp_8.2.64
Flores E., Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F.A. (2005). Predictors of resilience in maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 338-351. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.2.338
Freed, A. O. (1988). Interviewing through an Interpreter. Social Work, 33(4), 315-319.
Garmezy, N. (1993). Children in poverty: Resiliency despite risk. Psychiatry, 56, 127-36.
Green,J. Castanheira, M. L., Skukauskaite, A., & Hammond, J. (2015). Developing a multi-faceted research process: An ethnographic perspective for reading across traditions. (In Ed. Numa Markee) The Handbook of classroom discourse and interaction. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Gonzalez, R., & Padilla, A. M. (1997). The academic resilience of Mexican American high school students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 19, 301-317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/07399863970193004
Heppner, P. P., Kivlighan, D. M., & Wampold, B. E. (1999). Research design in counseling (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole-Wadsworth.
Jaffe, J. & Diamond, M. (2011). Developmental tasks of adulthood: Losses of opportunity. In J. Jaffe and M. Diamond (Eds.) Reproductive Trauma: Psychotherapy with infertility and Pregnancy Loss Clients (pp. 31-49). APA: Washington D.C..
Kim, B.S.K. & Abreu, J.M. (2001). Acculturation measurement: Theory, current instruments, and future directions. In L.A. Suzuki, J.M. Casas, C.M. Alexander, & J.Prottontto (Eds.) Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 394-424). Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage.
Kline, F., Acosta, F. X., Austin, W., & Johnson, R. G. (1980). The misunderstood
Spanish-speaking patient. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137(12), 1530-1533. http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/ajp.137.12.1530
Li, X., Stanton, B., Pack, R., Harris, C., Cottrell, L., & Burns, J. (2002). Risk and
protective factors associated with gang involvement among urban African American adolescents. Youth & Society, 34(2), 172-194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/004411802237862
Lopez, E. C. (2000). Conducting Instructional Consultation through interpreters. School Psychology Review, 29(3), 378-388.
Luthar, S.S. (1993). Methodological and conceptual issues on research on childhood resilience. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 441–453. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1993.tb01030.x
Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71, 543-562. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00164
Luthar, S. S. & Zigler, E. (1991). Vulnerability and competence: A review of research on resilience in childhood. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61, 6-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0079218
Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (1999). Designing qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Massinga, R. & Pecora, P. J. (2004). Providing better opportunities for older children in
the child welfare system. The Future of Children, 14(1), 151-173. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1602759
McEwen, B. (2002). The end of stress as we know it. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry.
McGorry, S. (2000). Qualitative research in a cross-cultural environment: Survey translation issues and problems of translation in cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 3(1), 41-56.
Mitchell, C.L. (1984). Producing data. In (Ed.) R.F. Ellen’s Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Conduct. New York: Academic Press.
Morrow, S. L., & Smith, M. L. (2000). Qualitative research for counseling psychology. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology (3rd ed., pp. 199-230). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Parra-Cardona, J. R., Bullock, L. A., Imig, D. R., Villaruel, F. A. & Gold, S. G. (2006) “Trabajando duro todos los dias”: Learning from the life experiences of Mexican-origin migrant families. Family Relations, 55, 361-375. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2006.00409.x
Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.
Portes, A. (1984). The rise of ethnicity: Determinants of ethnic perceptions among Cuban exiles in Miami. American Sociological Review, 49, 383-397. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2095282
Quickfacts (2013). Hispanic Population. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1714000.html
Rivera-Ledesma, A. & Montero, M. (2005). Espiritulalidad y religiosidad en adultos mayors mexicanos. Salud Mental, 28, 51-58.
Rumbaut, R. (2000). Profiles in resilience: Educational achievement and ambition among
children of immigrants in Southern California. In Taylor, R. &
Wang, M. (Eds.) Resilience across contexts: Family, work, culture and community. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates.
Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. In Rolf, J., Masten, A., Cichetti, D., Nuechterlein, K. & Weintraub, S. (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 181-214). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sechrest, L., Fay, T. L. & Zaidi, S. M. H. (1972). Problems of translation in cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 3, 41-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002202217200300103
Seligman. M. & Csikzentmihali, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction to a
special issue. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5
Silverstein, L. B. & Auerbach, C.F. (2009). Using qualitative research to develop
culturally competent evidence-based practice. American Psychologist, 64, 274- 275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015439
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and
procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Su, C. T., & Parham, D. (2002). Generating a valid questionnaire translation for cross-
cultural use. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56, 581-585. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.56.5.581
U.S. Census Bureau (2010). Overview of race and Hispanic origin: 2010. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf
Vera, E. M. & Speight, S. L. (2003). Multicultural competence, social justice, and counseling psychology: Expanding our roles. The Counseling Psychologist, 31, 253-272. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0011000003031003001
Werner, E. & Smith, R. (1992). Overcoming the odds: High-risk children from birth to adulthood. New York: Cornell University Press.
Wyman, P. A., Cowen, E. L. Work, W. C., & Kerley, J. H. (1993). The role of children's future expectations in self-system functioning and adjustment to life stress: A prospective study of urban at-risk children. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 649–661. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579400006210
Yoon, E. Chang, C., Kim, S., Clawson, A., Cleary, S.E., Hansen, M., Bruner, J.P., Chan, T.K. & Gomes, A. (2013). A Meta-analysis of acculturation/enculturation and mental health. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60, 15-30.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work [SPECIFY PERIOD OF TIME] after publication simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).