Education Commons^™

Composing Her Growing Identities As A Mexican American, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article studies the growing and changing cultural identifications of one early adolescent Mexican American girl as represented by her engagements with literacy. Her writing behaviors in particular manifested a changing cultural identity that reacted to and represented her response to a changing world. Her bilingualism and biculturalism manifested a dialogic innervation of distinct voices and truths, particularly set in the Trump-era United States. Through a theoretical framework of cultural hybridity and bordered identity, this study analyzes the complex linguistic, developmental, and cultural identities of a young Mexican American woman in the rural South.

Stressors And Coping Of Mexican American College Undergraduates, Jeanette Calvario Perales

Dissertations

Empirical literature indicates that current mental health practices with Mexican American college students are lacking. Mexican American undergraduates have unique challenges that need to be addressed by counselors within the university context and in community settings. This study addressed the dearth of empirical literature on stressors and coping strategies by exploring the experiences of Mexican American students at a predominately White institution (PWI) in the Midwest region of the United States. Through grounded theory, a theory was generated from multiple in-depth interviews using a comparative analysis process to enhance understanding of how Mexican American college undergraduates at PWIs cope with …

A Critical Content Analysis: Representation Of The Experiences Of Emergent Bilingual Mexican American Children In Literature, Cynthia Villarreal Cantu

Theses and Dissertations

This critical content analysis utilized the children's books Efrén Divided, The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition, and They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems. As I read the literature, I documented how children's literature can accurately influence the representation of emergent bilingual Mexican American children in literature. This qualitative study demonstrated the need for authentic children’s literature that embraces a culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP). After analyzing the books, I realized that the power of literacy and language could help students form connections to their identity, agency, and power. Educators, administrators, and the community can include literacy in the …

Ethnic-Racial Socialization Experiences Of Mexican American Youth, Katherine Donahey

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) is associated with positive academic and mental health outcomes for adolescents. These socialization messages come in 3 forms: cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and promotion of mistrust. The ERS literature has mainly focused on African American populations but is expanding to include other demographics, such as Latinx individuals. Since much of ERS research has been conducted from the perspective of parents, the current study sought to add to the literature by evaluating adolescent experiences with ERS in their own words. The study was conducted using focus groups with late adolescents and young adults …

La “Border Culture” Del Personaje Mexicoamericano En El Sureste De Estados Unidos En Los Cuentos De Lorraine López Y Mijito Doesn’T Live Here Anymore De Jaime Martínez, Jaime Chavez

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This paper explores the concepts of "Border Culture" and "Borderlands" by Gloria Anzaldúa in Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories, Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories, by Lorraine López and the novel Mijito Doesn’t Live Here Anymore by Jaime Martínez. The paper argues that the Mexican American character in the southeast of the United States lives in the "Borderlands" and practices a "Border Culture" because they don't follow the traditional stereotypical role of the Mexican American character within the literary canon of both the dominant culture and Chicana/o literature.

A Phenomenological Collective Case Study Of Mexican American Gifted Dropouts In South Texas, Albert Irlas

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the shared experiences of formally identified gifted Mexican American students that decided to drop out of high school in the south Texas region. The researcher utilized a phenomenological collective case study approach that investigated the influences that led gifted learners to drop out of high school via a series of semi-structured interviews that collected and analyzed the shared narrative data (Creswell, 2013; Degand, 2015; Seidman, 2014). Prevailing studies have found that Mexican American gifted learners are more likely to live in economically depressed communities, more likely to suffer from linguistic and cultural …

Experiences Of Western Clinical Practice And Traditional Mexican American Healing When The Provider Is The Same Person, Helen Marie Tafoya

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

EXPERIENCES OF WESTERN CLINICAL PRACTICE AND TRADITIONAL MEXICAN AMERICAN HEALING WHEN THE PROVIDER IS THE SAME PERSON

By

Helen Marie Tafoya

B.A. Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1991

M. A. Clinical Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, 1995

Ph.D., Counselor Education, University of New Mexico, 2018

ABSTRACT

In counseling ethics and standards, there is a call to integrate practices and for practitioners to become more aware of other cultures and traditions (Sue, Arrendondo, & McDavis, 1992; Ratts, Singh, Butler, Nassar-McMillan, & McCullough, 2015). Very little research exists that addresses when the Western mental health practitioner and the traditional healer are …

A Father's Dream: "Mi Hija Va Ser Maestra" An Autoethnographic Study Of The Cultural, Familial And Community Experiences That Informed An Instructional Leader, Eva T. Torres

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an autoethnography which will identify major ethnographic influences that I, as a female Mexican American educational leader, feel have been significant in the course of my career in education. The study will focus on culture, family and community as factors which developed and engendered characteristics, behaviors and experiences that contributed to my development as an educator. These will be relayed through narratives, memoirs, organic artifacts and documents, lived experiences, pláticas, and other forms of text presented here as story, an acceptable autoethnographic method of data collection. I place myself in the center of these narratives in autoethnographic …

Revolution And World War I Civil Rights?: Transnational Relations And Mexican Consul Records In Mexican American Educational History, 1910-1929, Victoria-María Macdonald, Gonzalo Guzmán

Education's Histories

MacDonald and Guzmán demonstrate how the Mexican residents in the United States lobbied the Mexican government and Mexican consulates in the U.S. to secure their children's access to schooling from 1910-1929.

Evaluating Practicum Student's' Therapeutic Effectiveness Using Solution Focused Brief Therapy With Mexican American Clients: A Single Case Design, Krystle L. Ortega

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a practicum counseling experience on client therapeutic outcomes using Solution Focused Brief Therapy with Mexican American clients. We implemented a small series (N = 3) single-case research design to assess the effectiveness of SFBT for increasing hope and decreasing clinical symptoms. Clients’ clinical areas of functioning and clinically significant change will be evaluated using the Outcome Questionnaire -45.2 whereas hope will be assessed using The Trait Hope Scale. The results of this study will ultimately help researchers in counseling education, counselors, supervisors, and students by providing an outcome …

Exploring The Transition Of First-Generation Mexican American Students From Grade 8 To High School, Mary C. Curry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The dropout rate for first-generation Mexican Americans students in American schools has increased in the past decade. The purpose of this study, as reflected in the central research question, was to explore the factors that influenced the decision of first-generation Mexican American students to transition to high school or drop out after Grade 8. The research design was a phenomenological case study. The conceptual framework was based on current research surrounding first-generation Mexican American student dropout questions. In addition, how the concepts of family and community involvement and relationships between the home and school have an impact on the first …

Mexican American Adolescents’ Gender Role Attitude Development: The Role Of Adolescents’ Gender And Nativity And Parents’ Gender Role Attitudes, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Susan M. Mchale, Katharine H. Zeiders, Adriana J. Umana-Taylor, Norma J. Perez-Brena, Lorey A. Wheeler, Sue A. Rodriguez De Jesus

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Gender development has long term implications for education and career endeavors and family formation behaviors, but we know very little about the role of sociocultural factors in developmental and individual differences. In this study, we investigated one domain of gender development, gender role attitudes, in Mexican American adolescents (N = 246; 51% female), using four phases of longitudinal data across eight years. Data were collected when adolescents averaged 12.51 years (SD = 0.58), 14.64 years (SD = 0.59), 17.72 years (SD = 0.57), and 19.60 years of age (SD = 0.66). Mothers’ and fathers’ gender …

Mexican-Origin Youth's Cultural Orientations And Adjustment: Changes From Early To Late Adolescence, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Adriana J. Umana-Taylor, Susan M. Mchale, Lorey A. Wheeler, Norma Perez-Brena

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Drawing from developmental and cultural adaptation perspectives and using a longitudinal design, this study examined: (a) mean-level changes in Mexican-origin adolescents’ cultural orientations and adjustment from early to late adolescence; and (b) bidirectional associations between cultural orientations and adjustment using a cross-lag panel model. Participants included 246 Mexicanorigin, predominantly immigrant families that participated in home interviews and a series of nightly phone calls when target adolescents were 12 years and 18 years of age. Girls exhibited more pronounced declines in traditional gender role attitudes than did boys, and all youth declined in familism values, time spent with family, and involvement …

Randomized Trial Of A Broad Preventive Intervention For Mexican American Adolescents, Nancy A. Gonzales, L. E. Dumka, R. E. Millsap, A. Gottschall, D. B. Mcclain, J. J. Wong, M. German, A. M. Mauricio, Lorey A. Wheeler, F. D. Carpentier, S. Y. Kim

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Objective—This randomized trial of a family-focused preventive intervention for Mexican American (MA) adolescents evaluated intervention effects on adolescent substance use, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and school discipline and grade records in 8th grade, one year after completion of the intervention. The study also examined hypothesized mediators and moderators of intervention effects. Method—Stratified by language of program delivery (English vs. Spanish), the trial included a sample of 516 MA adolescents (50.8% female; M =12.3 years, SD=.54) and at least one caregiver that were randomized to receive a low dosage control group workshop or the 9-week group intervention that included …

Parenting Self-Efficacy And Parenting Practices Over Time In Mexican American Families, Larry E. Dumka, Nancy A. Gonzales, Lorey A. Wheeler, Roger E. Millsap

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study used a longitudinal cross-lagged panel design and a structural equation modeling approach to evaluate parenting self-efficacy's reciprocal and causal associations with parents' positive control practices over time to predict adolescents' conduct problems. Data were obtained from teachers, mothers, and adolescents in 189 Mexican American families living in the southwest U.S. After accounting for contemporaneous reciprocal relationships between parenting self-efficacy (PSE) and positive control, results indicated that parenting self-efficacy predicted future positive control practices rather than the reverse. PSE also showed direct effects on decreased adolescent conduct problems. PSE functioned in an antecedent causal …

Mexican American Identities And Histories In Children’S Picture Storybooks: Thinking Critically, Thinking Diversely, Scott A. Beck

Georgia Educational Researcher

Each year increasing numbers of Mexican-heritage students are served by teachers with little knowledge of the history and diversity of the Mexican American community. This article introduces teachers to Mexican American history and diversity while taking a useful and critical look at children’s picture storybooks regarding Mexican-heritage peoples in the U.S. Ideas in the article regarding how to select, compare and contrast these picture books in the classroom will allow teachers to learn about their Mexican-heritage students, counter prejudices and stereotypes, and more effectively reach out to build academic and personal connections with these students.

Exploring Mothers’ And Fathers’ Relationships With Sons Versus Daughters: Links To Adolescent Adjustment In Mexican Immigrant Families, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Melissa Y. Delgado, Lorey A. Wheeler

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Drawing on ecological and gender socialization perspectives, this study examined mothers’ and fathers’ relationships with young adolescents, exploring differences between mothers and fathers, for sons versus daughters, and as a function of parents’ division of paid labor. Mexican immigrant families (N = 162) participated in home interviews and seven nightly phone calls. Findings revealed that mothers reported higher levels of acceptance toward adolescents and greater knowledge of adolescents’ daily activities than did fathers, and mothers spent more time with daughters than with sons. Linkages between parent-adolescent relationship qualities and youth adjustment were moderated by adolescent gender and parents’ division …

Hope Measurement In Mexican American Youth, Lisa Edwards, Anthony D. Ong, Shane J. Lopez

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Hope is a motivational construct that has been associated with many positive outcomes in children, adolescents, and adults. Although research with the Children’s Hope Scale (CHS) has demonstrated support for the reliability and validity of the CHS with various samples of youth, there is little empirical evidence for its use with Latino youth. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the six-item CHS in a sample of 135 Mexican American youth. Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a hierarchical representation of the CHS with two underlying factors (pathways and agency). CHS scores were found to be positively correlated with …

Contradictory Literacy Practices Of Mexican-Background Students: An Ethnography From The Rural Midwest, Heriberto Godina Phd

Heriberto Godina PhD

This ethnographic study explores the contradictory literacy practices of 10 high school students of Mexican background from the rural Midwest. The author uses the term Mexican background to encompass both settled Mexican Americans and recent-immigrant Mexicanos. Literacy is investigated through English and Spanish in a sociocultural context. Findings reveal how Mexican-background students demonstrate different literacy practices in their homes and communities than those acknowledged at school. Educators in the school setting did not recognize Mexican-background students’ linguistic proficiency. In school, Mexican-background students were viewed in terms of their limited-English status and were mostly enrolled in low academic tracks. At home, …