SHOW / EPISODE

Familism & the Mental Health of Latinx Daughters

12m | Apr 19, 2022

Title: Familism in Hispanic/Latinx Daughters (Mental Health)

Thesis: Many Hispanic/Latinx daughters have struggled with their mental health due to putting

their families first.

Who is the audience?

- Spanish and English-speaking individuals

What does the audience need to know to understand your story?

- The impact of familism on mental health

- Responsibilities and tasks performed by Hispanic/Latinx daughters

- Ways to support Hispanic/Latinx daughters


Script Final

*Soft Tone Music*


Narrator: When I was focusing on the tasks and adult responsibilities that I was given at a

young age as a Hispanic/Latinx daughter, I never really realized how my mental health was

impacted by taking on adult and parental responsibilities. I had never heard of the term familism

and how it has impacted so many individuals.

Narrator: The term familism is commonly used to describe the saying “family comes first”.

Many Hispanic/Latinx parents enforce the idea of putting their family first on their children. At a

young age, the oldest daughter must take on caretaker responsibilities such as changing diapers,

feeding and providing food and raising their younger siblings. It takes a large toll on them since

they are learning to commit to all these adult and parental responsibilities at a young age. In

today’s society, women are given the opportunities to be independent by establishing their own

income. Women are able to get the same jobs as men. Although women are able to do these, in

Hispanic/Latinx culture, they are viewed as home makers who must take care of the children,

cook, clean, and many more. A cultural term for this is called marianismo since women must

sacrifice themselves to take on the role of a family caretaker. While men must become the

breadwinners of the household. The term machismo is another term used to describe men with

strong masculine pride. Because of these cultural backgrounds, daughters are automatically

viewed as a woman who should stay home and commit to being family oriented.


*Soft Tone Music Transition 1*


Narrator: Now that we have looked at the cultural background on Familism with

Hispanic/Latinx cultures, let us focus more on how it impacts daughters. Kennia is currently a

Mexican American teenager in high school, who has recently been kicked out of her household

after not wanting to deal with familism. She is currently living on her own but still has contact

with her family.

Kennia: My name is Kennia, I'm 18 and right now I just go to school.

Narrator: Lorena Del Rio-Rivera is also a Mexican American woman who has also dealt with

familism, and she reflects back on her experiences now that she is an adult. She is currently

living on her own with her husband, children, and also her youngest sibling.

Lorena Del Rio-Rivera: My name is Lorena del Rio Rivera. I am 34 years old, and I'm a realtor

in Winston Salem.


Narrator: Familism is a very important component to this family dynamic. For the first-born

sibling, this can be very difficult since you have other priorities such as school and working jobs.

In Hispanic/Latinx families, it is shown to put your family first, whereas in the United States you

are taught to become independent. Kennia had to start taking care of her 2 young brothers Santi

and Emilliano around her teenage years.

Kennia: Around the time when Emiliano was born, maybe four or five. So I was like 14 or 15

with my little brother. I just feel like there is a lot of stress on me to raise my brothers. Especially

during the pandemic since it was all on me.

Narrator: Because Familism causes daughters to have major adult and parental responsibilities,

according to research, the impact of familism on health outcomes would be intervened by the

coping and burden styles of caregivers’. When looking at this, familism is being negatively

associated with higher levels of burden, which would prevent Hispanic/Latinx daughters from

communicating and expressing their feelings. Familism causes the feeling of not wanting to

commit to a family since individuals are forced to grow up at a young age and adapt to adult

responsibilities, which they’re not able to commit to themselves mentally and emotionally. Aside

from not feeling ready to grow up soon, they must also deal with a lot of responsibilities. Some

responsibilities can include preparing bottles for younger siblings, changing diapers, bathing

younger siblings, learning how to cook for the family, cleaning bathrooms, living rooms, and

many more. They are taught to learn all these at a young age when they do not feel prepared or

ready. Both Lorena and Kennia state some of their responsibilities.

Lorena Del Rio-Rivera: Definitely cooking and cleaning, changing diapers, showering and

bathing. I didn't really get to like going outside and playing with other kids because I had the

responsibility of my other younger siblings while my mom was working. So she would do the

third shift and most of the time I had to like you know, play housewife and I was really a kid.

Kennia: I helped them with all their homework and my little brother Santi, it was on me to potty

train him and I couldn't figure out how to do it so he still doesn't know. I had to change a lot of

diapers and calm a lot of temper tantrums. And there were times where I wanted time, just alone

time but I had to take care of them.

Narrator: One of the biggest challenges of Hispanic/Latinx daughters would include translating.

Hispanic/Latinx parents are native Spanish speakers. When they came to the United States, it

was very difficult for them to adapt since most individuals speak English. Because of this, they

rely on their children to help them translate. This can complicate translating since

Hispanic/Latinx children must learn both English and Spanish. Many children must start

translating for their parents when they enter elementary school. This can be very frustrating for a

young child to do.


Lorena Del Rio-Rivera: So when I was like looking at legal papers, which you know I shouldn't

have been doing, I didn't know what it meant, so I would tell my mom like I don't know what

this means, and then you know she would say “You go to school, you should know.”

Narrator: These responsibilities take a huge toll on them because of how time consuming they

can be. Taking care of siblings or other family members takes so much effort since they are

dependent on you. As mentioned before, they have to deal with many priorities such as

education. Students who are in school and also work long hours, take longer to obtain a graduate

degree. Hispanic/Latinx parents view education as important, but expect their children to be

family oriented. This causes a daughter to not only have the pressure of family, but also

education and their job. It is very difficult for someone to try to earn their degree, while also

taking care of their family and trying to put food on the table. Lorena dropped out of school to

continue supporting their family

Lorena Del Rio-Rivera: Continuing education, I couldn't focus on me because I needed to work

so that I can help my mom and provide it wasn't until maybe my fourth sibling was old enough to

help around that I got a little bit of relief and even at that point, it wasn't like enough, I was still

like look that like wait you can't slow down on how much you bringing in. I had to work harder

to get where I am and get what I have and do what I do because it's like I had to make sure that

everybody else was good, before I could make sure that I was good.

Narrator: After listening to Lorena’s story and how hard they worked, I asked Lorena if they

had any advice for Hispanic/Latinx daughters, they said:

Lorena Del Rio-Rivera: Stay in their life gets better, you know, once you grow up and are able

to get out of that household it'll get better.

Narrator: Even though Kennia has gone through this experience, it is hard to know what to

recommend to others

Kennia: I'm not sure, because the only way for me to get out of it was to leave. I feel like it's

hard for us to speak to our parents about how we feel and whenever we do tell them how we feel,

they don't understand. Not even because of the language barrier, they don't understand because

they were raised differently. And I get it because life in their home country is different but at the

end of the day, we are not there and life is different here.

Narrator: From Kennia and Lorena’s point of view, it is clear that familism has impacted their

relationship with their families due to the fact that the responsibility of raising their siblings has

been forced upon them. In order to escape this reality to preserve her mental health, Kennia had


to move out. Meanwhile, Lorena had to put her life aside to help her family go forward. They

both had to sacrifice their time and priorities to provide for their families first.


*Soft Tone Music Transition 2*


Narrator: Many of the beliefs and values in U.S society are different from Hispanic/Latinx

society such as the view of women and mental health. Hispanic/Latinx parents were not raised to

express or understand their mental health. They were taught to work hard and do everything they

can to support their family. Due to these cultural differences, it is difficult for parents who were

born or raised in a different country to understand their children who were born or raised in the

United States.

Narrator: According to research, the Hispanic/Latinx community is the fastest growing and

largest minority group in the United States. With that being said, they are also the largest group

to not receive mental health services. This is due to lack of resources, lack of time, language

barrier, or not acknowledging mental health due to lack of education.

Narrator: In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work

Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The goal of this act would limit cash assistance for dependent

children. In other words, this act prevented Hispanic/Latinx families from receiving cash

assistance. Aside from this, most Hispanic/Latinx individuals are not able to access health care or

have many job opportunities because of their citizenship status. According to research,

discrimination policies are another factor that impacts them since it prevents them from reciveing

funds such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It is clear that

Hispanic/Latinx do not have the funds to help assist their mental health and there needs to be

more policies that will allow Hispanic/Latinx to receive the proper funds.

Narrator: Aside from providing funds or insurance to allow for mental health assistance, there

should be an increase in community mental health services. This will allow for Hispanic/Latinx

families to consider improving their mental health. According to research, Hispanic/Latinx girls

have the lowest family support and have very high conflicts with their family. This is caused due

to lack of empathy. According to research, an effective way to improve family mental health

would be Filial therapy. This is where parents are able to spend time with their children while

playing with toys. According to research, this allows families to build a better relationship and

bond since it allows parents to become more empathetic and understanding towards their

children, and children feel emotionally understood and supported. This would allow families to

communicate about the adult and parent responsibilities placed on Hispanic/Latinx daughters,

which would lead to improving the mental health of not only daughters, but parents too since

they will gain knowledge on mental health.


Narrator: Overall, it is best to educate minority groups on mental health. Some ways can

include social media, where an individual can post about the negative impacts of mental health.

Social media is constantly available to users which allows for sharing mental health resources

and mental health education. The most common social media app used for Hispanic/Latinx

communities is Facebook. Facebook would be a great source of media which would allow

individuals to communicate and also talk more about mental health.

Narrator: It is important to educate individuals about familism and help Hispanic/Latinx

daughters acknowledge and improve their mental health. Mental health impacts the way we feel,

think, and act. It determines how we handle stress and how we interact with others. Mental

health is considered an important topic in today’s society, however within Hispanic/Latinx

society it is rarely talked about. In order to spread awareness about mental health, education is

key.


*Soft Tone Music Transition 3*


Narrator: This podcast was produced by Edith Lopez for the Spring 2022 Global Health course

at Guilford College. Thank you for listening!

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Guilford College Public Health
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