PSYCHOLOGY ABSTRACT

Psychology Abstract

Introduction

Researchers, who are studying how immigrants deal with the pressures related with immigration and how families adapt to the new environments, have been attracted by the continuing rise of immigration of Mexican citizens in to the southwestern border region of Mexico-United States as well as other parts of the U.S. Just like other working class immigrants, Mexican heritage immigrants frequently come across institutional patterns of discrimination and oppression (Phinney, 1990). These patterns reduce the possibility of their economic progression in a host country. The Southwest territory has been identified as a context in which inhabitants belonging to Mexican origin live through high levels of acculturative stress, to a certain extent due to anti immigrant sentiments and ethnic discrimination. The constant threat of economic insecurity and deportation as well as the awareness of these obstacles can initiate a sense of hopelessness and depression among people belonging to the Mexican origin and residing in the borderlands of Mexico and United States.

This research article, by Marsiglia, Flavio F. Kulis and Stephen Pere, gives an account on the findings of their study which was conducted on a sample of 136 mothers from Mexican origin living in a large southwestern urban region. The purpose was to identify and find the relationship between hopelessness and those factors which contributed to or protected from hopelessness. This phenomenon was tackled as a culturally specific response to challenges like family stress faced by the immigrants from Mexican, from a perspective of risk and resiliency. The technique of multiple regression analysis was applied in order to discover the associations among depression, social support, hopelessness and other variables. A sense of optimism and culturally rooted resiliency associated with immigration appear to protect mothers belonging to Mexican heritage from depression and hopelessness. The risk of hopelessness was found to be elevated by a nonworking status and very large households.

The purpose of this research was to study and analyze the factors which contribute towards hopelessness amongst mothers of Mexican origin residing in the United States. Different variables were identified through a literature review, which were possibly associated with hopelessness.

Hypothesis

The current study targeted Mothers from Mexican heritage and made an attempt towards identification of those factors which contribute to or protect from hopelessness. The overall hypothesis stated that the high parent adolescent conflict and lack of social support is linked with a bigger degree of hopelessness amongst mothers. It was also expected that depression would be related to hopelessness amongst women of low income from Mexican origin. In order to discover the association among hopelessness, social support, depression and other variables the technique of multiple regression analysis was applied. The hypothesis was partially substantiated.

Subjects

This study chose 136 mothers belonging to Mexican heritage which were living in a large southwestern urban region and conducted research on them.

Dependent & Independent Variables

The dependent variable was hopelessness whereas there were several independent variables in this study including depression, parent adolescent conflict etc.

The scale used for the measurement of depression was the “Center for Epidemiologie ...