Acculturation, familism, and parent-adolescent processes: The role of adherence to traditional cultural values in reducing the risk for delinquency for Mexican American adolescents

Abstract

Findings that Hispanic youth are at greater risk for delinquency than their Anglo American counterparts, have been used to suggest that traditional Hispanic cultures tolerate or even promote delinquency (Thom, 1997). However, when Hispanic youth are assessed by acculturation level, those most closely connected to the Hispanic culture of origin are at least risk for delinquency (Buriel, Calzada, & Vasquez, 1982; Fridrich & Flannery, 1995). The present study of 527 Mexican American high school students from two-parent families investigated how acculturation may function to minimize the risk for delinquency. Results indicate that Mexican American adolescents' reduced affiliation with Mexican culture is related to lower levels of the traditional Hispanic cultural value of familism and that familism is related to parent-adolescent processes linked to a reduced risk for delinquency, specifically parent-adolescent attachment and parental monitoring. Results also suggest that familism mediates the relationship between acculturation and delinquency through its effect on parent-adolescent processes related to a reduced risk for delinquency. Some gender differences were noted in follow-up analyses. For girls, only maternal monitoring was significantly related to a reduced risk for delinquency. For boys, only mother-son attachment was related to a reduced risk for delinquency. These findings are consistent with a causal model in which decreasing levels of familism help to explain the relationship between acculturation and delinquency to the extent that familism promotes parent-adolescent processes that are related to a reduced risk for delinquency, and suggest that traditional Mexican cultural values function as a protective factor for Mexican American youth and not as a risk factor. Furthermore, traditional gender role values may play a role in explaining the relationship between family processes and a reduced the risk for delinquency for Mexican American adolescents. This study suggests that relevant traditional Hispanic cultural values should be considered in designing and executing delinquency prevention and intervention programs aimed at Hispanic youth.