It’s not just your abuelita; many Hispanic parents worry a lot more than other parents about certain things, according to new data from Pew Research Center. Being a parent was already hard. But social media and the pandemic have made parenting a minefield. Last fall, Pew conducted an online survey of 3,757 U.S. parents — 872 of whom identified as Hispanic — with children younger than 18.
Hispanic parents said they worry just about the same as all other parents when it comes to their kids’ mental health, which Pew found was the overall top concern. But when it comes to concerns about their kids getting in trouble with police, getting pregnant, getting shot or having problems with drugs or alcohol, they worry at almost twice the rate as the rest of parents.
48% of Hispanic parents said they worry about bullying, compared to 35% of all parents.
43% of Hispanic parents said they worry their child will be kidnapped or abducted, compared to 28% of all parents.
There’s a variety of reasons for those differences, experts tell Astrid.
For one, Latinos often practice collectivism over individualism: They prioritize the family over themselves, which leads to a lot of worrying. “We’re loving, we are warm, we express solidarity — that can go the other way,” says Layla Sarquis, affiliate faculty at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. “And we tend to over-worry. We tend to assume responsibilities that are not ours. We tend to be fixers because of that collectivistic nature.”
But Latinos also contend with structural racism and marginalization, says Manuel X. Zamarripa, co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology in Austin, Texas. Zamarripa points to police violence against Latinos as one of the factors that may affect a parent.
Hispanic parents find their roles rewarding and say being a parent is a crucial part of who they are.
39% of Hispanic survey respondents said parenting is enjoyable all of the time, while 45% said it’s rewarding all of the time.
Meanwhile, 25% of all parents found it enjoyable all of the time and 36% said it was rewarding all of the time.
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