 This
project is funded by the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development (R01 HD39666) to learn about the
successes and challenges of Mexican American families
raising teenagers. We are considering how culture, social
class, and gender roles are linked to family processes
and to teenage sons’ and daughters’ psychological
adjustment. Most research on Mexican American families
has focused on families who are facing problems, including
poverty, unemployment, and child delinquency. Our goal
is to learn about Mexican American families who are from
a range of socioeconomic backgrounds and who are diverse
in their cultural experiences.
A particularly
important part of this project is our focus on both
mothers and fathers. Research suggests that mothers
and fathers play different roles in their teenager’s
lives, yet we know very little about the roles of fathers
in Mexican American families. We also are interviewing
two adolescents in each family to learn about how their
experiences may be similar or different from one another.
Although it is often assumed that studying a single
child in each family will tell us about the experiences
of all children in that family, we know that children
growing up in the same families often have very different
experiences with their parents and in life outside of
the family (e.g., at school, with peers).
This
project involves collaborative relationships with Mesa,
Chandler, Gilbert, and Scottsdale School Districts and
with a number of Catholic schools (St. Francis Xavier,
St. Mary-Basha, St. Gregory, St. Catherine of Siena,
and St. John Bosco) to recruit Mexican American families
with seventh graders and older sisters/brothers. A total
of 246 families participated in a home interview and
a series of phone calls between February 2002 and June
2003, and approximately 450 teachers participated in
the project as well. A follow up is being planned to
follow youth through the transition to high school.
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Juntos ("Together"): Families
Raising Successful Teens Project