Journal of Family Violence
Volume 33, Issue 3, 2018, Pages 171-184

Why is Family Violence Lower Among Mexican Immigrants? The Protective Features of Mexican Culture (Article)

Curry T.R.* , Morales M.C. , Zavala E. , Hernandez J.L.
  • a Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University, El Paso, TX 79968, United States
  • b Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, United States
  • c Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University, El Paso, TX 79968, United States
  • d College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States

Abstract

Although immigrants tend to be less involved in crime than the native-born, less is known about whether immigration is protective regarding family violence and, if so, why. This is especially problematic given that some cultural features of immigrants, such as machismo, may increase family violence. Using a random sample of adults in El Paso County, Texas, the present study finds that family violence is substantially lower among first generation Mexican immigrants compared to 1.5 generation immigrants, second generation Americans and third generation or higher Americans. Higher levels of acculturation to Mexico among first generation immigrants partially mediated, or explained, this finding. However, familism and machismo were not higher among first generation Mexican immigrants; and, while lower among first generation immigrants, acculturation to the US was not associated with higher levels of family violence. Implications of these findings are discussed. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

familism Family violence Machismo Immigrant generations Acculturation Immigration Mexican immigrants

Index Keywords

machismo human immigrant family violence cultural factor human tissue Mexico American immigration adult Texas random sample
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85040361673&doi=10.1007%2fs10896-017-9947-y&partnerID=40&md5=739576acb082bffdd64d921625d49a2c
DOI: 10.1007/s10896-017-9947-y
ISSN: 08857482
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English