Pressures on Latina Teens Show in Suicide Planning, Attempts

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Pressures on Latina Teens Show in Suicide Planning, Attempts; In a Bright New Land, Dark Thoughts Emerge

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Boys are given greater freedom, they said, and girls are expected to be pious in more traditional Mexican ways, to restrict makeup, to resist dating, to cook when their parents work at night, to clean and to take care of their younger brothers and sisters.

At school:

“Get good grades,” Ana says.

“To have a career,” Maria says.

“To be the best,” Cristal says, even when the language barrier makes academic achievement frustrating and difficult.

After high school, the children of undocumented workers are not eligible for college financial aid. Often 12th grade is the end of the line for those who are not forced to leave school early to help support the family financially. Such financial, and emotional, support frequently lasts well into adulthood.

“In Mexican culture, it typically falls to the oldest girl — to girls in general — to take care of the parents as they grow old,” said Sheila Olivares, the Mattie Rhodes youth advocate who runs the GLOBE program at Northeast Middle School.

To be sure, the girls all believe that they are living better lives in the U.S. than in Mexico. That is why their parents came, they say. In Mexico, they say, there is little work and fewer opportunities. Unless a family can afford to pay for education past the sixth grade, it stops. And here, the girls say, they feel safer than in Mexico.

“More protected,” Maria says.

Yet, as other research shows, the effects of assimilation into American culture are complex.

Poverty, mastery of English, family support, community resources, employment, as well as how tightly one adheres to old-world traditions, make it difficult to make any single overarching conclusion.

In some health respects, living in the U.S. isn’t all bad. Many researchers, for example, are studying a phenomenon known as the “Latino Mortality Paradox” — the unexpected finding that, despite having lower socioeconomic status, Latino people from Mexico and many other countries who now live in the U.S. generally outlive African-Americans and non-Latino whites. It is unknown why.

“Our group thinks it might have something to do with differences in philosophy of life,” says Ana Abraido-Lanza, who studies the paradox at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. That philosophy includes an emphasis on family rather needs than personal needs, she says.

Most studies, meantime, show how unhealthy a new life in the U.S. can be.

“You might come to the United States expecting better opportunities for yourself and your family,” Abraido-Lanza says. “The longer you’re here, you realize those results don’t materialize as you expected. You face racism, classism, limited opportunities.

“Food is higher in fat. You work longer hours. You face longer commutes.”

In March 2005, the Annual Review of Public Health published a large paper on “Acculturation and Latino Health in the United States.” It analyzed major studies on the topic.

“Although not absolute, the strongest evidence points toward a negative effect … on health behaviors overall,” the paper says.

Smoking, drinking, drug use, bad nutrition, obesity, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, depression: The more Latinos tie themselves to American culture, the worse all these become for many people.

Although not all.

“From my point of view it’s better here,” says Margarita Morales, who was seen at Cabot recently with her daughters, Diana, 10, and Tanya, 2.

She does recognize, however the pressures and adult responsibilities her daughter has already been forced to face.

“It is harder for her,” Morales says.

Over the next four years, Zayas, at Washington University, plans to study 200 Latina teens — of Mexican and other heritages — in the hope of finding the differences between those who have attempted suicide and those who have not. The study, which will be conducted in New York City, where Zayas formerly worked, will also include talks with the girls’ parents.

“We are hearing things about the pressures these girls are feeling — around issues with their families, with boyfriends, with sibling problems,” Zayas says. “If we had rates of TB (tuberculosis) at the level we have of these suicide attempts, we’d have a national czar on prevention.”

But for many Latina teens, it’s part of coming to America.

“To have a better life,” Cristal Valdez says. “To have a better future.”

Teen suicide and depression by the numbers, ages 14 to 18

Teens feeling sad or hopeless for at least two weeks continuously (average 28.6 percent) )

Hispanic girls	44.9
White girls	33.3
Black girls	30.8
Hispanic boys	25.9
Black boys	21.7
White boys	19.6

Teens who seriously considered suicide (average 16.9 percent)

Hispanic girls	23.4
White girls	21.2
Black girls	14.7
Hispanic boys	12.9
White boys	12.0
Black boys	10.3

Teens who made suicide plan (average 16.5 percent)

Hispanic girls	20.7
White girls	18.6
Black girls	12.4
Hispanic boys	14.6
White boys	13.9
Black boys	8.4

Teens who attempted suicide (average 8.5 percent)

Hispanic girls	15.0
White girls	10.3
Black girls	9.0
Black boys	7.7
Hispanic boys	6.1
White boys	3.7

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Source:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, 2003.

Results based on more than 15,000 questionnaires nationwide.

Click here for a full report

Last updated: 04/06

Pressures on Latina Teens Show in Suicide Planning, Attempts; In a Bright New Land, Dark Thoughts Emerge

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