I've been doing some research on the web lately to try and find some information on the aging experiences of Hispanics and how they might differ from other minority groups, and have been successful.
I came across one tidbit in particular that did not surprise me. Studies show that elderly Hispanics--more than any other ethnic group--end up living in communities or with relatives instead of nursing homes. What did surprise me is that most of these senior citizens end up living in "barrios" which, more often than not, are in poor and crowded areas, which heightens crime rights--potentially endangering these senior citizens. Though these settings provide a sense of comfort and familiarity, they may not be able to provide proper health assistance, safety, or monitoring that many elderly people do require.
Building on this topic, many elderly Latinos spent most of their adult life making a living by doing manual labor, and thus are not able to support themselves once they reach and age or health that they cannot perform this work. In fact, the website where I've been pulling much of information has this to say about the topic: "Hispanic American are also more likely to be unemployed than Black and White elderly Americans. As a consequence, elderly Hispanics, especially those 75 and over, are found to experience high rates of poverty."
Though these figures can be a little off-putting, there are some redeeming qualities to relationship between the family structure and the elderly Hispanic. Since, more often than not, elderly Latinos live with their children and their childrens' children, the elderly Hispanic can play a key role in child rearing (which may offset the financial burden of daycare, after school care, etc.) and create a multi-generational sense of history and morality that is often found lacking in many households.
Next: Tracing my grandmother's first step on NJ soil to age 77; what her journey can tell us about other Latino men and women...
Monday, February 2, 2009
Latinos, Aging & the Family Structure
Recent studies find that Latinos are the fastest growing minority group in America, and although it is common for the media to generalize and assume that the majority of Latino immigrants hail from Mexico, it is important to discern that there are various cultures and countries beneath the large, encompassing umbrella of Latin culture.
While the subject of Latin immigration has become a hot topic as of late, at this blog I will be focusing on another issue involving this diverse people group: aging and the family structure.
I myself come from a diverse background. My mother is Puerto Rican, while my father is English/Scottish. Both came from very different cultures-- my mother grew up in the inner-city raised by parents who had come to New Jersey from Puerto Rico when they were both 20 years old and without a dime. My dad came from a family that had been in the US since the Revolutionary War, grew up in New England, owned a successful steel business, and erred on the WASP side of things. One experience isn't better than the other, but they are very different experiences. Growing up in such a diverse household, where my sister and I were close with both sides of our families, allowed me the opportunity to glimpse two very different cultures and watch as my cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents grew older and how they changed throughout their lives, adapted to aging, and how they fit into the family structure.
I have always been closer to my mother's side of the family. My grandmother--(abuelita, hence the name for this bog) helped raise my sister and I while my mother pursued her lobbying career. I've visited Puerto Rico numerous times to visit family. And since those experiences are so close to my heart and equally interesting, I decided to share some of those experiences--paired with some research, news articles, interviews, etc--for this blog!
So, let's meet the players.
My grandmother:
In this picture she is inspecting a pair of socks to buy my uncle, her second child and only son, Mario. We spent about forty minutes in the mall, attempting to buy just the right pair of dress socks for him for Christmas. This might not be typical solely to Puerto Rican women, since I'm pretty sure this is a pretty common grandmother thing to do. But gift-giving is important to my grandmother not only because she loves her grandchildren and children, but because she and my grandfather now have the financial ability to pay for things for their loved ones, which is not something they were always able to do. So now my grandmother takes special care in what she gives, insisting on stuffing envelopes with cash, too.
More to come soon, an interesting article on its way...
While the subject of Latin immigration has become a hot topic as of late, at this blog I will be focusing on another issue involving this diverse people group: aging and the family structure.
I myself come from a diverse background. My mother is Puerto Rican, while my father is English/Scottish. Both came from very different cultures-- my mother grew up in the inner-city raised by parents who had come to New Jersey from Puerto Rico when they were both 20 years old and without a dime. My dad came from a family that had been in the US since the Revolutionary War, grew up in New England, owned a successful steel business, and erred on the WASP side of things. One experience isn't better than the other, but they are very different experiences. Growing up in such a diverse household, where my sister and I were close with both sides of our families, allowed me the opportunity to glimpse two very different cultures and watch as my cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents grew older and how they changed throughout their lives, adapted to aging, and how they fit into the family structure.
I have always been closer to my mother's side of the family. My grandmother--(abuelita, hence the name for this bog) helped raise my sister and I while my mother pursued her lobbying career. I've visited Puerto Rico numerous times to visit family. And since those experiences are so close to my heart and equally interesting, I decided to share some of those experiences--paired with some research, news articles, interviews, etc--for this blog!
So, let's meet the players.
My grandmother:
In this picture she is inspecting a pair of socks to buy my uncle, her second child and only son, Mario. We spent about forty minutes in the mall, attempting to buy just the right pair of dress socks for him for Christmas. This might not be typical solely to Puerto Rican women, since I'm pretty sure this is a pretty common grandmother thing to do. But gift-giving is important to my grandmother not only because she loves her grandchildren and children, but because she and my grandfather now have the financial ability to pay for things for their loved ones, which is not something they were always able to do. So now my grandmother takes special care in what she gives, insisting on stuffing envelopes with cash, too.More to come soon, an interesting article on its way...
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