Abstract
The United States has seen a large influx of immigrants in recent years, with Latino/ Hispanic immigrants making up slightly more than half of immigrants. This chapter identifies the major social stressors of Hispanic immigrant women, including language barrier, housing, lack of social networks, and sexual exploitation. This chapter includes a section on best practices and strategies for working with Latino/Hispanic women and families.
TopIntroduction
People’s migration is “a timeless phenomenon integral to human society” (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 2018, p. 1). Regardless of the motivation behind the emigration, in most cases, there are a plethora of benefits for both countries– countries of destination and countries of origin. However, the process of integrating into a new country can be difficult, particularly for those whose journeys to the country of destination was arduous (OSCE, 2018). According to The International Organization for Migration (2019), emigration is defined as changing one’s residence from their country of nationality/citizenship to another country.
In addition, immigration is a multidimensional societal issue, that is also a political matter in most countries, including the United States (Bempong, Sheath, Seybold, Flahault, Depoux, & Saso, 2019). The United States has seen a massive influx of immigrants in recent years. According to the United States Census (2016), foreign-born population has been on a steady incline since 1970, when the foreign-born population was 9.6 million. In the year 2000, the foreign-born population was calculated at 31.1 million (Gibson & Jung, 2006). In 2010 there were 220 million people living in a foreign country and approximately one in five lived and worked in the United States (Hirschman, 2014, p. 69). By the year 2018, the number of immigrants living in the United States was reported at 44.7 million (usafacts.org, n.d.). The United States as a nation has been shaped by migration since the arrival of the first immigrants more than 400 years ago (Hipsman & Meissner, 2013). In our quest to understand immigration in the United States, we must clarify that there are two ways of investigating the issue—a national approach and an immigrant-centric approach though not overtly agreed upon. While proponents of the national approach focus on the impact immigrants have on the United States and how immigrants make meaningful contributions to ultimately “benefit the existing population of American citizens,” the immigrant-centric approach supporters focus on how migrants are adapting to the new culture and how they fare over time (Camarota & Zeigler, 2016, para. 12).
There are multiple theories related to migration in general. When focusing on Hispanic immigrants, especially women, Social Capital Theory is the most applicable. The concept of social capital has been in existence since the formation of small communities in which people depended on each other for trust and reciprocity (Platteau, 1994; Woolcock, 1998). In present times, the general premise of this theory is that future migrants benefit from having contacts at the place of destination (Flores-Yeffal, 2015). As a network theory it proposes that because of a growing network of social contacts in countries of interest, migration becomes easier and less risky over time. In addition, it also becomes less costly because the social contacts share information and resources with prospective migrants. When looking at the United States Flores-Yeffal (2015) explained it as follows:
These resources and connections are a form of social capital that dramatically increases the likelihood of additional migration among persons with family or friends living in the US. Sociologists view such social structures and interpersonal networks as potential sources of social capital because as more people migrate, more migration social capital accumulates and so more people migrate from a single community as a result that international movement becomes easier and less costly to others. (p. 3)
Key Terms in this Chapter
Intimate Partner Violence: Physical, sexual, or psychological abuse or harm by former or current spouse or partner.
Emigration: The act of moving from one’s country of nationality or usual residence to another country, so that the country of destination effectively becomes the new country of usual residence.
Immigration: A process by which non-nationals move to another country for the purpose of settlement.
Machismo: A social script or gender role impacting Latino/ Hispanic women where males are viewed as dominant and women are submissive to male leadership and caretakers of children.
Cultural Competency: Understanding and accepting different cultural values, attitudes, and behaviors.
Migration: The movement of a person or a group of persons, either across an international border or within a state . . . any kind of movement of people, whatever its length, composition and causes.
Individualism: Orientation in culture that values independence and places emphasis and value on self-reliance.
Familismo: A social script within the Latino/Hispanic culture that includes placing importance on family needs over individual needs, also encouraging feelings of loyalty to family and mutual dependence throughout family members.
Naturalization: The process by which citizenship is granted to foreign citizens/nationals after successfully fulfilling host country’s requirements.
Integration: The process by which immigrants become accepted into society, both as individuals and as groups.
Collectivism: Orientation in culture where interdependence and dependence are lived out among the family members and even community members.