The Concept of Familism in the Lived Experiences of Mexican‐Origin Caregivers

• Author: Vicente E. Lara,Steven R. Applewhite,Carolyn A. Mendez‐Luck,Noriko Toyokawa
• Date: 01 June 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12300
• Published date: 01 June 2016

C A. M-L Oregon State University

S R. A University of Houston∗

V E. L UCLA Fielding School of Public Health∗∗

N T California State University, San Marcos∗∗∗

The Concept of Familism in the Lived Experiences

of Mexican-Origin Caregivers

This study qualitatively examined the expe-

riences of Mexican-origin women caring for

elderly family members in order to identify

aspects of familism in their caregiving sit-

uations. Data were collected from one-time

interviews with 44 caregivers living in the

greater East Los Angeles area. Kinscripts

guided the framing of familism in this study.

Data were analyzed using a grounded the-

ory approach. Caregivers’ descriptions of the

Mexican family reected an idealized view of

familism. Caregivers reported a lack of support

from others and relying for support on fewer

family members than were potentially available

to them. Findings suggest that the construct

of familism has evolved from its long-standing

College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon

State University,401 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, OR

97331–6406 (carolyn.mendez-luck@oregonstate.edu).

∗Graduate College of Social Work,University of Houston,

110HA Social Work Building, Houston, TX 77204–4013.

∗∗Department of Community Health Sciences, Fielding

School of Public Health, University of California, Los

Angeles, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095–1772.

∗∗∗Department of Human Development, California State

University,San Marcos, San Marcos, CA 92096.

This article was edited by Kevin Roy.

Key Words: aging, caregiving,culture, family relations, His-

panic Americans, qualitative research.

portrayals in the literature. More research is

needed to reexamine familism as a theoretical

perspective to explain how Mexican-origin

families negotiate and construct elder care over

the family life course.

B

Familism is an enduring principle and structure

of the family in Latino cultures. Although there

is not a universal denition of familism in the

literature, research has described familism as a

multidimensional construct composed of core

values such as strong family identication,

attachment, mutual support, family obligation,

and familial interconnectedness (Almeida,

Molnar, Kawachi, & Subramanian, 2009; Lugo

Steidel & Contreras, 2003; Sabogal, Marin,

Otero-Sabogal, Marin, & Perez-Stable, 1987).

Familism is embedded in an extended-family

network that includes family members such

as aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws (Keefe,

1984; Sabogal et al., 1987). Researchers have

considered familism as a key factor to explain

interrelations in this extended network (John,

Resendiz, & De Vargas, 1997; Losada et al.,

2010; Scharlach et al., 2006; Shurgot & Knight,

2005) and to explain family roles and obligations

for such responsibilities as child rearing, god-

parenting, surrogate grandparenting, and—to a

lesser extent—elder caregiving (Delgado, 2007;

Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (June 2016): 813–829 813

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12300

814 Journal of Marriage and Family

Gonzalez, Germán, & Fabrett, 2012; John et al.,

1997; Losada et al., 2010; Scharlach et al.,

2006; Shurgot & Knight, 2005).

The corpus of the family literature has

focused on familism as it relates to child, ado-

lescent, and youth development and/or to the

parent–child relationship (Halgunseth, Ispa, &

Rudy, 2006; Marsiglia, Parsai, & Kulis, 2009;

Morcillo et al., 2011; Santisteban, Coatsworth,

Briones, Kurtines, & Szapocznik, 2012). This

concerted attention in the family research arena

has obfuscated the critical function of familism

in elder care arrangements and caregiver–elder

relations. Moreover, the existing research on the

perceived value of familism in elder caregiving

has had mixed results. Some ndings show

that the belief in familism conveys a perceived

availability of support and caregiver satisfaction

in their work. For instance, Losada et al. (2006)

found that higher scores on familism scales were

inversely correlated with lower scores on care-

giving burden, but Crist et al. (2009) found no

statistically signicant correlation between the

two. One qualitative study of Mexican American

caregivers found that familism was an impor-

tant factor in their caregiving decision making

and social support systems (John et al., 1997).

Two other studies of Latino caregivers found

that familism was a motivation for providing

care and was associated with perceived posi-

tive caregiving experiences (Scharlach et al.,

2006) and the acceptance and fulllment of the

caregiving role without complaint (Magana,

Schwartz, Rubert, & Szapocznik, 2006). Other

studies, however, found familism to be asso-

ciated with caregiver distress (Youn, Knight,

Jeong, & Benton, 1999) and lower levels of

perceived positive support (Shurgot & Knight,

2005). Additionally, other research reported

familism as sociocultural beliefs of caregiving

that predisposed caregivers to higher levels of

depression and perceived stress (Rozario &

DeRienzis, 2008).

These mixed results suggest the need to

reexamine familism, specically its underlying

premises, as a guiding theoretical construct in

Latino family caregiving research. To move

this effort forward, we conducted a qualitative

analysis to explore the lived experiences of

caregiving women in the context of their family

circumstances. This study was part of a larger

study whose overall objective was to explore

how women of Mexican origin conceptualized

caregiving as a construct in terms of cultural

beliefs, social norms, role functioning, and

familial obligations. The aims of this article are

to describe women’s views of the caregiver role

and the involvement of other family members

in the caregiving process from a familism lens,

which presumes a close-knit family orientation.

Social Organization, Family Roles, and Social

Role Expectations

Gender role differentiation and social role func-

tioning are important to the social organization

of Latino cultures and are embedded within the

notion of familism (Staton, 1972). In the case

of the traditional Mexican family,machismo and

marianismo are roles occupied by the father and

mother, respectively (Gutmann, 1997; Hubbell,

1993). Machismo is the concept of masculinity

or manliness in Mexican culture, which includes

characteristics such as male dominance, aggres-

sive sexuality,bravery, and protection of women

and children (Falicov, 2010; Sobralske, 2006;

Torres, Solberg, & Carlstrom, 2002). According

to Falicov (2010), a prototypical macho is “one

who can drink the most, sire the most sons,

defend himself the most, dominate his wife, and

command the absolute respect of his children”

(p. 309). As the macho, the traditional Mexican

father is considered the head of the household,

breadwinner, and major decision maker in the

family (Olson, 1977; Staton, 1972).

Marianismo is the traditional role of the

mother in the Mexican family. The socializa-

tion of the female marianismo role starts in

early childhood and is particularly inuential

in women’s expected behaviors of feminin-

ity, submission, weakness, reservation, and

virginity (Bridges, 1980; Finkler, 1994; Gar-

cía & de Oliveira, 1997; LeVine, Sunderland

Correa, & Tapia Uribe, 1986; Nader, 1986;

Olson, 1977; Peñalosa, 1968). As the mari-

ana, the mother is expected to be completely

submissive to her husband, acknowledge his

authority, and perform self-sacricing behaviors

to benet her family (García & de Oliveira,

1997; Hubbell, 1993; Peñalosa, 1968). This

traditional female gender role is based on the

emulation of the Virgin Mary in the Catholic

religion and has been referred to as la madre

abnegada (Hubbell, 1993), or “self-sacricing

mother.” Thus, the ideal Mexican mother is

one who fullls familism ideals by sacricing

her own needs and happiness for the sake of

her family (Finkler, 1994; Hubbell, 1993) or