Blog 1: Young Hispanic Women’s Suicide Rates

 When the class was asked to do the assignment in which we had to single out a group of either female or male persons from different ethnicities in whom we thought was more prone to attempt suicide, I thought of reasons for every other racial group, except for the one that it really was! I was extremely surprised (as everyone else in the class because NO ONE mentioned this group either) to find out that it was young Hispanic women. Not only did this group take the number one spot on highest attempted suicide rates but as stated in the article, Neary informs the audiences that they are also more likely to drop out of school, become a teen parent, use drugs and be depressed.

While Neary spoke to Ms. Rivera, I was able to see reasons why these young Hispanic females are facing such rough and difficult moments. Ms. Rivera mentions that there are cultural clashes amongst the girls and their parents because Hispanic homes are stricter than most American families. In American families, children are freer to do what they want as opposed to Hispanic mothers who are constantly asking “who are you with? Where are you? What time are you coming home? “Or simply saying “COME HOME NOW!” We younger Hispanic women are also taught from young that we are to stay at home cooking and cleaning, watching after our younger siblings while the older men in the family are out doing as they please. (I speak from experience and oh how I hated those days then, but appreciate them now!) Social isolation was also mentioned and I supposed that can be a result of the loss of identity on whom they really are and where they fit in this society. Are they American or are they Hispanics who live in America but follow a different culture? Poverty is also an issue, along with the lack of discussion on sex education and pressure of religion and being surrogate mothers. Funny enough, as I continued reading along, the conversation that was being had with Cheryl brought me back to a memory with my mother when I had once told her that I wanted to get on birth control. Her first reaction was that I wasn’t going to get on that because I wasn’t having sex, little did she know that they helped regulate the menstrual cycle amongst other things that didn’t have anything to do with me being sexually active. I remember the face that she had when she almost whispered the word sex, it was as if she had cursed or something! I recall having to get the pills behind her back, with my brother as my parental figure who taught me all I needed to know on sex. My mother, ‘til this day will say that it is not right that young woman get on the pills and I am sure it has a lot more to do with religion and the way she was raised back in Colombia.

Luckily for me, I had someone to help and I never fell into any of the factors mentioned above. I can just imagine how difficult it is for these young women who don’t have anyone in their family to rely on when in help of figuring out the mystery this life holds. Although I can agree that all Ms. Rivera said is true about Hispanic families, it’s hard for me to accept them and say, YES these are exactly all the reasons why young Hispanic woman are trying to end their lives because I feel its justifying their wrong doings and not teaching them other, positive alternatives. Having worked with many young Hispanic girls and having worked alongside the education system, I know much help was and be provided. Dr. Zayas mentioned throughout his interview that young girls are now being helped and are opening up to therapists, which is awesome! Teenagers in general, in this generation are tough cookies to deal with but I am positive that if there were more influential people in these young girls’ lives, these numbers would decrease. Something has got to give.

Blog 3: Latinos vs the World

This article is very informative because I always thought it was either the Whites that usually commits attempts suicide.  The reason why I chose Caucasians is that they are less family-oriented and more sensitive to stress in the business world. But after reading this article, it seems reasonable and justifiable that the Latino do have a high rate of attempted suicide rates. As discussed in class, a Hispanic family is well known for an extended family where there’s the step parents and step siblings. This can sometimes be confusing for the individual in the family. It seems as though there is not an equal distribution of love within the family. In general, when people who have step parents or step siblings tends to develop a psychological imbalance of the way an individual perceive his or her world around him or her. For instance, I have a Hispanic family who lives in my neighborhood and her daughter is 3 weeks pregnant. Her family had been divorced and the mother has a boyfriend. However the mother is also has a child with the boyfriend but not married so overall there are three children. The boyfriend no longer wants to be part of their family so the mother and the boyfriend are constantly going to court to claim custody of the 3^rd child. Because of the family that the daughter grew up in she cannot allow abortion to happen. Her mother refuses and considers it as a sin and murder. This relates to the topic discussed in class on how teen mothers or fathers will attempt to commit suicide because they simply cannot take the stress or responsibility that is given to them. In my opinion when a teen has a child, that is when the complication, confusion and stress starts. A teen mother or father would need  to try to make a stable income for the family, and provide food, shelter and clothing for the child. At an adolescent age, where can these teens find a job that would help them make at least 30,000 a year? These teens  haven’t even got their college degree or worst their high school diplomas. Most hispanic teens dropout of college because 1) school is hard or 2) they have other priorities such as taking care of the family, or working The only way for these teens to take care of their child is family support, most often the family can not adequately take care of their teen parents.

A Hispanic teen might have families to support the baby but what about the psychological needs of individual, him or herself. This individual is expected to take responsibilities of the baby, and the family, which leaves no psychological help for him or herself to be mentally and emotionally supported. Most often when teens are in a relationship, it usually never ends out the way they wants it too. The situation would escalate if the teens have a child, the question of who will take care of the child and how much is put in child support for each individual parent is becomes the main focus. In this century, the concept of marriage is no longer the same as our grandmothers used to believe. Nowadays, an individual can have a child with another an individual and not be married. They can declare themselves as single whenever they feel negative towards the others.