Latinos Gender And Their Legal Divorce System

Running head: LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 1

Latinos Gender and their Legal Divorce System

Student’s Name

University Affiliated

Date

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 2

Latinos Gender and their Legal Divorce System

Introduction

A lot has been researched about gender issues and the rate of divorce in the US for almost

over the last forty years. However, it is noticed that most of the research has shifted their focus

on the nature and divorce on the White American’s specifically the middle-class. While on the

other hand, an in-depth research has been conducted on the marriage instability of the Black

Americans Emery (2013). Further, researchers have come up with in-depth literature concerning

the increasing rate of divorce among the Hispanics, the effects they might be having on children,

parents, and the entire society.

Discussing the divorce rate among the Latino Americans and the Hispanics which are

referred to as Latinos in this literature demands one to consider a vast identity and social factors.

Because the ethnic groups and the racial groups gather millions of people, discussing all of them

at a time prove to be more difficult. Latinos are made up of diverse racial groups from over

twenty countries. Their beliefs concerning matters of divorce differ depending on the group's

cultural values and demographic behaviors such as "marianismo" and "machismo," generation,

country of cultural or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, main spoken language, age at immigration,

and place of birth. Because the subgroup of the Mexican American is considered to be the largest

as compared to the other group which is categorized as Hispanic and also their literature is the

one much researched, this report will primarily focus on them. However, information may be

extended where appropriate to the other Hispanic groups.

The research will focus on how the Latinos behave when handling divorce issues. It will

enlighten on how Latino men behave and on how Latino women also behave during such

situations. The Finding of the research shows mostly in percentage the gender issues and divorce

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 3

rate among the Latinos. The idea behind this research is to equip the learner with information

needed about the Latino men and women different behaviors during and after divorce.

Effects of Divorce on Hispanics (Latinos) during and After the Process

Different theorists have claimed that the divorce rate of Latinos will with time be in line

with that of Caucasian’s as they become more and more acculturated with the US (Diana-Deere

et al., 2012). Acculturation is the process in which an individual or group of people are absorbed

into the dominant culture of the people they find in a particular country or community where

they settle. The main argument of the theorists is that as the Latinos become more Americanized,

they increasingly embrace the cultural values of individual predominant hence, rates of divorce is

seen to increase among them with a figure of its kind. Latino men and women react and are

affected differently by divorce, here are some of the effects they encounter individually.

Divorce Effects on Hispanic Men

Analysts have over time mentioned that gender’s effects on issues of divorce adjustment

and distress are not consistent in nature. Berger et al., 2016). It is important to analyze the effects

divorce comes along with on the life of Hispanic men, this because they cope differently with the

stressors attached to divorce and marital instability. In Latin culture, males are the power

holders, and machismo is still witnessed to reign highly. They are pronounced with respect as

compared to women in the marriage. However, as researched by (Berger et al., 2016), the study

shows that in the current situations, men and women of the Latin community have started the

power-sharing principle in running the family as the children follow. The only thing which does

not come out clear is the nature in which Hispanic men are adopting with the changing patterns

of running families; it is not clear whether they are being threatened by their wives or not

especially considering the sexual and marital liberation. According to (Piscopo, 2015), those

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 4

Hispanic males who are traditionally associated with the machos seem to find it very difficult to

accept when their wives file a divorce, and she is backed up by her family and the law.

Questions also role as to how much time Hispanic fathers spend with their children and

the kind of income support they give to their children after divorce. The study shows that most of

the Hispanics fall below the federal poverty line and therefore in case of a divorce, most of their

children grow up without their biological fathers Riggio et al., (2011). Even though the figures

might tend to be difficult to be precise on, many Hispanic divorced fathers are unable to help

their children appropriately on income matters due to low wages and or salary to their mothers.

Consequently, Hispanic fathers are considerably considered to be negligent on financially and

emotionally supporting their children after divorce.

Another effect is on the Hispanic father’s contact with their children after divorce.

According to Emery (2013), Hispanic fathers mostly did not have good contact with their

children after divorce since the mother of the children was always awarded the full custody of

the children. The situation tends to have negative effects on both the father and the children as

the child grows up without knowing the father and the father is also traumatized on knowing his

children. The mother is not affected in most of the case if she is awarded full custody of the

children.

Divorce Effects on Hispanic Women

Hispanic women suffer greater economic loss as compared to their counterparts which

are the Hispanic Men. This trends down to the entire economy of Latino who admits that when a

divorce occurs, the greater economic loss is brought upon the society by the women and not the

men (Diana-Deere et al., 2012). However, according to (Piscopo, 2015), a study which involved

two hundred thirty-two divorced mothers from the city of San Jose showed that the effects of the

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 5

divorce differed as to whether the mother was a Hispanic or was a non-Hispanic who was just

married by a Hispanic man.

The research which was done by Wagner indicated that divorced Latino mothers were

facing income difficulties in performing their day to day activities (Berger et al., 2016). It is due

to many disadvantages they have such as some children the Hispanic mother who is divorced has

and in her custody. Another disadvantage leading to the effect of low income is the level of

education the mother has. Most Latino mothers finished very few years in school hence cannot

be able to find a well-paying job to support their children (Berger et al., 2016). If by any chance

they have a reasonable job, the mother will not do not have the skills to manage the income; this

will still lead her to the financial difficulties. Some of the divorced Latino mothers are young and

are not able to support themselves and their children financially.

According to research by Riggio et al., (2011), the Mexican American women also tend

to bother their parents with their support after divorce, and this might bring up issues in the

mother's family since she had already decided to get married. The kind of economic and resource

support which the divorced woman demands from their parents at times tend to be difficult to

find fully and this always highly traumatize the Latino Women after divorce.

The divorced Hispanic women bearing children always fall victim of their current

situations of being single mothers. It happens even if they have a high level of education. They

tend to struggle with discrimination from the society, and no other Hispanic man is always

willing to marry them.

Even though according to Emery (2013), Mexican American have been proved to be

more familiar with economic hardship, it does not mean that the process of transition of their

divorced female into single mothers is easy. The Mexican American single mothers are seen to

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 6

be having a unique kind of stress which is worth to study (Diana-Deere et al., 2012). They feel

overwhelmed by the responsibility they are bearing of being a single parent and that they have to

make all the decisions on their own. Issues like the children discipline always tend to overwhelm

them most of the time.

Research done by Wagner showed that the divorced Hispanic women became stronger

and focused as compared to when they were in marriage (Piscopo, 2015). Despite the kind of the

discrimination they receive, they become more motivated to work hard to support their children

and even their elderly parents. The divorced shifted their minds to becoming a better parent as

compared to when they were in marriage. They now take the full power and authority over their

lives and the lives of their children.

Findings

The first finding is that divorced Latino male sufferer less economically as compared to

divorced female. The finding is supported by the research done on five hundred fifty-six

Hispanics which were from a General base of Society respondents (Berger et al., 2016).

According to this study, the divorced Hispanic women were noted to suffer a twenty-six percent

(26%) loss in their income status as compared to a zero percent (0%) loss on the side of the

Hispanic divorced men.

Another finding is that because there is a zero change on the income level of the Hispanic

divorced men, it means that there is a zero mean deference on the income of Hispanic married

men and the one for Hispanic divorced men. According to Riggio et al., (2011), research

conducted by Stroup and Pollock on three hundred seventy-one Hispanic males showed that the

ratio of the mean income of those men who were in marriage to those who were divorced proved

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 7

to be essentially one. (1:1). A finer finding is that Hispanic males who possess higher education

even increased their income levels after the divorce as compared to the married ones.

It is clear in the literature that most of the divorced Hispanic men don't pay for their

children's support because they fall on the poverty line. There is no information which tends to

identify on whether the divorced middle-class Hispanic men always pay for such support or not.

It is eminent to note that more research should be done to determine the kind of financial-

emotional burdens which these middle-class Hispanic men undergo after the divorce as is it clear

the kind of financial burden the Hispanic women experience because of poverty.

The literature also lead to a finding on the difference between a Hispanic male married

to a Hispanic female and a non-Hispanic male married to a Hispanic female. The finding is that

in real Hispanic families, the mother always scores high chances of children's custody while in

cases where the man is a non-Hispanic, and the female is a Hispanic, the norm of children's

custody is always "joint.” In cases of divorce and the female is a non-Hispanic, the norm is that

the man always takes the custody of the children.

It is also found that under the intermarriage where the mother is non-Hispanic, mothers

tend not to show interest in the custody of children after a divorce. It might be brought about by

the self-selection bias because Hispanic fathers may are in a better position to avail

questionnaires once they are in custody of their children.

A finding also showed that the main reasons as to why many Latino women face high

economic loss is because forty percent (40%) of them have are always pregnant, and fifty percent

(50%) always have children at the time of divorce (Miller et al., 2011). Another reason is that

majority of them are always unemployed with eighty-four percent (84%) having no job skills at

the time of divorce.

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 8

It was also found out that seventy-two percent (72%) of the Latino divorced mother

receive aid to support themselves and or their children during the first one year of the divorce.

They also rely on their family members especially their parents for economic help. If they didn’t

depend on the aid or the family members, then they depend on the father of the children to give

support to them and the children.

The last finding was kind of surprising. It revealed that divorced Latino women who were

from single-parent family coped well with their status of being a single mother. Oramas (2014)

speculate that Latino single mothers can survive the criticism and other challenges of divorce

because they can endure suffering, poverty, and even minority status and in the long run adapt

with it and make it part of their life. They are persistence and have hope and hence boosting their

morale of easily coping with the situation.

Conclusion

From the above literature, it is crystal clear that the Hispanic divorced women feel the

disturbing part of the economic consequences of a divorce than Divorced Hispanic men. The

effects of divorce differ from family to family depending on whether the family is purely

Hispanic or intermarriage occurred. For the Hispanics, the rise of acculturating shortly may

trigger a bunch of stressors which are involved with changes in gender roles, change in

languages, and traditional norms of the family. These issues may lead to increased marital

conflicts, and hence high level of divorce will be witnessed.

The diverse nature of acculturative and acculturation effects on the divorced Hispanics

reflects their women being mostly uncontested with marriage than the male. It might look

speculative at the moment, but maybe the Hispanic women have realized that divorce is coming

as a coping response that is available for them. Furthermore, if it is not for the stigma which is

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM 9

related to divorce, the Hispanics and to be more precise, their women, may have a feeling that

divorce is the best alternative to the end of family conflicts and unhappy marriage.

Because Hispanics tend to have low education skills and low job skills on average

leading to a higher level of poverty does not necessarily mean that they can't be successful in the

long run and be able to cope with the stressors they are facing. I have reflected that the kind of

literature that tends to lay wait on the "la familiar" and that Hispanics are immune from issues

such as divorce is not accurate. I find it also eminent to mention that the system which tends to

evolve of no-fault divorce, combined with what I refer to as a warning of the extended family

and the Catholic Church among the institutions of Hispanic descents truly presents an amazing

paradox about the Hispanics.

LATINOS DIVORCE SYSTEM

References

Berger, J. L., Douglas, E. M., & Hines, D. A. (2016). The mental health of male victims and their

children affected by legal and administrative partner aggression. Aggressive

Behavior, 42(4), 346-361.

Diana Deere, C., Alvarado, G. E., & Twyman, J. (2012). Gender Inequality in Asset Ownership

in Latin America: Female Owners vs Household Heads. Development & Change, 43(2),

505-530.

Emery, R. E. (2013). Cultural sociology of divorce: An encyclopedia. Thousand Oaks, Calif:

SAGE Reference.

Miller, A. J., Sassler, S., & Kusi-Appouh, D. (2011). The Specter of Divorce: Views From

Working- and Middle-Class Cohabitors. Family Relations, 60(5), 602-616.

Oramas, J. E. (2014). A Case Study on Adjustment to Divorce among Older Hispanic Adults in

Miami-Dade, Florida. Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research (1947-2900), 6(1), 65-84.

Piscopo, J. M. (2015). States as Gender Equality Activists: The Evolution of Quota Laws in

Latin America. Latin American Politics & Society, 57(3), 27-49.

Riggio, H. R., & Valenzuela, A. M. (2011). Parental marital conflict and divorce, parent-child

relationships, and social support among Latino-American young adults. Personal

Relationships, 18(3), 392-409.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."