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Why is Family Violence Lower Among Mexican Immigrants? The Protective Features of Mexican Culture

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Abstract

Although immigrants tend to be less involved in crime than the native-born, less is known about whether immigration is protective regarding family violence and, if so, why. This is especially problematic given that some cultural features of immigrants, such as machismo, may increase family violence. Using a random sample of adults in El Paso County, Texas, the present study finds that family violence is substantially lower among first generation Mexican immigrants compared to 1.5 generation immigrants, second generation Americans and third generation or higher Americans. Higher levels of acculturation to Mexico among first generation immigrants partially mediated, or explained, this finding. However, familism and machismo were not higher among first generation Mexican immigrants; and, while lower among first generation immigrants, acculturation to the US was not associated with higher levels of family violence. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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Notes

  1. We use the term “family violence” to encompass violence that may occur between family members, such as violence between siblings or across generations, in addition to violence between intimate partners.

  2. The survey instrument included an item aimed at measuring undocumented immigrant status. However, less than 30% of respondents were willing to answer this question, precluding its use in analyses.

  3. This data is obtained at the census tract level and thus is averaged across the number of census tracts in each neighborhood cluster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA

    Theodore R. Curry & Egbert Zavala

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA

    Maria Cristina Morales

  3. College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Jorge Luis Hernandez

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  1. Theodore R. Curry
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  2. Maria Cristina Morales
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  3. Egbert Zavala
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  4. Jorge Luis Hernandez
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Correspondence to Theodore R. Curry.

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Curry, T.R., Morales, M.C., Zavala, E. et al. Why is Family Violence Lower Among Mexican Immigrants? The Protective Features of Mexican Culture. J Fam Viol 33, 171–184 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-017-9947-y

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