| Description |
In American society, adolescence is typically a time when individuals develop identities and increase their involvement with peers. Transitioning to adulthood becomes more challenging when teenagers are expecting a baby and taking on new roles and responsibilities. While research supports the notion that strong family relationships are protective against negative outcomes and can help to ease the transition into parenthood, less empirical research exists about the cross-cultural manifestations of these family relationships. Familismo, the Latino cultural value emphasizing the importance of family, is often assumed to mean that Latino families are more family-centered than Anglos. However, empirical evidence in support of this assumption is often inconsistent. For example, studies comparing Latino and Anglo families rarely include information about the quality of relationships within the family. This study aimed to better understand the quality of the constellation of family relationships surrounding teenagers expecting a baby by examining reported perceptions of quality of relationships with adolescents' own parents as well as with their partner's parents. To address possible cultural differences, Latino couples were categorized as English-speaking (more acculturated) or Spanish-speaking (less acculturated) and compared with an Anglo population. Results indicated that Spanish-speaking adolescent fathers reported significantly stronger relationships with their own parents and their partner's parents than their Anglo counterparts. Further, Anglo adolescent mothers reported lower perceived quality of relationship with their own mothers than Englishiv speaking Latino couples. Finally, Spanish-speaking couples reported stronger perceived quality of relationships with all four parental figures than their Anglo counterparts. Results provide empirical support for variations of perceptions of quality of relationships based on cultural differences. These differences should be further explored to better understand the protective role these parental relationships may serve for Spanishspeaking adolescents transitioning to parenthood. Additionally, results from this study highlight the importance of including adolescent fathers in research and clinical work related to teenage parenting. |
