Date of Award

8-1-2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education

First Advisor

Jesse N. Valdez, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Kathy Green

Third Advisor

Mary Gomez

Fourth Advisor

Andi Pusavat

Fifth Advisor

Michael Karson

Keywords

Acculturation, Ambivalent sexism, Depression, Gender role, Latinas, Marianismo

Abstract

This study explores acculturation, the Latina gender role of marianismo, and ambivalent sexism in predicting depression in a community sample of Latinas. A review of existing literature regarding these variables reveals that all three constructs can be both risk factors as well as protective factors. Since marianismo and ambivalent sexism may share similar traits, both may be self-protective coping mechanisms by Latinas in the context of a patriarchal environment with structured gender roles and strong gender disparities. One hundred and thirteen adult Latina participants from various ancestries of origin were solicited from the community using an Internet survey tool. Acculturation in this study was measured by the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (BAS); marianismo by the Latina Values Scale-Revised (LVS-R); and ambivalent sexism by the Ambivalent Sexism Scale (ASI). The outcome variable, depression, was measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Results showed that Latinas who endorsed higher hostile sexism tended to endorse higher benevolent sexism. Latinas who endorsed higher marianismo tended to endorse higher benevolent sexism. Further, Latinas who endorsed higher marianismo also tended to endorse higher overall ambivalent sexism (the sum of hostile and benevolent sexism). Finally, Latinas who endorsed higher marianismo tended to endorse higher satisfaction, or lower perception of conflicts, with their marianista traits. The correlation between acculturation and marianismo, acculturation and hostile sexism, acculturation and benevolent sexism, as well as marianismo and hostile sexism were all non-significant. Linear regression was conducted to examine whether acculturation, marianismo, hostile sexism and benevolent sexism predicted depression in Latinas. Results indicated a significant model – in particular, marianismo was a significant predictor of depression in Latinas. The other predictors failed to predict depression in Latinas. After controlling for demographic variables, the incremental regression model was non-significant. Despite the model’s overall non-significance, the predictor of age was found to be significant, that is, as age increased, depression tended to decrease. Finally, benevolent sexism was also found to be significant in the incremental regression model, that is, as benevolent sexism increased, depression tended to increase. Marianismo and the other predictors were not found to be significant in the final model. The limitations of the study were discussed, including a small sample size, higher socioeconomic status, as well as the use of an online data collection method. Clinical implications of the study included adding to the knowledge of multicultural competency in the field of psychology, specifically the importance of considering the impact of bicultural acculturation, gender role, clients’ perceived satisfaction with their gender role, as well as clients’ sexist experiences.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Andreana T. Jezzini

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

167 p.

Discipline

Counseling psychology, Clinical psychology

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