Socialization of Respeto in Immigrant Mexican Families

The purpose of this study was to examine the behavioral aspects and socialization of the cultural value of respeto in a community sample of Mexican immigrant mothers and fathers and their Mexican and Mexican American children. Cultural values are socialized in children from a very young age through parenting practices so that children learn and engage in behaviors that are culturally relevant within their culture. Respeto is a cultural value that the literature suggests is one of the most important values in Latina/o communities, especially of Mexican origin individuals. Recommendations have been set forth from many fields including education, mental health, and health to take into account this cultural value in order to optimally engage Latinas/os in treatments. Cultural values have been successfully incorporated in evidenced-based treatments, such as cultural adaptations, but further examination and understanding of cultural values at a deeper level is needed in order to engage in culturally competent treatments and interventions. To understand and examine respeto, two scales were developed from the literature, community experts, and psychologist experts to capture children’s behavioral aspects of respeto and how parents socialize this value in them. Behavioral observations were coded to capture children’s display of respeto behaviors when they were interacting with their mothers and fathers. In addition, the socialization of respeto behaviors were coded for both mothers and fathers. Children displayed more respeto behaviors to their fathers than to their mothers. There were no gender differences in displays of respeto behaviors or socialization of respeto by mothers or fathers. Respeto and socialization were not related to child outcomes. The only significant finding from the primary analyses was a significant correlation between parent sex and child display of respeto, with fathers experiencing more respeto than mothers, t(52) = 2.714, p = .009, d = 0.753. One of the limitations was that this was a prevention sample and future research should examine children with a broader range of behavioral problems