Rising Numbers of Latina Teens Trying Suicide
Run Date: 08/27/02 By Marisa Trevino. WEnews
correspondent
A new study finds that
Hispanic girls, a group usually thought to be in a low-risk category for
suicide because of the strong family ties, are now increasingly likely to
attempt to take their own lives.
DALLAS
(WOMENSENEWS)--Two years ago, licensed mental health counselor Norma Westurn put in a full day of counseling clients at a clinic
here and, instead of closing shop and going home, routinely faced yet another
full client load. The only difference was the after-hours clients were all
Latino.
"I was
overwhelmed" by so many Spanish-speaking clients, remembers Brazilian-born
Westurn, "because I was
one of the few in the clinic who could speak Spanish. I knew there was a need
but I was surprised there was such a great need."
It was a void that
motivated Westurn to found a chain of mental health
outlets called Centro de Mi Salud (My Health Center).
But it wasn't until Westurn opened her doors for
business that she realized there was a far greater necessity for her services
than even she imagined.
Latina teens were
visiting her clinics in increasing numbers and the majority for the same
reason: They had attempted suicide.
Suicide in the teen
population is not unknown. Popular data shows that suicide is the third-leading
cause of death of young people ages 15 to 24. But attempted suicide among young
Latinas was another story. The very idea was considered by many to be an
oxymoron; Latino families are known for their close ties and cohesiveness, two
deterrents of teen suicide.
But suicide attempts by
Latina teens are growing, a fact which is gaining
increased recognition by the medical community. According to a July report
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Latina teen-agers
are significantly more likely than white or black adolescent girls to have
attempted suicide.
The finding is not new;
an earlier report published in 1999 by the National Coalition of Hispanic
Health and Human Services Organizations (which officially changed its name to
the National Alliance for Hispanic Health in 2000) found that one out of every
three Latina high school students contemplates suicide. What is new is that
while in past years family members might be too ashamed to report their
daughter's attempted suicide, they now actively seek help for a behavior
they're at a loss to explain--as are the doctors treating them.
Family and Culture Are Major Factors
"We don't
completely understand it," admitted Dr. Glenn Flores, author of the report
and associate professor of pediatric epidemiology and health policy at the
Medical College of Wisconsin. "But an interesting piece we discovered in
our research was that the more Americanized or acculturated Latino kids become,
the worse it is for their health."
It is an observation
shared by mental health experts across the country.
Teen-agers have a host
of insecurities about appearance, academic success, peer popularity, families
and sex. To be a Latina teen-ager compounds the already typical problems of
adolescence and integrates a key component: culture.
Ordinarily, the Latino
culture places traditional expectations on their daughters. When a Latino
family immigrates to the United States, some teen-agers find themselves in a
push-and-pull match between the culture they were born into and the new culture
they want to embrace.
"The adolescents
want to do things their way, socially and more independently," says Vida
Yarn, a licensed professional counselor. "In the Hispanic culture, the
family is more interdependent and here the kids don't want to be held so close
to the family unit. They want more social interaction with their new friends.
The parents don't understand this and then the adolescent gets depressed and
acts out suicidal gestures."
In addition to
challenging the traditional expectations of the family, the Latina teen-ager
also has to serve as the bridge between her parents and the new culture. The
parents often depend on their child to act as their translator for everyday
transactions.
The dependency,
according to mental health experts, shifts the family dynamics. The child
assumes the parent's role of communicating to society, which in turn exerts
adult pressures on her. The stress mounts when the child starts worrying about
the health of her parents, who are the only sources of income for a family that
may be struggling to make ends meet.
Hand in hand with
parental dependence is the added expectation from parents for their child to do
well, succeed and achieve in this new land of opportunity.
What the parents don't
count on is that their hijas (daughters) learn to
take advantage of those opportunities.
"When the children
speak English and the parents don't, children will tend to manipulate the
parents," says Yarn. "They get away with a lot of things that they
wouldn't if they were in a community where everybody spoke Spanish and the
school communicated well with the families."
Schools Unprepared for Spanish-Speaking Students Isolate Young
Latinas
Some mental-heath experts
say school systems could do more to lessen the numbers of suicide attempts by
Latina teen-agers.
Dr. Ruth Zambrana, co-author of the report and an adjunct professor
of family medicine in the school of medicine at the University of Maryland,
Baltimore, believes the school system is a demeaning experience for most
Latinos and low-income communities.
"Research shows
that most teachers are not prepared to deal with culturally different
students," Zambrana says. "The school
system doesn't give Latinas the hope, information on options and the
information required" to succeed.
These factors are known
to contribute to a poor self-image--a leading indicator of the likelihood of
contemplating suicide. However, though these factors were known as suicide
indicators, their effects on Latinas were not, because Hispanics have often
been omitted from academic research studies.
The July report in the
Journal of the American Medical Association found that Latinos are frequently
not included in child-health research because studies usually exclude all
non-English speakers; study designers often assume that a sample is nationally
representative when only white and black subjects are analyzed; and Latinos and
additional nonwhite research subjects are relegated to an "other" category.
Health experts believe
that only when the medical community begins to recognize the distinct needs and
differences of the Latino population can a more realistic and culturally
appropriate approach to treatment and intervention
occur.
An even better approach,
Zambrana suggests, is a "program where the girl
is provided not only mental health attention but, more important, finding out
what her dreams and hopes are and help her achieve them."
Marisa Trevino is a Rowlett, Texas-based freelance writer and public
radio commentator who writes regularly on Latina
issues.
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