Anna Marie O'Leary - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Anna Marie O'Leary
This paper summarizes quantitative and qualitative fi ndings from a 1999 study of Mexican-origin ... more This paper summarizes quantitative and qualitative fi ndings from a 1999 study of Mexican-origin households in Nogales, Arizona. It fi nds that women's educational progress is facilitated by social support and, even more important, that a household's investment in the education of its members is signifi cantly raised with an increase in the education level of the female head of household. It argues that systematic efforts to build on existent cultural frameworks of social support will promote women's educational progress and thus help improve educational opportunities for all people of Mexican origin.
Arizona Senate Bill 1108, the "anti-ethnic studies bill," proposed to eliminate ethnic studies pr... more Arizona Senate Bill 1108, the "anti-ethnic studies bill," proposed to eliminate ethnic studies programs and ethnic-based organizations from state-funded education. Along with other anti-immigrant legislation, this bill is creating an oppressive climate of discrimination against individuals of Mexican descent in Arizona. This study investigates the impact of SB 1108 on the mental well-being of Mexican-descent undergraduate students and examines protective factors such as ethnic identity, civic engagement, and individual coping responses (engaged and disengaged). Ninety-nine undergraduates who self-identified as Mexican, Mexican American, or Chicana/o completed an online survey. Pearson productmoment correlation analysis indicates that greater stress due to SB 1108 was significantly associated with lower self-esteem and more depressive symptoms. Engaged coping responses to SB 1108 protected students' self-esteem even at high levels of stress; in contrast, students who felt high stress but were not engaged had significantly lower self-esteem. Our results also indicate that a positive ethnic identity, based on knowledge of cultural history and traditions, is a significant protective factor. Thus, while legislation such as the anti-ethnic studies bill may have a negative impact on the mental well-being of youth, it may also make them stronger as they become academically and civically engaged in response.
In efforts to avoid detection by border enforcement agents, undocumented migrants from Latin Amer... more In efforts to avoid detection by border enforcement agents, undocumented migrants from Latin America often risk life and limb to enter the U.S. Most commonly, they walk two to four days through an inhospitable desert in hopes of being picked up and whisked away to their final destination. Cost in human lives not withstanding, the price of this venture correlates to increased border enforcement. Interviews with repatriated migrant women on the border helps uncover this economic "underbelly" of transnational movement in what I dub the ABCs of migration costs: those related to assembling, bajadores (border bandits), and coyotes.
In this paper, I discuss several findings of my study of migrant women, temporarily suspended in ... more In this paper, I discuss several findings of my study of migrant women, temporarily suspended in the "intersection" of diametrically opposed processes: those posed by border enforcement measures and those posed by transnational mobility. A pressing issue that emerged from this research was how close women come to encountering death as they sidestep the border wall to cross without authorization into the US. Their testimonies shed light on how the intersection of contradictory processes contributes to a humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexico border in which the likelihood of death is increasingly present.
This paper summarizes quantitative and qualitative fi ndings from a 1999 study of Mexican-origin ... more This paper summarizes quantitative and qualitative fi ndings from a 1999 study of Mexican-origin households in Nogales, Arizona. It fi nds that women's educational progress is facilitated by social support and, even more important, that a household's investment in the education of its members is signifi cantly raised with an increase in the education level of the female head of household. It argues that systematic efforts to build on existent cultural frameworks of social support will promote women's educational progress and thus help improve educational opportunities for all people of Mexican origin.
Arizona Senate Bill 1108, the "anti-ethnic studies bill," proposed to eliminate ethnic studies pr... more Arizona Senate Bill 1108, the "anti-ethnic studies bill," proposed to eliminate ethnic studies programs and ethnic-based organizations from state-funded education. Along with other anti-immigrant legislation, this bill is creating an oppressive climate of discrimination against individuals of Mexican descent in Arizona. This study investigates the impact of SB 1108 on the mental well-being of Mexican-descent undergraduate students and examines protective factors such as ethnic identity, civic engagement, and individual coping responses (engaged and disengaged). Ninety-nine undergraduates who self-identified as Mexican, Mexican American, or Chicana/o completed an online survey. Pearson productmoment correlation analysis indicates that greater stress due to SB 1108 was significantly associated with lower self-esteem and more depressive symptoms. Engaged coping responses to SB 1108 protected students' self-esteem even at high levels of stress; in contrast, students who felt high stress but were not engaged had significantly lower self-esteem. Our results also indicate that a positive ethnic identity, based on knowledge of cultural history and traditions, is a significant protective factor. Thus, while legislation such as the anti-ethnic studies bill may have a negative impact on the mental well-being of youth, it may also make them stronger as they become academically and civically engaged in response.
In efforts to avoid detection by border enforcement agents, undocumented migrants from Latin Amer... more In efforts to avoid detection by border enforcement agents, undocumented migrants from Latin America often risk life and limb to enter the U.S. Most commonly, they walk two to four days through an inhospitable desert in hopes of being picked up and whisked away to their final destination. Cost in human lives not withstanding, the price of this venture correlates to increased border enforcement. Interviews with repatriated migrant women on the border helps uncover this economic "underbelly" of transnational movement in what I dub the ABCs of migration costs: those related to assembling, bajadores (border bandits), and coyotes.
In this paper, I discuss several findings of my study of migrant women, temporarily suspended in ... more In this paper, I discuss several findings of my study of migrant women, temporarily suspended in the "intersection" of diametrically opposed processes: those posed by border enforcement measures and those posed by transnational mobility. A pressing issue that emerged from this research was how close women come to encountering death as they sidestep the border wall to cross without authorization into the US. Their testimonies shed light on how the intersection of contradictory processes contributes to a humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexico border in which the likelihood of death is increasingly present.