Latinos and violence: Mental health implications and strategies for clinicians (original) (raw)

1998, Cultural Diversity & Mental Health

This article seeks to identify mental health issues in regard to violence among Hispanics and Latinos relative to other groups in the United States. A review of the literature provides prevalence and incidence rates, population and demographic information, and unique issues in regard to violence for Latinos and Latinas, including in the areas of battering and wife abuse, child and sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and the complicating effects of racial-ethnic discrimination. Aspects of cultural ideology, including the social construction of gender and its relevance to violence, are discussed, as are theoretical explorations of the impact of violence on familism, a major Hispanic cultural value. Finally, therapeutic implications for clinicians are explored, structured by the American Psychological Association (1993) Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations. • Latinos and violence • gender • battering • child abuse Violence toward women is a pervasive social problem. It includes spousal abuse, rape, and child sexual and physical abuse. Most women also experience insidious and pervasive subtle violence to some degree, and women of color experience that kind of violence to higher degrees (Root, 1992; Rosewater, 1990; Walker, 1989). This kind of abuse may not be overtly violent or threatening to bodily well-being at the given moment, but it harms the person's sense of worth, value, and well-being. Violence can be physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, or spiritual. In many ways, attention to the vast problem of violence against women is still in the infancy stage. We do know that battery, often accompanied by sexual assault, is the This article is based in part on a presentation at a workshop titled "Many Voices, One Cry: Listening to Our Differences," sponsored by the