Assimilation's Impact On The Health Of The Latino Family

Submitted By vangnu
Words: 324
Pages: 2

The Latino paradox is something that my family and I can relate to, which is the fact that as they (the Latino) become more American, they also become sicker. It's a positive correlation in which the increase of one variable leads to the increase of the other variable. My parents and I have conversations about this all the time and if they had a choice between living in the States or moving back to their homeland, they'd choose their homeland. The amount of stress they experience living in the States is 100x greater than the lives they once lived in Laos. My parents are fairly healthy, but every now and again they'll complain about symptoms they're experiencing and despite our encouragement to go see a doctor, they refuse because "they can't afford to lose a day's worth of pay". I can understand how assimilation has a negative impact on the health of many Latino families because it tears at their cultural values, and those values are what hold their family together - it's what they can identify with. Just like the younger daughter in the documentary, I didn't grow up with my parents around because they were both full-time workers. My older siblings were my caretakers, but I think that's what held us together as a family. We took care of one another and understood that mom and dad couldn't always be around because they had to make ends meet. Of course a lot of it has to do with where we grew up and the people we were surrounded by, but it doesn't surprise me that Latino