The Looming Threat of Latina Suicides

Psychological effect of poverty

Batajoo speculates that part of the reason for the high rates of mental illnesses among Latinos is their socioeconomic status.

“I think that because Milwaukee has a lot of segregation and a lot of poverty in different ethnic populations; that may be why Latinos in Milwaukee also have a higher rate,” she said. She added that nationally 25 percent of Latinos are living below the poverty level compared to 15 percent of other ethnicities.

Waldo agreed. “The majority of … clients served here (at Sixteenth Street) are Latino and low income,” she said.

According to a U.S. Health and Human Services survey, those living in poverty are three times more likely than other socioeconomic groups to say they are struggling with psychological distress. The study also found that “in every age group, women were more likely to have serious psychological distress than men.”

According to the Pew Research Center, Hispanic families have the highest number of children in poverty. Compared to 20 percent of children nationally, about 30 percent of Hispanic children under 18 live in poverty.

When Cielo Ruiz’s parents came to Wisconsin 15 years ago, they wanted their kids “to study, to work and keep moving forward.” However, when her dad suffered an injury, her mom became the only working parent in the house.

“We want our children to have a better job than us,” her father, Sebastian Ruiz, said in Spanish. “As of now, we are a poor family. We work to survive.”

Intergenerational tension

In a Latino household, socioeconomic and financial stressors are exacerbated by the culture’s gender roles.

Torres explained two cultural values specific to Latino culture: marianismo and machismo. Marianismo values women as self-sacrificing and fostering. They are expected to stay at home to take care of their family while the men provide income.

On the other hand, Torres said machismo has a positive connotation that often gets overlooked. “The term machismo gets a lot of negative stereotypes and people will often times attribute that to instances of domestic violence,” he said. “There’s also another side of machismo which values that men be family-oriented and … caring for the extended family.”

First-generation Latinas feel an obligation to balance the marianismo values with the more empowering and liberating lifestyle women lead in the U.S. today, which can be challenging.

Both Montes and her 26-year-old sister, Kathy Hernandez, said they experienced pressures from their family. Hernandez said it was frustrating when her parents stressed school as a priority even though they couldn’t speak English and help her with homework.

Neither of Montes’ parents went to school beyond the sixth grade. Now, her dad works in construction, while her mom takes care of her five children, niece and nephew.

Knowing how important education is to her parents, Hernandez said she feels a lot of pressure, especially as a minority. “There’s pressure because you don’t want to be that girl that fails in life,” she said. “You want to succeed and go over or above and beyond anybody else.” In addition to pleasing her parents, Hernandez wants to defy the stereotypes about Latinos.

When she was 18 years old, she got pregnant and left home. Her pride and dedication to school kept her going, in spite of the lack of support from her parents or other family members.

“I didn’t let my depression or emotions interfere with my school. If I did, it would just be a failure, so I had to change all that,” she said.

Hernandez still blames herself for abandoning her sister, who was about 4 years old when she left home, and she wonders if that contributed to Montes’ mental health problems. Of all her siblings, Montes is closest to her older sister, despite the 12-year age gap.

“She was the only one that played with me. Nobody else did, so I felt alone,” Montes said.

Living with an unaffectionate mother and with her sister gone, Montes was left to question her worth as a daughter and sister. “Everybody expects so much out of you to be … the best you can but sometimes when you know you’re doing your best, it’s not enough,” she said. Hernandez and Montes said they understand their parents were raised differently but sometimes they needed to hear their parents’ appreciation for their hard work.

Different generations of immigrant families experience cultural stressors differently, said Torres.

Immigrants feel stress to adapt and learn how to live in a new country. A first-generation Latina has to contemplate how she wants to identify herself, considering her parents’ Hispanic background and culture.

“Now they’re starting to feel the pressure of maintaining the traditional culture,” Torres said. “Meanwhile they still have to fit in or find their place within the broader U.S. society.”

Nevertheless, Torres calls being a U.S.-born Latina “potentially a gift.”

“Unlike other people, you have the opportunity to see a situation from two different perspectives or worldviews. And then you can decide which worldview … fits with who you are and how you want to handle that situation,” he said. Understanding the skills and opportunities that come with being bicultural will help Latinas develop a strong ethnic identity and lessen the risk of experiencing mental health problems, he added.

Standing up to stigma

The machismo culture in the Latino community is just one reason people are hesitant to seek out help and share their problems.

Ursula Flores, co-chair of the Milwaukee Latino Health Coalition’s Mental Health Action Team, knows from personal experience the misperceptions of mental illness in the Latino culture. Typical superstitious beliefs such as brujeria (witchcraft) and mal de ojo (the evil eye) are linked to those with mental illnesses. Beliefs like these stem from the lack of knowledge about mental health.

The Mental Health Action Team has started a speakers’ bureau on topics such as mental illness, cutting, stigma reduction, suicide prevention and crisis intervention.

The team also partnered with a non-crisis support line to include Spanish speakers and created bienestarmilwaukee.org, a website listing mental health resources.

Encouraging Latina girls to use these resources and directing them to support groups such as SEEDS are steps community members can take to help overcome the stigma of mental illness, and perhaps, save the life of a Latina.

Flores attributes the success of the SEEDS program to the ability of girls to share their pain with others who have a similar background. The girls understand each other beyond the pain and emotions that lead to cutting or suicidal thoughts. Being Latina, they share the same frustrations from living in a multigenerational household in the United States.

Because of SEEDS, Montes doesn’t feel as alone or angry anymore. Instead of considering suicide, she worries about doing chores and choosing one of her many passions that could lead to a career path. SEEDS has taught her to talk to her family about her issues, instead of trying to control her insecurities and emotions.

Sharing her experiences with other SEEDS members helped Montes to be more positive and less focused on herself. “I think no matter what, I was destined to go through this and to survive and be able to tell my story.”

This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee.

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