Is America Any Place For a Nice Hispanic Girl?
“I grew up in a culture where women are superwomen,” Mrs. Valeta said. “You do it all and you don’t complain.” Still, the same woman who shines her husband’s shoes every day chafed when her mother, who is 88 and who lives with the family, lectured her when she did not get up to take her husband a glass of water. “I felt my mother was judging me,” she said, “but I didn’t disagree openly because that’s a sign of disrespect.” Ten years ago, with three generations under one roof, two daughters rebelling and Mrs. Valeta suffering from stress and depression that she believes gave her an ulcer and a heart attack, the Valetas did something unusual among Hispanic families: they went to a family therapist, to work through what their psychologist described as the cultural confusion of adapting to American life. Mrs. Valeta’s husband, John, and her mother, Felisa Cruz, were the most reluctant to attend. The acculturation problems of families like the Valetas will loom larger in the mental health p
