Mexican Americans: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Mexican Americans

| pop = '''10,697,374''' (by birth, 2021)<ref name=ACS-B05006-2021>{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Place%20of%20Birth&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B05006&hidePreview=false&vintage=2021|title=B05006 PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES – 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates|date=July 1, 2021 |publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]] |access-date=September 15, 2022}}</ref><br>

'''37,414,772''' (by ancestry, 2022)<ref name=ACS-B03001-2022>{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=B03001&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B03001|title=B03001 HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY SPECIFIC ORIGIN – United States – 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates|date=July 1, 2022 |publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]] |access-date=}}</ref><br>{{small|11.2% of total US population, 2022}}<ref name=ACS-B03001-2022/>

(also growing/emerging populations in {{hlist|[[Southeastern United States|Southeast]] (Georgia| North Carolina| Arkansas)| [[Upper Midwest]]|[[Great Plains]]|[[Northeastern United States|Northeast]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Latinos in a Changing Society|page=59|isbn=9780275962333 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l-zana4dIAYC&dq=%22mexicans%22+texas+georgia+illinois&pg=PA59|last1=Montero-Sieburth |first1=Martha |last2=Meléndez |first2=Edwin |year=2007 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref>}}

| languages = {{hlist|[[Mexican Spanish]]|[[American English]]|[[Spanglish]]|[[Languages of Mexico|Indigenous Mexican languages]]|[[Spanish language in the United States|American Spanish]]|[[Chicano English]]}}

</ref>

| image = File:Americans with Mexican Ancestry by state.svg

| image_caption = Percent of population of Mexican descent in 2010<ref name="Multicultural America">{{cite book |doi=10.4135/9781452276274.n570 |chapter=Mexican Americans |title=Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia |year=2013 |last1=García |first1=Justin |isbn=9781452216836 |s2cid=153137775 }}</ref>

==History of Mexican Americans==

{{main|History of Mexican Americans}}

In 1900, there were slightly more than 500,000 [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanics]] of Mexican descent living in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, California and Texas.<ref>{{cite web |author=Population Reference Bureau |url=http://www.prb.org/Articles/2004/LatinosandtheChangingFaceofAmerica.aspx |title=Latinos and the Changing Face of America – Population Reference Bureau |publisher=Prb.org |date=2013-11-13 |access-date=2014-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519161150/http://www.prb.org/Articles/2004/LatinosandtheChangingFaceofAmerica.aspx |archive-date=2012-05-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Most were [[Mestizo]] Mexican Americans of Spanish and Indigenous descent, Spanish settlers, other Hispanicized European settlers who settled in the Southwest during Spanish colonial times, as well as local and Mexican Amerindians.

 

Although the events of 1836 led to independence for the people of Texas, the Latino population of the state was very quickly disenfranchised, to the extent that their political representation in the Texas State Legislature disappeared entirely for several decades.</blockquote>

 

As a Spanish colony, the territory of California also had an established population of colonial settlers. [[Californios]] is the term for the Spanish-speaking residents of modern-day California; they were the original Mexicans (regardless of race) and local Hispanicized Amerindians in the region ([[Alta California]]) before the United States acquired it as a territory. In the mid-19th century, more settlers from the United States began to enter the territory.

 

 

===19th-century and Early 20th-century Mexican migration===

 

In the late nineteenth century, liberal Mexican President [[Porfirio Díaz]] embarked on a program of economic modernization that triggered not only a wave of internal migration in Mexico from rural areas to cities, but also Mexican emigration to the United States. A railway network was constructed that connected central Mexico to the US border and also opened up previously isolated regions. The second factor was the shift in land tenure that left Mexican peasants without title or access to land for farming on their own account.<ref>Martín Valadez, "Migration: To the United States", in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 2, p. 890. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.</ref> For the first time, Mexicans in increasing numbers migrated north into the United States for better economic opportunities. In the early 20th century, the first main period of migration to the United States happened between the 1910s to the 1920s, referred to as the Great Migration.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garip |first1=Filiz |title=On the Move: Changing Mechanisms of Mexico-US Migration |date=2017 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |pages=Introduction & Chapter 1}}</ref> During this time period the [[Mexican Revolution]] was taking place, creating turmoil within and against the Mexican government causing civilians to seek out economic and political stability in the United States. Over 1.3 million Mexicans relocated to the United States from 1910 well into the 1930s, with significant increases each decade.<ref name="auto"/> Many of these immigrants found agricultural work, being contracted under private laborers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zong |first1=Jie |title=Mexican Immigrants in the United States |url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states |website=Migration Policy Institute |date=March 17, 2016}}</ref>

 

 

The second period of increased migration is known as the Bracero Era from 1942 to 1964, referring to the [[Bracero program]] implemented by the United States, contracting agricultural labor from Mexico due to labor shortages from the [[World War II]] draft. An estimated 4.6&nbsp;million Mexican immigrants were pulled into the United States through the Bracero Program from the 1940s to the 1960s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garip |first1=Filiz |title=On the Move: Changing Mechanisms of Mexico-US Migration |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=22}}</ref> The lack of agricultural laborers due to increases in military drafts for World War II opened up a chronic need for low wage workers to fill jobs.

 

=== Late 20th century to early 21st century ===

 

While Mexican Americans are concentrated in the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]]: California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, during [[World War I]] many moved to industrial communities such as [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], Chicago, Detroit, [[Cleveland]], [[Pittsburgh]], and other steel-producing regions, where they gained industrial jobs. Like European immigrants, they were attracted to work that did not require proficiency in English. Industrial restructuring in the second half of the century put many Mexican Americans out of work in addition to people of other ethnic groups. Their industrial skills were not as useful in the changing economies of these areas.<ref>[https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/624803/pmas_02.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Mexicans in the Midwest – University of Arizona]</ref>

==Race and ethnicity==

{{main|Mexicans}}

Ethnically, Mexican Americans are a diverse population made up primarily of [[White Mexicans|European]] ancestry and [[Indigenous peoples in Mexico|Indigenous]] ancestry, along with [[Afro-Mexicans|African]]. Also on a smaller scale East Asian, Middle Eastern descent (mainly Lebanese). The majority of the Mexican population identifies as mestizo. In colonial times, Mestizo was meant to be a person of mixed heritage, particularly European and Native American. Nonetheless, the meaning of the word has changed through time, currently being used to refer to the segment of the Mexican population who is of at least partial Indigenous ancestry, but does not speak [[Languages of Mexico|Indigenous languages]].<ref name="EL MESTIZAJE Y LAS CULTURAS REGIONALES">{{cite web |last1=Navarrete |first1=Federico |title=El Mestizaje Y Las Culturas Regionales |url=http://www.nacionmulticultural.unam.mx/Portal/Izquierdo/BANCO/Mxmulticultural/Elmestizajeylasculturas-elmestizaje.html |publisher=Programa Universitario México Nacion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823015618/http://www.nacionmulticultural.unam.mx/Portal/Izquierdo/BANCO/Mxmulticultural/Elmestizajeylasculturas-elmestizaje.html |archive-date=August 23, 2013 |language=es |date=2004 |url-status=dead|quote= en el censo de 1930 el gobierno mexicano dejó de clasificar a la población del país en tres categorías raciales, blanco, mestizo e indígena, y adoptó una nueva clasificación étnica que distinguía a los hablantes de lenguas indígenas del resto de la población, es decir de los hablantes de español}}</ref> Thus in Mexico, the term "Mestizo", while still mostly applying to people who are of mixed European and Indigenous descent, to various degrees, the term has become more of a cultural label rather than a racial one. It is vaguely defined and includes people who do not have Indigenous ancestry, people who do not have European ancestry as well as people of mixed descent.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lizcano Fernandez |first1=Francisco |title=Composición étnica de las tres áreas culturales del continente americano al comienzo del siglo XXI |journal=Convergencia |volume=12 |issue=38 |date=August 2005 |hdl=20.500.11799/38330 }}</ref>

Such transformation of the word is not a coincidence but the result of a concept known as "mestizaje", which was promoted by the post-revolutionary Mexican government in an effort to create a united Mexican ethno-cultural identity with no racial distinctions.<ref>Knight, Alan. 1990. "Racism, Revolution and ''indigenismo'': Mexico 1910–1940". Chapter 4 in ''The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870–1940''. Richard Graham (ed.) pp. 78–85</ref> It is because of this that sometimes the Mestizo population in Mexico is estimated to be as high as 93% of the Mexican population.<ref name="Silva-Zolezzi et al 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Silva-Zolezzi |first1=Irma |last2=Hidalgo-Miranda |first2=Alfredo |last3=Estrada-Gil |first3=Jesus |last4=Fernandez-Lopez |first4=Juan Carlos |last5=Uribe-Figueroa |first5=Laura |last6=Contreras |first6=Alejandra |last7=Balam-Ortiz |first7=Eros |last8=del Bosque-Plata |first8=Laura |last9=Velazquez-Fernandez |first9=David |last10=Lara |first10=Cesar |last11=Goya |first11=Rodrigo |last12=Hernandez-Lemus |first12=Enrique |last13=Davila |first13=Carlos |last14=Barrientos |first14=Eduardo |last15=March |first15=Santiago |last16=Jimenez-Sanchez |first16=Gerardo |title=Analysis of genomic diversity in Mexican Mestizo populations to develop genomic medicine in Mexico |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=26 May 2009 |volume=106 |issue=21 |pages=8611–8616 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0903045106 |pmid=19433783 |pmc=2680428 |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.8611S |doi-access=free }}</ref>

 

Genetic studies made in the Mexican population have found their common ancestry at 58.96% European, 31.05% Amerindian and 10.03% African. There is genetic asymmetry, with the direct paternal line predominately European and the maternal line predominately Amerindian. Younger Mexican Americans tend to have more Indigenous ancestry; in those studied born between the 1940s and 1990s, there was an average increase in ancestry of 0.4% per year. Though there is no simple explanation, it is possibly some combination of [[assortative mating]], changes in migration patterns over time (with more recent immigrants having higher levels of Indigenous ancestry), population growth and other unexamined factors.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Spear|first1=Melissa L|last2=Diaz-Papkovich|first2=Alex|last3=Ziv|first3=Elad|last4=Yracheta|first4=Joseph M|last5=Gravel|first5=Simon|last6=Torgerson|first6=Dara G|last7=Hernandez|first7=Ryan D|date=2020-12-29|editor-last=Sohail|editor-first=Mashaal|editor2-last=Wittkopp|editor2-first=Patricia J|editor3-last=Sohail|editor3-first=Mashaal|editor4-last=Wojcik|editor4-first=Genevieve L|title=Recent shifts in the genomic ancestry of Mexican Americans may alter the genetic architecture of biomedical traits|journal=eLife|volume=9|pages=e56029|doi=10.7554/eLife.56029|pmid=33372659|pmc=7771964|issn=2050-084X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

 

For instance, a 2006 study conducted by Mexico's [[National Institute of Genomic Medicine INMEGEN|National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN)]], which genotyped 104 samples, reported that Mestizo Mexicans are 58.96% European, 35.05% Amerindian, and 5.03% African.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.ashg.org/genetics/abstracts/abs06/f1065.htm|title=Evaluation of Ancestry and Linkage Disequilibrium Sharing in Admixed Population in Mexico|author1=J.K. Estrada|author2=A. Hidalgo-Miranda|author3=I. Silva-Zolezzi|author4=G. Jimenez-Sanchez|publisher=ASHG|access-date=July 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913031830/http://www.ashg.org/genetics/abstracts/abs06/f1065.htm|archive-date=September 13, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to a 2009 report by the Mexican Genome Project, which sampled 300 Mestizos from six Mexican states and one Indigenous group, the gene pool of the Mexican mestizo population was calculated to be 55.2% percent Indigenous, 41.8% European, 5% African, and 0.5% Asian.<ref name="Silva-Zolezzi et al 2009"/> A 2012 study published by the ''[[Journal of Human Genetics]]'' found the deep paternal ancestry of the Mexican Mestizo population to be predominately European (64.9%) followed by Amerindian (30.8%) and African (5%).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Admixture and population structure in Mexican-Mestizos based on paternal lineages – |publisher=Journal of Human Genetics |quote=In the total population sample, paternal ancestry was predominately European (64.9%), followed by Native American (30.8%) and African (4.2%).|pmid=22832385|doi=10.1038/jhg.2012.67|volume=57|issue=9 |year=2012|journal=J. Hum. Genet.|pages=568–74 | last1 = Martínez-Cortés | first1 = G | last2 = Salazar-Flores | first2 = J | last3 = Fernández-Rodríguez | first3 = LG | last4 = Rubi-Castellanos | first4 = R | last5 = Rodríguez-Loya | first5 = C | last6 = Velarde-Félix | first6 = JS | last7 = Muñoz-Valle | first7 = JF | last8 = Parra-Rojas | first8 = I | last9 = Rangel-Villalobos | first9 = H| doi-access = free }}</ref> An autosomal ancestry study performed on Mexico City reported that the European ancestry of Mexicans was 52% with the rest being Amerindian and with alongside African contribution, additionally maternal ancestry was analyzed, with 47% being of European origin. Unlike previous studies which only included Mexicans who self-identified as Mestizos, the only criteria for sample selection in this study was that the volunteers self-identified as Mexicans.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Price |first1=Alkes L. |last2=Patterson |first2=Nick |last3=Yu |first3=Fuli |last4=Cox |first4=David R. |last5=Waliszewska |first5=Alicja |last6=McDonald |first6=Gavin J. |last7=Tandon |first7=Arti |last8=Schirmer |first8=Christine |last9=Neubauer |first9=Julie |last10=Bedoya |first10=Gabriel |last11=Duque |first11=Constanza |last12=Villegas |first12=Alberto |last13=Bortolini |first13=Maria Catira |last14=Salzano |first14=Francisco M. |last15=Gallo |first15=Carla |last16=Mazzotti |first16=Guido |last17=Tello-Ruiz |first17=Marcela |last18=Riba |first18=Laura |last19=Aguilar-Salinas |first19=Carlos A. |last20=Canizales-Quinteros |first20=Samuel |last21=Menjivar |first21=Marta |last22=Klitz |first22=William |last23=Henderson |first23=Brian |last24=Haiman |first24=Christopher A. |last25=Winkler |first25=Cheryl |last26=Tusie-Luna |first26=Teresa |last27=Ruiz-Linares |first27=Andrés |last28=Reich |first28=David |title=A Genomewide Admixture Map for Latino Populations |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=June 2007 |volume=80 |issue=6 |pages=1024–1036 |doi=10.1086/518313 |pmid=17503322 |pmc=1867092 }}</ref>

 

===Politics and debate of racial classification===

 

In some cases, legal classification of White racial status has made it difficult for Mexican-American rights activists to prove minority discrimination. In the case ''[[Hernandez v. Texas]]'' (1954), civil rights lawyers for the appellant, named Pedro Hernandez, were confronted with a paradox: because Mexican Americans were classified as White by the federal government and not as a separate race in the census, lower courts held that they were not being denied equal protection by being tried by juries that excluded Mexican Americans by practice. The lower court ruled there was no violation of the Fourteenth Amendment by excluding people with Mexican ancestry among the juries. Attorneys for the state of Texas and judges in the state courts contended that the amendment referred only to racial, not "nationality", groups. Thus, since Mexican Americans were tried by juries composed of their racial group—whites—their constitutional rights were not violated. The US Supreme Court ruling in ''Hernandez v. Texas'' case held that "nationality" groups could be protected under the Fourteenth Amendment, and it became a landmark in the civil rights history of the United States.<ref name="Another White Race:">{{cite web|url=https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&doctype=cite&docid=21+Law+&+Hist.+Rev.+109&key=9eb15db6c4cb5ea99766572941111225|title=LexisNexis® Litigation Essentials – Error|website=litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com|access-date=7 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007170227/https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&doctype=cite&docid=21+Law+&+Hist.+Rev.+109&key=9eb15db6c4cb5ea99766572941111225|archive-date=7 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us475|title=Hernandez ''v.'' Texas|website=[[Oyez Project|Oyez]] |publisher=[[Chicago-Kent College of Law]] |access-date=2019-10-05}}</ref>

 

While Mexican Americans served in all-White units during World War II, many Mexican–American veterans continued to face discrimination when they arrived home; they created the G.I. Forum to work for equal treatment.<ref name="Mexican American voters">{{cite web|url=http://www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/content/voting_cal/mexican_american.html/|title=Mexican American Voters / Voting Rights and Citizenship|work=cuny.edu|access-date=2014-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140411152220/http://www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/content/voting_cal/mexican_american.html|archive-date=2014-04-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>

 

| chapter = 3 Prerequisite cases| page = 61}}</ref><ref name="Haney-Lopez1">{{cite book| author = Haney-Lopez, Ian F.| title = White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race| publisher = New York University| year = 1996| chapter = Appendix "A"}}</ref>

 

 

Although Mexican Americans were legally classified as "white" in terms of official federal policy, socially they were seen as "too Indian" to be treated as such.<ref name=ManifestDestinies>{{cite book|author=Gomez, Laura E.|title=Manifest Destinies|publisher=NYU Press|date=Feb 6, 2018}}</ref> Many organizations, businesses, and homeowners associations and local legal systems had official policies in the early 20th century to exclude Mexican Americans in a racially discriminatory way.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> Throughout the Southwest, discrimination in wages was institutionalized in "White wages" versus lower "Mexican wages" for the same job classifications.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> For Mexican Americans, opportunities for employment were largely limited to guest worker programs.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web |url=http://www.understandingrace.org/history/society/post_war_economic_boom.html |title=RACE – History – Post-War Economic Boom and Racial Discrimination |publisher=Understandingrace.org |date=1956-12-21 |access-date=2014-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818185124/http://www.understandingrace.org/history/society/post_war_economic_boom.html |archive-date=2013-08-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

 

The ''bracero'' program, begun in 1942 during World War II, when many United States men were drafted for war, allowed Mexicans temporary entry into the United States as migrant workers at farms throughout California and the Southwest. This program continued until 1964.<ref name="autogenerated1"/><ref name="autogenerated11">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=173707|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122851/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=173707|url-status=dead|title=JS Online: Filmmaker explores practice of redlining in documentary|archivedate=29 September 2007}}</ref><ref name="Pulido 53">{{cite book|last=Pulido|first=Laura|title=Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles|page=53|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24520-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzarnBhJiZUC&pg=PA53 |year=2006}}</ref>

 

While both Mexican American and African American minorities were subject to segregation and racial discrimination, they were treated differently. Segregation is the physical separation of peoples on the basis of ethnicity and social custom historically applied to separate African Americans and Mexican Americans from Whites in Texas. Racial attitudes that supported segregation of African Americans probably arrived in Texas during the 1820s in company with the "peculiar institution," slavery. Anglo-Americans began extending segregation to Mexican Americans after the Texas Revolution as a social custom. Tejanos formed a suspect class during and after the revolution, and that fact led to a general aversion of them. After the Civil War, segregation developed as a method of group control. For both minority groups, segregation existed in schools, churches, residential districts, and most public places such as restaurants, theaters, and barber shops. By the latter years of the nineteenth century, institutionalized segregation flourished legally in places with a visible Black population and was extended informally to Tejanos. Most Texas towns and cities had a "Negro quarter" and a "Mexican quarter."

==Social status and assimilation==

{{See also|Tex-Mex|Mexican cuisine in the United States}}

There have been increases in average personal and household incomes for Mexican Americans in the 21st century. US-born Americans of Mexican heritage earn more and are represented more in the middle and upper-class segments more than most recently arriving Mexican immigrants.

 

Most immigrants from Mexico, as elsewhere, come from the lower classes and from families generationally employed in lower skilled jobs. They also are most likely from rural areas. Thus, many new Mexican immigrants are not skilled in white collar professions. Recently, some professionals from Mexico have been migrating, but to make the transition from one country to another involves re-training and re-adjusting to conform to US laws —i.e. professional licensing is required.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Salgado|first1=Casandra D.|last2=Ortiz|first2=Vilma|date=2019-05-03|title=Mexican Americans and wealth: economic status, family and place|journal=Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies|volume=46|issue=18|pages=3855–3873|doi=10.1080/1369183X.2019.1592878|s2cid=155153400|issn=1369-183X}}</ref> Millions crossed into the United States to find work that would help them survive as well as sustain their families in Mexico.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Minian |first=Ana Raquel |title=Undocumented Lives |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2018 |pages=76 |language=English}}</ref> However now, Mexican Americans, primarily those who are bilingual are being used by firms to attract immigrant clientele. More value is being placed on Mexican Americans because they possess the ability to communicate with Spanish-speaking clients, thus expanding the customer range of companies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jiménez |first=Tomás R. |date=September 2007 |title=Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Mexican Immigration: The Mexican-American Perspective |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00474.x |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=599–618 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00474.x |s2cid=8854023 |via=Business Source Complete}}</ref>

Additional literature has demonstrated that parent involvement also comes in the form of parent expectations. Valencia and Black (2002) argued that Mexican parents place a significant amount of value on education and hold high expectations for their children. The purpose of their study was to debunk the notion that Mexicans do not value education by providing evidence that shows the opposite. Setting high expectations and expressing their desire for their children to be academically successful has served as powerful tools to increase of the academic achievement among Mexican American students (Valencia & Black, 2002). Keith and Lichtman (1995)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keith |first1=Patricia B. |last2=Lichtman |first2=Marilyn V. |title=Does parental involvement influence the academic achievement of Mexican-American eighth graders? Results from the National Education Longitudinal Study. |journal=School Psychology Quarterly |date=1994 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=256–273 |doi=10.1037/h0088292 }}</ref> also conducted a research study that measured the influence of parental involvement and academic achievement. The data was collected from the NELS and used a total of 1,714 students that identified as Mexican American (Chicana/o). The study found a higher level of academic achievement among 8th grade Mexican American students and parents who had high educational aspirations for their children (Keith & Lichtman, 1995).

 

 

Additional research done by Carranza, You, Chhuon, and Hudley (2009)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carranza |first1=Francisco D. |last2=You |first2=Sukkyung |last3=Chhuon |first3=Vichet |last4=Hudley |first4=Cynthia |title=Mexican American adolescents' academic achievement and aspirations: the role of perceived parental educational involvement, acculturation, and self-esteem |journal=Adolescence |date=22 June 2009 |volume=44 |issue=174 |pages=313–334 |id={{Gale|A207643292}} {{INIST|21922379}} |pmid=19764269 }}</ref> added support to the idea that high parental expectations were associated with higher achievement levels among Mexican American students. Carranza et al. (2009) studied 298 Mexican American high school students. They studied whether perceived parental involvement, acculturation, and self-esteem had any effect on academic achievement and aspirations. Results from their study demonstrated that perceived parental involvement had an influence on the students' academic achievement and aspirations. Additionally, Carranza et al. noted that among females, those who perceived that their parents expected them to get good grades tended to study more and have higher academic aspirations (2009). The findings suggest that parental expectations can affect the academic performance of Mexican American students.

** [[Redwood City, California|Redwood City]]

** [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] – California's third largest Mexican-American city by percentage (over 25%) after Long Beach (about 30%). Many live in the [[Fruitvale, Oakland|Fruitvale]] district.

** [[South San Francisco, California|South San Francisco]]

* [[Central Valley of California]] both the [[Sacramento Valley|Sacramento]] and [[San Joaquin Valley]]s have majority Mexican American communities. Examples being [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] and [[Fresno, California|Fresno]], and the heaviest concentrations in [[Kern County, California]] around [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]].

* [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]] – Largest Mexican-American community bordering a state of Mexico. 74% of El Paso is of Mexican descent, highest percentage of any city with a population of over 500k.

* [[South Texas]] – Heavily populated by Mexican-Americans, who are the ethnic majority, in a region spanning from [[Laredo, Texas|Laredo]] to [[Corpus Christi, Texas|Corpus Christi]] to [[Brownsville, Texas|Brownsville]].

 

===Wisconsin===

 

=== Diabetes ===

 

[[Diabetes mellitus|Diabetes]] refers to a disease in which the body has an inefficiency of properly responding to [[insulin]], which then affects the levels of glucose. The prevalence of diabetes in the United States is constantly rising. Common types of Diabetes are [[Diabetes mellitus type 1|type 1]] and [[Diabetes mellitus type 2|type 2]]. [[Diabetes mellitus type 2|Type 2]] is the more common type of diabetes among Mexican Americans, and is constantly increasing due to poor diet habits.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Seligman|first1=Rebecca|last2=Mendenhall|first2=Emily|last3=Valdovinos|first3=Maria D.|last4=Fernandez|first4=Alicia|last5=Jacobs|first5=Elizabeth A.|date=March 2015|title=Self-care and Subjectivity among Mexican Diabetes Patients in the United States|journal=Medical Anthropology Quarterly|volume=29|issue=1|pages=61–79|doi=10.1111/maq.12107|issn=0745-5194|pmid=24942832}}</ref> The increase of [[obesity]] results in an increase of [[Diabetes mellitus type 2|type 2 diabetes]] among Mexican Americans in the United States. Mexican American men have higher prevalence rates in comparison to non-Latinos, whites and blacks.<ref name="Martorell-2004">{{cite journal|last=Martorell|first=Reynaldo|date=2004-12-15|title=Diabetes and Mexicans: Why the Two Are Linked|journal=Preventing Chronic Disease|volume=2|issue=1|pages=A04|issn=1545-1151|pmc=1323307|pmid=15670457}}</ref> "The prevalence of diabetes increased from 8.9% in 1976–1980 to 12.3% in 1988–94 among adults aged 40 to 74" according to the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994.<ref name="Martorell-2004" /> In a 2014 study, The US Census Bureau estimates that by 2050, one in three people living in the United States will be of Latino origin including Mexican Americans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/2014/diabetes-among-hispanics-all-are-not-equal.html|title=Diabetes Among Hispanics: All Are Not Equal|last1=Drive|first1=American Diabetes Association 2451 Crystal|last2=Arlington|first2=Suite 900|website=American Diabetes Association|access-date=2018-12-09|last3=Va 22202 1-800-Diabetes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210110837/http://www.diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/2014/diabetes-among-hispanics-all-are-not-equal.html|archive-date=2018-12-10|url-status=dead}}</ref> Type 2 diabetes prevalence is rising due to many risk factors and there are still many cases of pre-diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes due to lack of sources. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (2011), individuals of Mexican descent are 50% more likely to die from diabetes than their white counterparts.<ref name="Martorell-2004" />