| The purpose of this study is to shed light on intimate partner violence among Hispanic families and the various cultural ideologies and traditions that contribute to and perhaps support incidents of domestic violence. This project attempts to identify the relationship between Hispanic cultural barriers (families, traditional gender roles, and religious beliefs) and domestic violence. This project focuses primarily on female victims of domestic violence and specifically seeks to address the following research questions: (1) Do the socialized gender roles of female submissiveness and self-sacrifice (marianismo) and male patriarchy (machismo) in Hispanic cultures contribute to and perpetuate incidents of domestic violence? and (2) Does the practice and devotion to Catholicism combined with traditional Hispanic cultural family values hinder a woman's ability to leave an abusive relationship?;The goal of this project is to expose the taboo issue of domestic violence among Hispanics. Thus, this project forms the framework for advancement of empirical research into the growing epidemic of domestic violence among Hispanics. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
