Latina Mothers' and Daughters' Expectations for Autonomy at Age 15 (La Quinceañera)

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published online 12 March 2013Journal of Adolescent ResearchLaura F. Romo, Rebeca Mireles-Rios and Giselle Lopez-Tello

15 (La Quinceañera)Latina Mothers' and Daughters' Expectations for Autonomy at Age

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1University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:Laura F. Romo, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9490, USA Email: [email protected]

Latina Mothers’ and Daughters’ Expectations for Autonomy at Age 15 (La Quinceañera)

Laura F. Romo1, Rebeca Mireles-Rios1, and Gisselle Lopez-Tello1

AbstractAmerican children gain more autonomy as they progress through adoles-cence, however, autonomy-granting for Latina adolescent girls from immigrant families is a relatively unexplored question. In this study, we identified behav-iors that Mexican mothers and their daughters deemed to be appropriate when they reach the age of La Quinceañera, a cultural rite of passage at age 15. Daughters hoped for rules regarding social activities to become less strict whereas mothers intended to continue to exert control, especially in the areas of peer and social activities, household duties, and homework respon-sibilities. The mothers were open to granting more independence in personal areas such as physical appearance and they were also willing to allow their daughters to group date. Although the mothers and daughters expected the mothers to continue to engage in a controlling and protective parenting style, both mothers and daughters anticipated more mutual decision-making and open communication when daughters turned 15 years of age.

Keywordsadolescent girls, Latinas, mothers, parenting, autonomy development, communication



2 Journal of Adolescent Research XX(X)

A central feature of adolescence in mainstream American culture is the development of behavioral autonomy, which refers to the adolescent’s grow-ing ability to make decisions and act on his or her own (Steinberg & Silk, 2002; Zimmer-Gembeck & Collins, 2003). As European American adoles-cents grow older, they desire freedom to make choices over issues such as curfew, choosing who their friends are, or how they want to dress. To achieve autonomy, they engage in negotiation with their parents about their behav-ior, and parents tend to respond by granting decision-making authority to their adolescents with the intention of treating them in a more adultlike man-ner (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986). In general, parental support for their adolescents’ participation in decision-making has positive influences on adolescent well-being. When European American parents allow their ado-lescents to take part in decision-making, they report high motivation to suc-ceed academically, a positive self-concept, as well as low levels of behavioral problems (Abad & Sheldon, 2008; Sorkhabi, 2005; Silk, Morris, Kanaya, & Steinberg, 2003).

Autonomy-granting for adolescent girls in Latino culture is a relatively unexplored question. The goal of this study was to examine Mexican immi-grant mothers’ and their U.S.-raised daughters’ expectations for behavioral autonomy when they turn 15 years of age, a birthday that traditionally signi-fies the coming of age for girls in some Latino cultures (known as La Quinceañera). The Quinceañera tradition commemorates a girls’ journey from childhood to maturity. The origin of the Quinceañera is often attributed to the ancient customs of the Aztecs and other indigenous groups in which they held an initiation ceremony for girls at or around age 15 to celebrate their womanhood. When the Spaniards arrived to the Americas, they brought other customs to the event such as the Catholic mass in which the priest blesses the girl and the parents thanked God for their daughter reaching this special age. Often the mass is followed by a party. This milestone age offers a unique opportunity to examine changes in behavior autonomy-granting for Mexican American adolescent girls.

Understanding the pacing of autonomy-granting in Mexican culture is interesting because ethnic minority parents engage in less autonomy-granting than European American parents due to differing cultural values surrounding child-rearing practices. In individualistic cultures, such as European American, independence is highly valued which opens the door for children to negotiate autonomy from their parents. In contrast, ethnic minority parents from collectivistic groups such as Latinos engage in more authoritarian par-enting practices and exert more control over their adolescents’ behavior (Dixon, Graber, & Brooks-Gunn, 2008; Varela et al., 2004). Ethnic minority



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parents from traditional cultures also seem to have different beliefs than European American parents about the appropriate ages at which they should relinquish control over their adolescents’ social activities. For example, Latina parents are less willing to leave their daughters at home alone com-pared to parents from European American adolescents throughout adoles-cence at all ages up to 18 years of age and maintain earlier curfews for both boys and girls (Bulcroft et al., 1996). An open question is whether Latina adolescents desire autonomy at earlier ages than what their traditional parents are willing to grant.

Influences on Autonomy-Granting for Latina AdolescentsProtectiveness over daughters may influence Latino parents’ willingness to grant too much autonomy. Latino parents believe it is important to limit their daughters’ social activities compared to sons and they value close supervi-sion (e.g., McKee & Karasz, 2006; Raffaelli & Ontai, 2004). For example, McHale, Updegraff, Crouter, and Killoren (2005) found that sisters with a younger male sibling received relatively fewer privileges (such as going to a friend’s house, going to parties) compared to their brothers. Parents also have different standards for daughters and sons related to dating. In a retrospective study conducted with Latina women, the participants reported that in adoles-cence there were strict rules about when they could start dating and have male friends (Raffaelli & Ontai, 2001). Similarly, in a qualitative study con-ducted by Villarruel (1998), mothers reported that they had rules about boys not visiting their daughters at home.

Cultural norms and values may influence why Latina immigrant parents restrict opportunities for their daughters to date or have contact with the opposite sex. Restrictions on dating may be linked to gender-related ideals in Latino culture that emphasize marianismo, values that women should be chaste and naïve (Marin & Gomez, 1997), in addition to parental concerns about preserving their daughters’ virginity outside of marriage (Gilliam, Berlin, Kozloski, Hernandez, & Grundy, 2007; McKee & Karasz, 2006; Villarruel, 1998). Moreover, parents’ strict rules regarding dating and contact with boys are linked to their concerns about protecting their daughters from an unintended pregnancy (McKee & Karasz, 2006; Villarruel, 1998). The Catholic religion has also been identified as an important cultural influence for Latino youth on their sexuality (Raffaelli & Iturbide, 2009). Religious beliefs may explain why adolescents report receiving messages from parents that sexual intercourse outside of marriage is shameful and getting pregnant before marriage would be considered a sin (Gilliam et al., 2007).




As a strategy for dealing with restrictive rules, many Latina adolescents date without parental knowledge or permission (de Anda, Becerra, & Fielder, 1990; Raffaelli & Ontai, 2001). Mixed-sex peer group activities and casual dating activities are typical for American teenagers in early adolescence (Connolly, Craig, Goldberg, & Pepler, 2004). However, many immigrant par-ents may not approve of casual American style dating activities because of perceptions that dating should be taken seriously, such as having adolescents bring home one partner to meet the family (Ayala, 2006; Raffaelli & Ontai, 2001). Given the potential for a serious romantic relationship, parents may believe that daughters should not date until they are closer to transitioning to young adulthood. Latina adolescents raised in the United States may have different views from their immigrant parents about the appropriate age at which they should be allowed to date because of the adolescents’ perceptions of what is normative in American culture.

Another value that is especially important for understanding parenting strategies in Latino culture is familismo, a set of beliefs that emphasize the importance of family ties and obligations (Cauce, & Domenich-Rodriguez, 2002; Driscoll, Russell, & Crockett, 2008). Latino immigrant parents may exercise high levels of control over their adolescent offspring to reinforce the primacy of family which they perceive to be threatened by exposure to American culture. A concern among many immigrant parents is that their children may become too Americanized and lose their cultural heritage (Suarez-Orozco, 2005). To maintain traditional cultural norms, they may impose tighter restrictions on their children’s independence than what they would have had they stayed in their native country. Indeed, there is some evidence to suggest that Mexican immigrant parents living in the United States engage in more authoritarian parenting than parents living in Mexico (Varela et al., 2004) and they grant adolescents less autonomy for social activities (Suarez-Orozco, 2005). Latino parents may also impose greater restrictions on social activities to protect them from negative peer influences. This is particularly true for those living in high-risk environments and dan-gerous neighborhoods where many low-income Latino immigrant families tend to reside (Cruz-Santiago & Ramirez Garcia, 2011; McKee & Karasz, 2006; Suarez-Orozco, 2005). Latino immigrant parents report that they per-ceive their daughters to be more vulnerable and at higher risk for peer influ-ences compared to boys (Azmitia & Brown, 2002).

There are clear expectations from Latino parents that daughters should participate in household chores throughout adolescence. In a qualitative study, Latina adolescents reported that communication with mothers as they entered adolescence consisted of messages about responsibilities related to learning how to cook, clean, and how to take care of the family (Ayala, 2006.



Romo et al. 5

Expectations related to household chores increase as the adolescent girls grow older (Ayala, 2006) and may be linked to values related to women adhering to traditional gender roles. Research suggests that daughters are expected to help around the house more so than sons (Bulcroft et al.,1996; McHale et al., 2005; Raffaelli & Ontai, 2004).

The Present StudyThe literature on the developmental progression of autonomy-granting in adolescence is dominated by studies conducted with European American and African American families, and less is known about developmental pathway toward autonomy for adolescents in Latino culture. Research suggests that young European American and African American adolescents anticipate more independence at younger ages than what their parents believe is appro-priate related to what clothes to buy, unsupervised time with friends, and dating (Feldman & Quatman, 1988; Daddis & Smetana, 2005). Young ado-lescents also tend to overestimate their decision-making autonomy which may be linked to their beliefs about the legitimacy of parental authority in particular domains (Smetana, Crean, & Campionne-Barr, 2005). By mid-adolescence, around age 15, European American and African American parents seem to grant more decision-making authority in areas such as appearance, household rules, and social activities (Bulcroft et al.,1996; Gutman & Eccles, 2007; Wray-Lake, Crouter, & McHale, 2010). Hence, age 15 seems to be meaningful for parents and adolescents in European American and African American culture in the progression of autonomy-granting in adolescence.

In this qualitative study, we examined Mexican immigrant mothers’ and their U.S.-raised daughters’ expectations for behavioral autonomy when they reach the 15th year age milestone, La Quinceañera. Twenty mothers and their daughters were interviewed separately on four open-ended questions, namely about: (a) their perceptions on the significance of La Quinceañera; (b) whether at age 15, rules and responsibilities would change at home, and if so, which rules would change or remain the same; (c) whether at age 15, daughters would be granted more freedom, and if so in what areas: (d) whether at age 15, daughters would be allowed to date. We also asked (e) whether the daughters had ever had a boyfriend, whether the mothers had knowledge of it, and whether the mothers approved of the daughters having boyfriends. The goals of the study were to identify behaviors that mothers and daughters deemed to be appropriate in mid-adolescence, explore whether the mothers and the daughters had discrepant expectations for autonomy, and explore maternal shifts in limit setting for their daughters at age 15.




MethodParticipantsMexican immigrant mothers and their early adolescent daughters were recruited from local youth-based organizations and schools in a low-income Latino community to participate in a mother-daughter sexual health educa-tion program. Flyers were distributed to mothers and daughters or they were approached personally by school personnel. The participants were told that the purpose of the program was to increase mother-daughter communication about sexuality. As part of their participation, they took part in a testing ses-sion prior to the program. Interview data collected from these pretest ses-sions were analyzed in this study.

The participants were 20 mother-daughters dyads. The daughters were 13 and 14 years of age (M = 13.4, SD = 0.5). Five of the daughters were in the 9th grade, seven in the 8th grade, six in the 7th grade, and two in 6th grade. As for birth order, half of the daughters reported being the first born. The majority of the daughters were born in the United States (79%) and the rest were born in Mexico. All of the daughters had been raised in the United States. About 74% of daughters reported that they were Catholic, 16% reported not having a religion, and the remaining were Christian or Mormon.

The mothers ranged in age between 30 to 55 years (M = 36.6, SD = 6.1). All of the mothers were born in Mexico. Seventy-five percent were predomi-nately Spanish-speaking, one mother was predominantly English-speaking, and the remaining 20% spoke both Spanish and English. Similar to their daughters, the majority of mothers (75%) reported they were Catholic, 10% reported other, and 16% reported no religion. The mean number of education years completed was 9.4 years. Forty percent had less than a 9th grade educa-tion and 30% had completed high school. The self-reported income ranged between US$10,000 to US$30,000 per year. About 85% of the mothers were married. Forty percent had resided in the United States for more than 20 years, 25% for 15 to 20 years, 15% for 10 to 15 years, and the remaining 20% for less than 10 years.

Procedures and MeasuresThe research testing was conducted in a university laboratory or at a local nonprofit organization location depending on the participants’ preference. Upon arrival, consent forms were reviewed and signed by the participants. The interviews for the daughters and mothers were conducted in separate rooms in English for daughters and the language preference of the mother.



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Each interview lasted on average 20 minutes and was administered by trained bilingual research assistants. The interviews for both mothers and daughters consisted of seven questions that were used to guide the conversa-tions (See Table 1). The participants were given ample time to respond. Dyads were paid US$40 for the testing session.

Demographics. Daughters were asked to complete a questionnaire that included their age, birth place, birth order, grade, and religion. Mothers were asked their age, birth place, years of education, religion, preferred language spoken at home, marital status, and annual income.

Analyses. Following the protocol, research assistants transcribed each interview. A thematic analysis was used to uncover patterns in the data. Two researchers first read through one-fourth of the data to identify codes that emerged from the narratives. Each researcher generated a list and the codes were compared. After agreeing on the coding categories, the researchers applied the codes to key parts of the narratives. Two research assistants coded all of the interview data separately and then met together to compare their coding and resolve any discrepancies. Only about 10% of the coding was discrepant. The results section lists the major themes and the number of participants (%) that raised that particular theme along with transcribed examples. The mothers’ responses were translated from Spanish to English.

ResultsMeaning of a Quinceañera

When asked what a Quinceañera meant to a girl’s family, half of the mothers responded that it signified that their daughters were growing up and becom-ing adolescents (e.g., dejando su niñez a ser adolescente, entrar a otro etapa

Table 1. Interview Questions for Mothers/Daughters

1. What does a girl’s Quinceañera mean to you? to your daughter/mother?2. Do you think the rules will change at home once she/you turn 15? a) If so, what rules will change? What rules does she/you have now?3. Will she/you have more freedom to make her/your own choices?4. Will she/you be allowed to date once she/you turn 15?5. Has your daughter (have you) ever had a boyfriend? Did your mother know?6. Do you (does your mother) approve of boyfriends?




de jovenes, and ser senorita). The majority of the adolescents, 14 (70%) perceived the event as an entry into womanhood (e.g., becoming a woman, mujeres) The majority of the mothers and daughters perceived a Quinceañera to be a religious event, a time of giving thanks to God or completing a sacra-ment of the Catholic Church. Five of the mothers (25%) mentioned that it was a time of celebration usually accompanied by a party and eight (40%) of the adolescents said so. Four (25%) of the daughters mentioned that at age 15 they expected to have more open communication with their mothers. One mother and one daughter responded in the following way when asked what the meaning of a Quinceañera was:

(Mother #3): “It’s presenting you to God, and telling God that you are before him. I know that when you get baptized you get presented to the church. Now you are presented as adolescent to the church and say ‘here I am’ and that you are going to continue to follow your faith.”

(Daughter #1): “It’s like the day when you turn from a girl to a woman. . . I guess that it is a special day, that you turn from a girl to a woman. And you don’t see her as a little girl anymore.”

Home RulesThe mothers and their daughters were asked whether the rules at home would change once the daughter turns 15. Only one-third of the mothers compared to three-fourths of the daughters said that the rules would change or that they hoped so. The mothers expressed expectations that their daughters would continue to respect their rules. For example:

(Mother #4): “Regarding rules, we already have them even though she’s not 15. At home, we don’t receive calls from friends pass 9 p.m. She can’t use the cell phone after 9 p.m. She has to go to sleep early so she can go to school the next day. She has to finish her homework, make her bed, eat breakfast in the morning before going to school, and most importantly respect us, the rules that we give her.”

(Mother #6): “My older daughter and this daughter are totally different. The rules for the younger one will be more or less like the ones for the older one. She is 18 years older but she is not allowed to arrive late to the house because she lives with us. My rule is that while she is in the house, she has to follow all the rules in the house. She cannot arrive late, and she cannot talk late on the phone.”

Among the three-fourths of daughters (n = 15) who responded that the rules would change, 12 believed or hoped that the rules would become less strict, especially in the area of parental monitoring. For example:



Romo et al. 9

(Daughter #3): “For me, hopefully they will let me go out more because so far the farthest place I can go is the teen center since I live just a block away. That’s as far as I can go, including school, but it’s just a block away so there’s not much freedom because then they come check-up on us, me and my brothers.”

Rules and expectations surrounding household duties surfaced as a major theme. About one-third of the mothers who stated that rules would remain the same expressed that their daughters would continue to be responsible for completing household duties (cleaning, cooking, and taking care of siblings). Four of the daughters were in agreement that they would have the same or more household responsibilities. Several mothers emphasized that their daughters needed to learn more about household chores. For example, one mother stated:

(Mother #7): “I expect her to help more by taking care of her own stuff. To be more responsible in taking care of her clothing. Also, to be more involved with me in the kitchen. She doesn’t like it but because I got married very young, I didn’t know much. I want her to know more.”

Another important matter for the mothers was that their daughters’ abide by their rules to complete their homework and do well in school in addition to doing chores. For the mothers, homework took priority over household duties. For example, one mother expressed:

(Mother #9): Right now her responsibility is school. It’s the priority. First I put school and then helping around the house. Her responsibility is her things. Her clothes, her bed, and that she keeps things in order.

Expectations for More FreedomThe mothers and daughters were asked if the daughters would have more freedom when they turned 15. There was high agreement in that, 13 (65%) of the mothers and 14 (70%) of the daughters reported that daughters would be granted more freedom as long as they abide by certain conditions, respect rules, and engage in good behavior. For example, two mothers expressed:

(Mother #9). “Well, I don’t think my rules are that strict. I tell her, the most important thing is that she respect the rules for curfew and then there will be no problems. There are girls who change a lot when they turn 15. They think that just because they are 15, they can do whatever they want. But I don’t think my daughter thinks this way.”

(Mother #3): “For example, if she wants more freedom to go to a party and she does not behave well, she will not be able to make her own decisions again. If she wants to be able to go to another party, and we saw that the first




time we gave her permission that she did not behave well, and she still wants to make her own decisions for herself, then she will not be given more free-dom. We are not going to let her make her own decisions in that case. We have the responsibility to bring these matters to her attention. When she is older, she will be more responsible. Then we will give her more freedom.”

Five of them mentioned that their daughters would have more freedom to wear make-up and choose their own clothes. For example, one mother and one unrelated daughter expressed:

(Mother #11): “Clothing choices, they have certain clothing choices you know. If I buy it for her, and she doesn’t like it, we just return it and buy something that she likes. You see, she has choices on what she likes to wear, she has choices. When we go with friends she can decide to stay. Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch, and she didn’t want to go, so she stayed.”

(Daughter #6) “Like [have more freedom for] stuff that I want to buy. Like they’ll give me money. Here you can buy whatever you want and things like that. They will let me buy whatever I want. My mother won’t be like, ‘Oh look at this shirt, buy this shirt.’”

Among the 14 girls who stated that they hoped or expected more freedom, three-fourth specifically mentioned that they wanted to spend more time with friends with less monitoring. Other themes raised by the daughters included what classes they could take at school and decisions about spending time with the family. Two daughters expressed:

(Daughter #7): “Like [having freedom to] sleep when I want, and also that she won’t have to call me every single time when I’m out. Like I have been with my friends two times alone and she was calling me every 5 minutes.”

(Daughter #8): “Like [having freedom] to get to go out with your friends by yourself and to not have to be with your parents all the time. I want to go out and have fun with my friends, like go to the movie theater. Also, to have more freedom not to go somewhere with them [parents]. Because usually when we were smaller, we had to go with them.”

Three mothers expressed they would be open to granting their daughters more freedom for peer activities as long as they knew the friends and their families. For example:

(Mother #10): “Maybe she will [have more freedom]. For example, if she wants to go out with her girlfriends, as long as I know her girlfriends, I know who their parents are, knowing their whole family. Only in that way would I let her.”

(Mother #5): “Right now they are at the age that they want to go to parties. They want to go to sleepovers. . . I’ve have always held my same position [regarding rules]. If she goes out, I have to know the parents, I have to know



Romo et al. 11

where she is, who they are, who else lives in that house, in what room she is staying in, all of those things before she can stay there. Just because she is 15 and a year older doesn’t mean that those rules will change.”

One mother in particular linked concerns about granting her daughter too much freedom to the potential for negative influences or harm. She stated:

(Mother #12): “I don’t have my daughter closed up in the house all the time. But I also don’t let her go out at night. I am very mistrustful, not of her, but of other people. I am more mistrustful of the people around her.”

Five of the mothers and daughters stated that they would allow their daughters to have more freedom as long as it was a “mutual decision” and that they would discuss it with them first. The mothers and daughters also emphasized the importance of them making good choices. For example, two mothers expressed:

(Mother #9): “I don’t think it [authority to make decisions] will change if she wants to continue having the same trust that she has with us now. She is always talking to us about her decisions, about what she wants to do. . . Then we give her our point of view, whether it’s a good choice or a bad choice. If she would tell me ‘Mom, I want to do this, what do you think?’ and I see that it’s a good choice, well then she can make her own decisions. But as long as she tells us.”

(Mother #13): “She can make more of her own decisions about what she can do as long as they are good choices. For example, if she thinks just because she is old enough to say ‘I want this and I want it right now,’ and if I see that it’s not such a good choice for her, then we would have to change some things. If it’s a choice that I think is good, then we won’t intervene.”

Overall, six of the mothers who responded that their daughters would not be given more freedom emphasized that their daughters were not old enough. For example:

(Mother #4): “Well she can have freedom when she turns 18 years and up, but not right now. But as long as she respects the house rules, and if she doesn’t respect them, ‘there’s the door.’ But while she is under age she has to do what we order her to do.”

(Mother #15): “When she is of age. Not now because she is not of age to make her own decisions. I mean, she is turning 15 years old but just because she’s turning 15 doesn’t mean that she’s turning the legal age.”

DatingThe daughters and their mothers were asked whether their daughters would be allowed to date once they turned 15 years of age. About 12 (60%) of the




mothers and 11 (55%) of the daughters responded that the daughter would be allowed to date under certain conditions. Half of these mothers who responded that dating would be allowed expressed that their daughters must date in groups. One-fourth responded that dating must be restricted to public places. The same themes surfaced in the daughters’ responses. Three of the 11 girls responded that they were allowed to go out on dates as long as they were in groups. Another five responded that they could go out on dates as long as it was in public places. Other conditions related to dating expressed by both mothers and daughters were that the boys had to be the same age, that the mothers knew the boy personally, and that the daughters had to be “responsible” and “take care of themselves.” A mother and her own daugh-ter stated:

(Mother #5): “When she has gone out, she goes out with groups of friends. I feel more at ease because there are different people, and she goes out to places where there are lots of people. Sometimes when they tell me that they are going out to a place, I go to that place to observe what they are doing. When she arrives home, I ask her about it and she tells me what she did or did not do. But going out with a boy alone, I think not.”

(Daughter #16): “Yeah, she talks to me about it often. Once in a while, I can go to the movies and just walk around the beach and stuff, the regular basic places I guess.”

Overall, six (30%) of the mothers and four of the daughters (20%) expressed that the girls would not be allowed to date because they were too young, emphasizing that 16 to 18 years of age would be an appropriate time. For example, one mother and one unrelated daughter expressed:

(Mother #17): “Maybe when she’s 18 [she can date]. We told them after 17 they can go on a date, but you know, I’m sure they can hide that from us.”

(Daughter #1): “Well my mom has talked to me about it once, but she said when I am going to be allowed to date is when I’m 16. . . My dad feels like if I have a boyfriend that it’ll distract me from school. . . he wants me to do good.”

Boyfriend RelationshipsThe daughters and mothers were asked whether the daughter ever had a boy-friend and whether the mother knew about the boyfriend. Half of the daugh-ters reported that they had had at least one boyfriend and, among these, only half stated that their mothers knew about it. Only two of the mothers stated that their daughter had a boyfriend. Thirty percent of the daughters perceived that their mothers would approve of them having boyfriends, but only one



Romo et al. 13

mother stated so. Both the mothers and the daughters talked about issues of disclosure. Two daughters expressed:

(Daughter #9): Yeah cause like before in 7th grade, I had a boyfriend and it was kinda like secret but they found out and we got in this big problem. They told me I couldn’t have a boyfriend until I was like 16, unless I’m doing really really good. They are always telling me before I leave to school, ‘I don’t want you to be with boys, do good.’”

(Daughter #13): “No, I don’t think so [have a boyfriend]. No, because my mom told us when we were 16. First, I have to ask my parents permission because she told us if someone asks us to tell her. Like we should tell her that we had a boyfriend or something like that. That we didn’t have to go off and be embarrassed or nothing.”

DiscussionThe general goal of the study was to examine Mexican immigrant mothers’ and their daughters’ expectations for behavior autonomy at age 15, a birthday that traditionally signifies the coming of age for girls in Latino culture. The majority of the mothers and the daughters perceived the Quinceañera to be a religious event, a way of thanking God for their daughters or an event related to sacraments in the Catholic Church. A substantial proportion of the daughters perceived it as a time of celebration with a party. Both the mothers and the daughters perceived that age 15 has developmental significance, with most of the daughters perceiving it as a celebration of an adolescent becom-ing a woman and their mothers perceiving it as a time when children transi-tion into adolescence. Differing perceptions about the level of maturity that a girl reaches at age 15 may contribute to discrepancies between mothers and daughters in how much autonomy should be granted. The majority of the mothers reported that most of the rules would remain the same at age 15, for example, strict monitoring of their daughters’ social activities would con-tinue to be enforced. In contrast, most of the daughters hoped for or expected a change in rules perceiving that the rules would or should become less strict. Several daughters mentioned that they expected or hoped to have more free-dom such as later curfews, less parental monitoring, and making decisions regarding how much time they had to spend with the family. However, sev-eral mothers stated that their daughters would still be too young to grant them more autonomy related to out-of-home activities.

Understandably, restrictive policies on social activities impact upon daughters’ peer relationships. A major theme that surfaced from the daugh-ters’ responses was their desire to choose their own friends and spend more




unsupervised time with them. Many of the mothers emphasized that strict monitoring of friendships would continue. Among the mothers who intended to become less strict, increased privileges related to peer social activities depended upon how well the mothers knew their friends and their families, consistent with findings from other qualitative studies conducted with low-income Latino families (Cruz-Santiago & Garcia, 2011; Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2007; Perreira, Chapman, & Stein, 2006). Negotiating unsupervised time with peers may be challenging for Latina girls for low-income immigrant families because of their mothers’ concerns about potential negative peer influences, fueled in part from living in neighborhood environments with high rates of adolescent risk behavior (Cruz-Santiago, & Ramirez Garcia, 2011; McKee & Karasz, 2006). Research suggests that for parents raising adolescents in disadvantaged communities, low levels of autonomy-granting may be warranted because it can protect Latino adolescents from negative peer influences. For example, Bamaca and Umana-Taylor (2006) found that Mexican-origin youth with low levels of emotional autonomy, as measured by more dependence upon parents and less individuation, reported being bet-ter able to resist peer pressure for antisocial activities. Among a sample of Latina girls living in a high-risk environment, East, Khoo, & Reyes (2006) found that strict parenting reduced Latina girls’ risk of adolescent pregnancy primarily by limiting girls’ deviant peer affiliations.

Both the mothers and the daughters expressed that rules surrounding household chores and responsibilities would remain the same or increase at the age of 15, consistent with research showing that expectations for daugh-ters in Latino culture related to household chores increase as they grow older (Ayala, 2006; McHale et al., 2005; Raffaelli & Onati, 2004). It is unclear whether Latina daughters have input into what household chores are expected from them. Joint decision-making around chores emerges around age 15 for both European American (Wray-Lake et al., 2010) and African American adolescents. It is possible that decision-making authority over household responsibilities is less relevant to the autonomy needs of Mexican American adolescents at this age. Compared to European American and African American families, Latino adolescents spend more time helping their fami-lies around the house, in part because family connectedness for Latino ado-lescents from immigrant families is defined in part by a strong obligation to assist the family (Hardway & Fuligni, 2006). Telzer and Fuligni (2009) found that assisting the family was associated with higher levels of happiness among Latino adolescents due to a sense of role fulfillment.

A few mothers and daughters in our study highlighted the importance of daughters completing their homework and putting effort into school. It has



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been suggested that parental values that girls adhere to traditional gender roles discourage Latina girls from prioritizing educational goals (Driscoll, Biggs, Brindis, & Yankah, 2001; East, 1998). However, as others have shown (Ceballo, 2004; Ong, Phinney, & Dennis, 2006), Latino children and adoles-cent are often excused from doing chores or home responsibilities to com-plete homework and focus on their studies. Our findings are consistent in that several mothers expressed that schoolwork took priority over household chores.

We found that several mothers and daughters mentioned that the daugh-ters would be granted more social freedom as long as it was a “mutual deci-sion.” In addition, several daughters mentioned that they expected to have more open communication with their mothers at age 15, suggesting that they perceived that their parents would be open to their viewpoints. Other quali-tative studies have shown that Latina girls perceive open communication to be characteristic of a positive relationship with their mothers (Crockett, Brown, Russell, & Shen, 2007; McKee & Karasz, 2006). Similarly, Mexican immigrant parents report that they understand that establishing trust, or con-fianza, is important for a healthy parent-child relationship (Cruz-Santiago & Garcia, 2011). This parenting style is uncharacteristic of the typical por-trayal of Latino parents as ones who are authoritarian in that they make unilateral decisions for youth and exhibit greater harshness than European American parents (e.g., Hill, Bush, & Roosa, 2003). Our findings are in agreement with others that an open communication parenting style can coexist with high levels of control. Guilamo-Ramos et al. (2007) found among a sample of Puerto Rican and Dominican parents that parenting styles consist both of high control and high levels of warmth with parents emphasizing the importance of explaining their decisions to their adoles-cents. Similarly, Varela et al. (2004) found that although Mexican descent parents in the United States engaged in more authoritarian practices than European American parents, they used a parenting orientation that combined both authoritative and authoritarian practices, using authoritative practices more often.

Consistent with findings from a retrospective study conducted with Latina women (Raffaelli, 2005), more than half of the mothers and daugh-ters mentioned that at age 15 the girls would be allowed to date if it took place in the context of groups and in public places. The conditions that the girls could only group date or date in public places are perhaps not unlike the types of conditions set by non-Latino parents when their adolescents begin to date, although group dating seems to begin at earlier ages for adolescents from other ethnic groups (Connolly et al., 2004). An interesting finding in




the Raffaelli (2005) study was that an earlier age of onset of group dating was associated with later generation status of the adolescent and higher edu-cation level of the parents, suggesting that less-educated low-acculturated Latino parents, much like the ones who participated in our study, would be less accepting of group dating in mid-adolescence. However, given that about two-thirds of the mothers in our study had resided in the United States for more than 15 years, it is possible that their acceptance of group dating is the result of adopting values of American culture. That is, the mothers may have developed a greater understanding of what their daughters are experi-encing with respect to desires to participate in mixed-sex group activities that are normative for adolescents growing up in the United States. The high consistency in the responses between the mothers and daughters about dat-ing rules suggest that they had previously communicated about this topic and perhaps adolescents were successful in negotiating more independence in this area.

There was less consistency between daughters and mothers related to whether the girls could have a boyfriend. Although the girls in this study were still inexperienced, half of the daughters reported that they had had at least one boyfriend and many of the girls stated that their mothers did not know about their boyfriend relationships. Ninety percent of the mothers stated that their daughters never had any boyfriends, and only one stated that she approved. Our findings contribute to research suggesting that many Latina girls conceal information about their romantic relationships from their par-ents in adolescence (e.g., Raffaelli & Ontai, 2001; de Anda et al., 1990). For the most part, secrecy in parent-adolescent relationships is detrimental in that it is associated with greater involvement in problem behavior (Smetana, Villalobos, Rogge, & Tasopoulos-Chan, 2010; Stattin & Kerr, 2000). However, in some cases, adolescents from immigrant families may perceive withholding information to be in the best interests of their parents. For exam-ple, in a qualitative study conducted with Hmong American mid-adolescent girls from immigrant families, Bakken & Brown (2010) found that the girls reported that they concealed information about their activities with their peers because they felt that their parents just did not understand what it was like to be a teenager in America. They felt that nondisclosure was a necessary strategy for dealing with their parents’ overprotectiveness and they did so to protect their parents from needless worry. Similarly, Latina adolescents from immigrant households who desire more autonomy but face strict parental control may choose to conceal romantic relationships to do what they want to do without upsetting their parents.



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Limitations of the Study

There are limitations in this study to be considered. Because this was a small-scale exploratory study, it is impossible to draw conclusions about how com-mon these socialization patterns are among Latino parents. This study was conducted with low-income, mostly Catholic, Mexican immigrant mothers (most of who had resided in the United States for more than 15 years) and their U.S.-raised daughters. We cannot generalize to other Latino subgroups, especially higher income, more highly educated, more acculturated and other religious populations. Also, we are cautious about interpreting that a control-ling style of parenting is linked primarily to values in Latino culture and not to the parents’ living situations. For example, restrictive parenting among immigrants may stem from the stresses of migration like being removed from extended family whom parents can depend upon to watch over their children. In addition, our interview questions were also somewhat leading in that they tapped into an individualistic slant on autonomy development and were not sensitive to contextual influences relevant to this population. For example, it may have been more appropriate to ask whether daughters would have less freedom at age 15 (rather than more), given their neighborhood environments and the fact that they are at higher risk than European American adolescents for a teenage pregnancy (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2010). Also, the interview questions imply that autonomy manifests as changes in the rules, but this may not be the case. There may be other forms of autonomy that remain untapped by the questions that were asked. Finally, this study is limited in that it was com-prised of a sample of mothers who were recruited to participate in a program designed to increase sexuality communication with their daughters. Although we did not collect data on the mothers’ motivation for participating, it is pos-sible that these mothers were concerned about their daughters’ vulnerability to a teenage pregnancy which may influence their parenting style.

ConclusionIn summary, we found that the majority of mothers expected to engage in a controlling and protective style of parenting of their daughters at age 15, an age that represents to them the onset of adolescence. However, there was not a one-size-fits-all parenting style, with several mothers open to relinquishing control in different areas, for example, in the personal domain related to appearance and also group dating. It is important to note that strict child-rearing practices may be interpreted differently by adolescents from different




cultures. Although high levels of parental control tends to be associated with negative outcomes for European American adolescents (e.g., Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Steinberg, 1996), the detrimental effects of strict parenting practices are less evident among ethnic minority adolescents. Latino adoles-cents report that strict rules over their social activities convey to them that their parents care about them and that they recognize that parental control contributes to their well-being (Crockett et al., 2007; Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2007; Villarruel, 1998). Increased self-esteem among Mexican American girls has been linked to perceptions of high levels of parental monitoring and their endorsement of the legitimacy of parental authority (Bush, Supple, & Lash, 2004) and also to lower levels of emotional autonomy (Bamaca & Taylor, 2006). Among Mexican American preadolescents, high levels of control are positively related to perceived maternal acceptance (Gonzales, Pitts, Hill, & Roosa, 2000).

Although we found that these Mexican American adolescents were similar to adolescents from other ethnic groups in that the majority desired increased autonomy over multifaceted issues such as going out and spending time with friends, most of the adolescents did not expect more autonomy, but rather it was something that they hoped for. A growing question of interest among researchers is to what extent do adolescents from Latino immigrant families engage in con-flict with their parents over parental control, as is typical for families from other ethnic backgrounds when parent-adolescent differences arise in opinions about the timing of autonomy (e.g., Helwig, 2006; Smetana, Daddis, & Chuang, 2003). Latina children and adolescents value their duty to respect their families more than do their peers from European American backgrounds (Dixon et al., 2008; Fuligni, Tseng, & Lam, 1999), driven by cultural values which emphasize the importance of parental authority in the family (Cauce & Domenech-Rodriguez, 2002; Harwood, Leyendecker, Carlson, Asencio, & Miller, 2002). Hence, many Latina adolescents view conflict as disrespectful and inappropriate (Fuligni, Tseng, & Lam, 1999). Nonetheless, some research suggests that Latina adolescents do voice their objections to rules that limit their social freedom (Ayala, 2006; Gallegos-Castillo, 2006) and two recent studies found that mother-daughter autonomy expectation discrepancies (Bamaca-Colbert, Umana-Taylor, & Gayles, 2012) and parental unilateral decision-making (Perez-Brena, Updegraff, & Umana-Taylor, 2012) in early adolescence were associated with increased mother-daughter conflict. More research is needed on how cultural values, environmental conditions, stresses of migration, and acculturation impact communication processes between Latina immigrant mothers and their daughters about what they should be allowed to do in mid-adolescence and how they resolve expectation discrepancies.



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Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

FundingThe authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by William T. Grant Foundation to the first author.

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Latina Mothers' and Daughters' Expectations for Autonomy at Age 15 (La Quinceañera)