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Interview With Hispanic Adolescents

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Introduction The Hispanic adolescent chosen for this interview and paper will be referred to as Maria. The interview took place at this student’s home followed by the observation of Maria interacting with this student’s daughter. Maria was relaxed and enjoyed the conversation. She was very open and willing to share about her life.
Description
Maria is seventeen and starting her senior year in high school. She lives with her parents, ten-year-old brother, and nine-month-old sister. They live in a mobile home and work blue collar jobs. The family is very close and sometimes find it difficult to let others in, especially if they are not part of the extended family. Mom and dad both work full time and rely on Maria to watch her brother in the …show more content…

She does not have any disabilities and is in good health. Maria is hardworking and responsible for her age and credits that to her Guatemalan culture. She is also very smart which she says is due to the fact that her parents only except “A’s” and expect her to work hard for her grades. Halle et al. (2011) discusses the fact that even though they may be behind in math and reading, dual language learners that live in a Spanish only speaking home have more social-emotional competencies as young as kindergarten. Maria states that it is difficult to make and keep friends. Maria is someone who likes to please everyone so she struggles socially. Her parents do not really except new people and that is difficult. Maria says friendships are a stress for her when trying to find a balance between friends and family. Bámaca-Colbert, Plunkett, and Espinosa-Hernández, (2011) say that this is a time when adolescents have the basis for their identity and self-concept. For Maria this leads to anxiety and depression due to the difficulty of pleasing her parents and having friends that can her gage social …show more content…

Her grandmother was catholic and then something happen in the catholic church and she became a Christian and now tells everyone about her faith.
Critical Reflection Although I had only met her once or twice, Maria is a friend of my daughter. Some assumptions I had about Maria were confirmed and others were challenged. I assumed she came from a very strict, Catholic family and that she was born and raised in the United States. I found out that though religion is important to her, she does not attend church. Instead of being born and raised in the United States, she spent most of her childhood in Guatemala. She states that her parents are very strict and she does not get to do much socially.
I enjoyed doing the interview, mainly because I love to learn about people. It felt a little strange to interview a friend of my daughter, especially knowing I could not share anything with my daughter due to confidentiality. Even though I have a house full of teenagers on most days and we talk I was still unsure how this interview would workout. I felt the interview went great and we were both relaxed and open with one

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