Understanding Mexican Families

Understanding mexican families: context, characteristics and challenges

M.P.P. Claudia Michelle Damián ZentenoLa Salle University

INTRODUCtion

Mexico is a country of great diversity and vibrancy. With a population of 126,014,024 people as of 2020, we rank 11th among the most populated countries. Our population has quadrupled in the past 70 years, a trend carefully tracked by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) through major population censuses conducted every 10 years. The effects of capitalism, postmodernism, and globalization have brought significant changes to our families alongside this population growth.

MEXICO IN NUMBERS

In Mexico, out of every 100 inhabitants, 49 are men and 51 are women. However, there are more men than women in the age group of 0 to 19 years. Between the ages of 20 and 24, the number of women surpasses that of men. Over time, the proportion of children has decreased.

The main causes of divorce in 2022 were: no-fault divorce (66.5%), mutual agreement (31.7%), and abandonment of the marital home for more than a year, with or without justification (0.7%). Mutual agreement applies to administrative and judicial divorces.

There were 166,766 divorces, of which 166,161 were between heterosexual couples and 605 were between same-sex couples.

Marriage and divorce

During 2022, there were 507,052 registered marriages, with 501,223 between heterosexual couples and 5,829 between same-sex couples.

The average age for men to get married was 34, and for women, it was 31. In the case of same-sex marriages, the average age for men to get married was 37, and for women, it was 35. Same-sex marriage is now legal nationwide.

33 underage individuals were married.

95% of married men work, while for women it is 54%. The main activities for both genders are employment, self-employment, and labor.

The average age for divorce for women is 41, while for men it is 43.

From the divorces registered in 2022, 34% of couples had been married for over 20 years.

The shape of our families

Living in different homes

A home can consist of a group of people who may or may not be related, but share the same household. A person living alone also constitutes a home. In the 2020 National Population and Housing Census, homes were classified as family and non-family homes.

Reference personIt is the person recognized by the other inhabitants of the home as the head of the family. The information from the 2020 Population and Housing Census shows that in 33 out of every 100 households, women are recognized as heads of household, this means 11,474,983 households.

Biparental and monoparental homes

• In 2017, there were 53.8% of biparental and 18% monoparental homes reported.
• From biparental homes, 16,694,051 were reported as having a male figure as head of the family; while only 1,650,144 reported a female figure as head of the family.
• On the other hand, monoparental families reported 993,935 households with a male head of the family and 5,146,911 with a female as head of the family.
• Homes with a male head of the family (96.6%) are mostly nuclear ones (79%).
• In homes with a female head of the family only 55% are nuclear and 29.9% are extended or blended.

In 2020. an average of 3.6 people lived in family homes.

In 2017, 25.8% of homes were extended family homes.

In 2017, 2.5% were reported as blended family homes.

Family-related condtions

The migratory event itself fragments the family in time and space, while family disintegration is the definitive breakdown of family ties generated by some type of conflict. Families develop strategies to maintain and preserve family ties across borders, and this shapes what which some authors have called “kinship work”.Long-distance conjugality that also remains separated, with obligation to do so,especially towards women who must take care of children and family property.Semi-presential parentality. Conditions of social vulnerability.

Migration

As Mexico is considered a third-world country, it's not uncommon for people to try to find better ways to live. The precarious economic conditions and the closeness to USA has led to a growing migration phenomenom. From 2015 to 2020, 802,807 people migrated out of the country. 47% of the migrating population is between 18 and 29 years old. In 2018, the main cause of migration was to work (67.7%).

DOMESTIC violence

In the last year there were 284,203 reported cases of domestic violence (National Citizens Observatory). Common risk factors include poverty, low educational level, alcohol consumption and drugs, violence experienced during childhood, lack of social support and lack of access to support services and economic resources. Some of the common experiences of victims of domestic violence are: Social isolation, economic dependence, fear and threats, feelings of guilt, lack of knowledge of their rightsOther associated crimes are: incestuous relationships, sexual assault towards children and teenagers and femicide.

Substance abuse

• 0.6% present possible dependence on the consumption of drugs in the last year (546 thousand).
• 9.9% have used illegal drugs at some time in the life (15.8% men and 4.3% women); 2.7% have consumed in the last year (4.4% men and 1.1% women) and 1.4% in the last month (2.6% men, 0.4% women).
• 8.6% have used marijuana at some time in their life, 2.1% in the last year (1.8 million) and 1.2% in the last month.
• 3.5% have used cocaine at some point in their life, 0.8% in the last year and 0.4% in the last month.
• The consumption of other illegal drugs presents prevalence equal to or less than 1.1% for consumption ever, 0.2% in the last year and 0.1% in the last month.
• The age of initiation of drug use is 17.8 years (men 17.7 and women 18.2).
• Of people who present possible dependence on drugs in the last year, 20.3% have attended treatment (22% men and 12.8% women)

Substance abuse

• Today some rehabilitation centers in Mexico are supervised and controlled by the cartels - not the Government - who have databases and list users. They operate in anarchy and take advantage of the centers to:
• Hide.
• Hide people reported missing.
• Recruit "hawks": hitmen and drug sellers.
• Use them as "operation centers" for criminals who have arrest warrants, or are wanted by the authorities.
• Use them as "safe houses" to inflict torture on debtors or adversaries.
• Extorting family members of addicts financially.
• Sell ​​drugs from there.
• Lack of supervision and the "disdain" of the various levels of Government, becomes evident only when misfortunes occur in the rehabilitation centers such as frequent homicides due to excessive violence towards inmates, torture or forced internments.
• Only in the northwest part of the city Ensenada – 110 kilometers from the border between Mexico and the United States in the state of Baja California (north) – there were more than 50 addiction rehabilitation centers, both for adults and for children and adolescents, many more than the number of schools or public parks.

There are far more conditions and challenges than the enlisted here today. However, these are some of the most common ones amongst our population. There are also specific challenges to every state, city and town, which welcomes the family therapist to get to know the social aspects that the family is in and that conditions their suffering.

Men

Women

Unspecified

Domestic labor, unpaid

Business owner, entrepreneur

Self-employment

Laborer

Employee

Worker

Jobs people perform at the time of marriage (2022)

According to the National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE), in the first quarter of 2023, 36.9% of people were married, 33.1% were single, and 17.8% were in common-law marriage, all aged 15 and above.

- 1 is blended, composed of a nuclear or extended household, and at least one person not related to the head of the household.

Family homes

A family home can be categorized as nuclear, extended, or blended.In Mexico, out of every 100 family homes: - 71 are nuclear, consisting of the father, mother, and children, or only the mother or father with children. A couple living in the same household without children also constitutes a nuclear household. - 28 are extended, comprising a nuclear household plus other relatives (aunts, cousins, siblings, grandparents, etc.).

On the other hand, a non-family home is divided into two categories: single-person households and co-resident households.For every 100 non-family households:- 95 are sole proprietorships*, consisting of a single person.- 5 are co-resident households, made up of two or more people who are not related to the head of the household.