"Here there is much more and much less": Hmong-American families, culture and childbearing in the "land of the giants"
Author(s):
Helsel, Deborah G.
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : University of California, San Francisco, 1993.
Pages:
229
Language:
English
Abstract:
This dissertation examines an emerging Hmong-American culture, specifically as it is expressed through childbearing patterns and perspectives. Traditional Hmong culture expressed itself in high levels of childbearing. The purpose of this research is to ascertain the meanings and patterns of childbearing within two generations of a Hmong-American community. Interview data from 100 adult and adolescent Hmong-Americans are analyzed using qualitative and quantitative techniques to elicit information on respondents' real or intended life course. Adolescent respondents indicated intentions to delay marriage, postpone first childbirths, attend college and obtain employment outside the home. The average number of intended childbirths reported by the adolescents was, at three, half the average number of children born to adult respondents. The thesis argues that although strategies have changed, the value of family survival has not. Survival in the U.S. has been reconstructed into financial survival. Traditional childbirth patterns and perspectives are being retooled to accommodate those demands as Hmong-American cultures emerge.