Depression in Cuban Women and the Concept of Marianismo

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2023 in the subject Psychology - Social Psychology, , course: Capstone AP Research, language: English, abstract: This research paper examines the correlation between depression levels and the implications of marianismo, traditional Hispanic gender roles for women, amongst Cuban women between the ages of 13-18. Hispanic youth has been found to be the ethnic group with the highest depression levels and strained mental health. Current research has been unable to identify the specific factors that cause this phenomenon, specifically within female Hispanics. Within Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba has the lowest budget for physical and psychological health, showing an overall neglect of mental health. In Cuban culture, mental health has a prominent stigma accounting for the lack of budget and awareness around this subject, making it important to analyze the reason for such mental health declines. As it has been shown that the current youth shows detrimental depression levels, it's important to study first-generation adolescents. In this study, participants were interviewed for approximately two hours and asked about their demographics, family life, personal identity, mental health status, and how marianismo has affected them. This study identified a direct positive correlation between high depression levels and implications of marianismo, traditional gender norms. Indicating that gender roles can and have negatively affected the mental health of female Cuban adolescents.