Parenting adolescent girls and boys in guatemala

Abstract

“Everything for my children” is a common sentiment among Guatemalan parents displaying an unwavering, unconditional commitment to their children. Although this saying suggests that a strong family unit is at the heart of Guatemalan culture, only limited research exists about parenting Guatemalan adolescents. Research on how the country’s prevalent gender role ideologies, machismo, caballerismo, and marianismo, shape parents’ treatment and expectations of their adolescent children is even scarcer. In this chapter, we review the extant literature on those gender roles and the available research on Guatemalan adolescents’ own views on gender and gender roles in their communities. We describe the existing literature on parenting in Guatemala, which focuses primarily on young children. A series of future directions argue for continued and more extensive research at the intersection of Guatemalan culture, adolescence, parenting, and gender. Specifically, the merit in methodological diversity and the importance of capturing the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity in Guatemala should emerge as priorities when undertaking future work in this area.