UCLA

Research examining how Mexican American mothers socialize emotions and prosocial behavior has frequently been conducted in lab-based studies in which they are often compared to Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) samples (Rogoff, 2003). Quantitative investigations examining Mexican American mothers’ parenting practices have ranked them low on parental sensitivity or high on harsh discipline, without an investigation of the beliefs and goals behind their parenting behaviors (Lugo-Candelas et al., 2015). Yet often these assessments to do not correlate to their children’s behavior, in contrast to theories about parental sensitivity and children’s social and emotional skills (Pintar-Breen et al., 2018; Eisenberg et al., 1998). Over two decades of research has demonstrated that social and emotional skills are important for children’s academic achievement and social well-being (Durlak et al., 2011). Children with stronger social and emotional skills tend to succeed academically, have stronger interpersonal relationships, and fare better in long term health and mental well-being outcomes (Greenberg et al., 2017). Given the relevance of these skills for children’s school readiness, there is interest in understanding the factors that lead to differences in SEL skills at school entry. Evidence from past ecocultural work in this area has linked Mexican cultural values such as familismo and respeto as protective factors to Latinx families (Calzada et al., 2012; Knight et al., 2016). This dissertation study investigates how Mexican American mothers socialize emotions and prosocial behavior through semi-structured interviews that gather information about mothers’ upbringing, beliefs, and values. Five meta themes emerged from the data: Shifting perspectives in parenting practices, teaching children the meaning behind kindness, gendered expectations of kindness and emotion expression, the importance of giving back to the community, and mother’s self reflections. Results discuss each meta theme and subtheme, discussing variances in mothers’ beliefs and practices by generation status and educational attainment. Implications of this study may inform school-based social and emotional learning programs and parenting programs targeting Latinx families.