Over half of Latinas feel pressure to support family: Pew

Story at a glance More than half of Latinas in the United States feel pressure to take care of family financially or by caregiving, a new Pew Research Center survey found. In a 5,078-person survey of Hispanic adults, Pew found that 63 percent of Latinas feel family pressures or work pressure. Meanwhile, 53 percent often feel...

• A new Pew Research Center survey found 63 percent of Latinas in the U.S. feel pressure to support their family or to succeed at work.

• The survey found younger, college-educated Latinas born in the U.S. were the most likely to feel the need to succeed at work or in their careers.

• Younger Latinas born in the U.S. were also more likely to feel pressure to take care of their family, according to the survey.

More than half of Latinas in the United States feel pressure to take care of family financially or by caregiving, a new Pew Research Center survey found.

In a 5,078-person survey of Hispanic adults, Pew found that 63 percent of Latinas feel family pressures or work pressure. 

Meanwhile, 53 percent often feel pressure to support their family by either taking care of children or elderly family members, living close to family or supporting family financially.  

A smaller but still sizeable number of Latinas — 39 percent — say they often feel pressure to be successful in their job or career.

Roughly of third of Latinas say they feel pressure, extremely or very often, specifically to care of children in their family, while another 28 percent say the same about living close to family, according to the survey.

While 24 percent of Latinas say they feel pressure, extremely or very often, to financially support their family, 22 percent say the same regarding caring for elderly members of the family.  

Younger, college-educated Latinas born in the U.S. are more likely to say they feel pressure to succeed at work or to live close to family, the survey shows.  

Among Latinas ages 18-30, 56 percent say they feel one of the four family pressures: to provide care for children, live close to family, financially support family or care for elderly family members. 

Meanwhile, 55 percent of Latinas between the ages of 30 and 49 say the same; that drops to 50 percent for Latinas ages 50 to 64.  

On top of this, 53 percent of younger Latinas feel pressure to succeed at their job or in their career, compared to 41 percent of Latinas aged 30 to 49, 27 percent of Latinas ages 50 to 64 and 23 percent 65 years old and older.  

Feelings of pressure to do well at work or to care for family vary more among Latinas of different educational backgrounds.  

A quarter of Latinas with a high school degree or less feel pressure to succeed in their work or career, compared to 47 percent with some college and 61 percent of Latinas with a bachelor’s degree or more, according to the survey.  

Among Latinas with a high school education or less, 49 percent say they feel pressure to take care of family while 55 percent with some college feel the same.  

Among Latinas with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 59 percent feel pressure to take care of their family in some way.  

There are 22.2 million Latinas in the United States, accounting for 17 percent of all adult women in the country, according to Pew.

Research shows women across all racial and ethnic groups are more likely take on caregiving responsibilities than men.  

But Latinas in the U.S. may face more pressure to be selfless than women from other ethnicities, the survey notes.  

“Some Latinas in the U.S. grow up with traditional cultural values carried over from Latin America,” a report published along with the survey reads.  

“This can produce pressure from family or a community to place the needs of others ahead of their own, be passive or subordinate to others, or to be virtuous or chaste.”