d economic pressures of American life have modified the Mexican family, yet the proximity of the Mexican border provides a continual influx of Mexican nationals that serve to maintain the family and emotional ties to Mexico and to enhance the Mexican cultural values.One key element encouraging change has been the increased movement of families from rural to urban life. Today, more than 85% of all Mexican Americans reside in the urban centers of the southwestern and Midwestern United States. This factor has had a profound impact on the family structure. Although a family orientation remains, Mexican Americans families today are less likely to be composed to extended kin residing in the same household than to be residing nearby, which still facilitates more frequent interaction. The supportive family system is much more characterized by voluntary interaction than by the necessity for economic survival that characterized the rural environment of their forefathers. Due to the various patterns of immigration, there exists much heterogeneity among the Mexican American population. Mexican American families span the continuum of acculturation and assimilation, depending on the conditions of their immigration, length of time in the United States, and their sense of relatedness. Although there continues to be a disproportionate number of Mexican American families in the lower socioeconomic levels, there has been increasing social and economic mobility, as characterized by a growing number of Mexican American students in college and universities, an increase in Mexican Americans in professional and managerial positions, and a stronger Mexican voice in all aspects of society. As has been true of all women in society, more Mexican American women are entering the force. There are greater numbers entering professions and participating more fully in various walks of life.These factors come together to continually modify the Mexican American fam...
