Why do hmong people marry so early

She and her then boyfriend merely told her parents and said they were going to the store. But they really left Sacramento, where Xiong lived, and came to Stockton to get married. She remembers hearing stories from her grandmother in Malaysian, and soon enough she started getting a grasp for that language. Senior Mew Kusakul kno Print Edition. Gaming club held its first school-wide video tournament last Friday after school in A2. The event is a monthly fundraiser where both club members and Losing a sibiling.

Learning languages aids communications skills. Junior develops a love for alligators. Shaddai embraces the DJ lifestyle. Seniors enjoy first Grad Nite in years. Welfare allows her year-old husband to stay home with the children while Nou continues high school. But even if she manages to finish, the four small children make it unlikely she will escape the welfare cycle. Hmong marriage rituals here are a mix of the old and the modern.

Often the marriages are spurred by a girl seeking independence from parents who forbid dating, or by an older man who employs techniques ranging from sweet talk to snatching a bride by force. Only then can the girl cross the threshold into her new family. In a concession to modern times, her parents are telephoned immediately and told of the marriage. Hmong culture affords them little choice but to accept the match.

Hmong rarely talk about the custom with outsiders, knowing the marriages are often illegal and could provoke backlash. Sex with anyone under 15 is a felony in California, and marriage under 18 requires court permission. So the unions remain hidden from view. On rare occasions when social service and law enforcement agencies discover an illegal relationship, officials are stretched too thin to pursue a crime rooted more in culture than in vice--although infrequently a Hmong man is prosecuted for kidnaping a child bride.

To look inside this secret world, The Times talked to girls in Hmong enclaves around the San Joaquin Valley--in high schools, at hangouts, in homes. Even speaking about the practice, they said, is a betrayal of culture. The custom of marrying young was already in place when the Hmong fled persecution in China in the s and migrated to the rugged mountains of Laos.

The Hmong were recruited by the CIA in the s to fight the Viet Cong, and early marriage and child-bearing helped offset a casualty rate times that of U. Infant mortality was very high. So marrying young and having children was a way to preserve our own kind.

Here, the forces that keep early marriage alive--even for girls raised on MTV and Big Macs--are a jumble of old and new. Chue, 18, a senior at Merced High, said she was caught in public with her boyfriend two years ago. To fend off gossip, her parents pushed marriage, even though they knew it could block her goal of college.

Other girls said they agreed to marry a man they barely knew as a way to win social privileges--dating, staying out after dark--that American girls take for granted. But their jump across the doorstep was no leap to emancipation, they say.

He picked me up and took me to his house. My mother told me not to get married but it happens. Another taboo that Hmong people take seriously is regarding marriages between two people with the same last name, and therefore belong to the same clan. These are prohibited because of the shame that would be brought upon the two families.

Instead of the focus being on the bride and groom, Hmong weddings are about uniting the two families. Every Hmong wedding is different depending on the situation of the bride and her family. For example, widows and divorced Hmong women have short weddings because they were already given a fully extended one.

First, the bride and groom unite. Second, she is inducted into his family on the third morning of their union. Women enter into marriage through mutual agreement or by force. Woman can easily leave with the man during the night and be taken to the home of the man. Modern health care is believed to be beneficial, but traditional diagnosis and treatment either herbal or spiritual may be used first. Some biomedical treatments may conflict with Hmong belief. After a general anesthetic, it may be necessary to perform a soul calling ceremony in the operating room.

People may consider the amount of blood in the body to be finite and not rejuvenating, and they may resist blood draws. There may be resistance to vaccines and problems of adherence to treatments that require long-term sustained use of medicine. In most cases, Hmong will willingly use medicine that brings observable results. Hmong women may refuse vaginal examinations, especially by male doctors. Medical examinations of the breast or private parts are sensitive issues in the Hmong community as well as other ethnicities not used to Western medical practices.

Mammogram, Pap smear or rectal exams were not available back in the homeland. When the patient is Hmong, knowledge of the medical services must be assessed first before introducing the medical exams.

To foster understanding of the medical exams or diagnosis, visual aids of the human body part related to health condition must be used to accompany the information. Issues of trust between a care provider and the patient and family are critical. The reputations of care providers, those trusted and those not trusted, are shared in the community.

When dealing with a Hmong family, confidentiality is considered to be a very important issue. However, within the family itself, confidentiality may not be thought of as all that important and families may make care-giving decisions together. The men in the family may consult traditional healers for advice about health care decisions. Family members share their experiences and seek support from one another. When talking to less assimilated Hmong persons it may be necessary to repeat questions and allow extra time for responses.

In the United States, less-assimilated Hmong may have a limited English vocabulary; it is helpful to use simple terminology whether by telephone, in person, or through an interpreter.

Traumatic experiences of war and its aftermath leave an impact on health. Hmong were victims or witnesses to terror — bombings, murder, rape, drowning, starvation, displacement and discrimination. Post-traumatic stress disorder may be prevalent among Hmong in the United States. US studies have shown high rates of depression, often related to the life situation difficulties of the Hmong refugee — especially difficulties of adjusting to life in the US.

See a May 25, New York Times article about a program in which construction and maintenance of community gardens and adjoining meeting spaces for Hmong and other immigrant communities are made possible by the California Mental Health Services Act of Immigrant families often struggle to meet insurance co-payments, and culturally attuned therapists are in short supply.

Warner and M. Mochel discussing the linguistic and cultural barriers the Hmong encounter when they attempt to access the health care delivery system in Merced County, CA.

The Hmong society remains one of the most structured social groupings in the world. Several levels of community are identifiable in the Hmong social structure worldwide: clan, sub-clan, ceremonial households, extended families, and nuclear families. At all levels, the Hmong are communitarian in nature, surviving on relationships.

Due to the various influences of acculturation, the Hmong community has become less cohesive in the United States compared to life in Laos or other homelands. In traditional Hmong culture, the son and his wife are to live with the parents and care for them in old age.

In the modern day, specifically in the US, as many children and parents become independent, there is tendency to live in separate houses. A decrease in extended families living together has led to loss of social support for elderly parents.

In the homeland, people farmed for their own crops and food. People had similar lives and there was no large income gap causing people to look down on each other. In the US, the social structure has changed. People work to earn a living. Those who are unable to work rely on public welfare. In the US, the gap between household incomes has resulted in decreased community coherence. The events are organized independently by different Hmong organizations established by different clans.

People travel from afar, even across the country, to join different New Years events. The U. A community estimate puts the total number of Hmong living in the U. It is rare that Hmong families in the U. Minnesota appears to have attracted the strongest percentages of Hmong from various regions throughout the country between According to the Census, the largest population of Hmong in the U.

Census data indicate that Refugee arrivals peaked at 27, in Of the current population, about According to the census, the Hmong are the only ethnically based population with a median age under Fifty-six percent of Hmong are under the age of 18 compared to twenty-five percent of the entire US population. The median age for Hmong in the US is Fifty-one percent are males, forty-nine percent females. Hmong families in the US average 6.

Per average Hmong household there are 6. Clan leaders will typically settle any dispute between two Hmong persons or between different clans. Clan leaders may be involved in such matters as reconciling a quarreling couple, and ensuring that individuals fulfill ritual obligations.

In Laos, there was no single Hmong government or ruler. The leader at the family level can be a powerful and influential person in the community. He may not necessarily be the most educated but is someone who holds the respect of others because he cares for the people and is just and fair.

He is someone who knows all the rules and norms of the culture. People seek advice from this leader and rally for his support. The leader accepts responsibility for giving advice and solving problems. When there is a challenge in a nuclear family setting, it is best resolved within that unit. If that fails, the next level of the hierarchy will take over. This process continues, if required, until the conflict is satisfactory solved. During their history, there has not been any one Hmong leader who presided across borders even though the Hmong have a word for a Hmong national leader — Hmoob tus vaj — tus coj ib haiv Hmoob.

The one person that comes closest to this position is General Vang Pao. Due to his record in Laos during the Vietnam War, the Hmong all over the world have heard of him or have respect for the man.

He is considered by some to be the Hmong paramount leader. Saykao, The threat to deport Hmong refugees in Thailand into Laos initiated many support groups in the US to stop the illegal deportation of Hmong in Thailand refugee camps, and ask for political asylum by letting them come to the US.

Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, In California, 18 clans met in Fresno to put a cap on the dowry price. The guideline was drafted by clan leaders with the help of Fresno lawyers. The purpose of the dowry cap is to prevent parents from imposing unreasonably high wedding fees i. Lo and Magagnini, Historically, in the Hmong community wrongdoings ranging from domestic violence to murder, theft, etc.

Today, in the US, the US legal system is sought to resolve such offenses, with the exception of domestic violence. Domestic violence is the only problem in which family members and clan leaders still try to resolve it first before resorting to the US legal system. The Indochinese Farm Project, funded by a Seattle city block grant and by the King County Park Commission from through , helped some Hmong and other former farmers from Laos learn about Seattle soil, weather, marketing, and business practices.

Several Hmong families have established truck farms near Woodinville, selling vegetables and flowers in the Pike Place Market in Seattle.

In Washington State, less than 12 percent of Hmong receive public assistance. Many Hmong work two jobs, often in factories, landscaping, housekeeping, or mechanics. Some are professional teachers, social workers or interpreters. Many women continue making tradition-derived needlework that finds its way to market, usually through fairs or the Pike Place Market. For some, this had developed into other kinds of sewing, such as piecework, stuffed animals or hair bows, and factory sewing.

The Hmong families who have settled in Washington formed a hard-working, permanent nucleus. They became citizens, bought homes, worked hard, and invited other Hmong to join them.

Donnelly, Historically, neighborhoods were marked by a sense of caring and trust regardless of the clan name last name. The sense of being neighbors was also practiced on the farm. During the early days when Hmong started settling in the US, a Hmong neighborhood was filled with people who knew each other.

Due to their sense of family values being more important than the individual, Hmong settled in cities or states where relatives resided. As times changed, people tended to live where they could survive economically. Hmong neighborhoods that are still more visible are those in California and Minnesota. Hmong New Year has changed in its way of being celebrated in the US.

After the feasts, the community would have one single New Year celebration lasting several days with activities of ball tossing and chanting poetic songs, boys seeking brides and girls seeking potential husbands. In the US, especially in big cities such as Seattle, St. Paul, etc. Bozeman St. The organization was established by a coalition of Mien, Hmong and Khmuu people in May , after eight years of planning.

It is a community-gathering place, and offers programs for children such as after school tutoring and classes in traditional dance, language and arts. Hmong National Development, Inc. These two organizations organize the Hmong New Year in Oregon. Language: Limited or no English language skill is still a problem faced by many Hmong people who had less than 5 years of formal or adult education.

This issue creates challenges for adults in communicating with children who are more acculturated and in searching for and maintaining jobs. Those who practice the new religion may no longer want to eat the food, especially from the celebration of a new birth or a New Year feast, prepared by those who still practice shamanism.

Due to the food bias, Hmong people practicing the new religion may decline to attend family gatherings organized by relatives who still practice shamanism, weakening the Hmong community network. Marriage roles: As with the overall general trend in the US, there is increasing number of men taking on childcare responsibilities while the wife works outside of the home.

The changing role has lead to marital problems in cases where there is no mutual understanding and support for the wife to work. One common conflict is the misperception of being adult at 18 years old. Hmong American children who embrace the notion that they can do whatever they like when they are 18 years old experience many family problems.

This issue contributes to social problems caused by teenagers having no supervision at home after school. In the homeland, all the household members go the farm and come back home together; or in a situation where a child did go to school, the parents would be back from the farm when school is out.

Healthcare: There were no healthcare services in the homeland, so Hmong people practiced personal home care consulting with herbalist and shaman to prevent and cure illness. Many Hmong are taking advantage of the modern healthcare services available in the US, though there is still disparity especially among adults with limited English skills. Critical health issues for Hmong people in the US include diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney problems, hepatitis A, and mental health.

The changes in diet, especially consumption of food high in sugar and fat, and lack of knowledge about screening services are possible reasons for the increasing prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney and hepatitis A.

If the patient, especially an elder Hmong person, does not receive any medicine, it is appropriate to explicitly explain to the patient the reason no medication is given. Law enforcement: Police officers may be perceived as frightening authority figures and bearers of bad news. Some elderly Hmong might consult with relatives or the clan leader or a community member with knowledge of the legal system before permitting the police to enter their home.

People may be hesitant to say much or respond to questions asked by the police, being afraid of saying the wrong things due to their limited English ability. Cha, D. Chan, S.