Día de las Madres: Study reveals extent of Latina moms' phone use in parenting

Highlighting the warmth of Latina mothers and their integration of technology into family life, a recent study has uncovered that 70% of madres consider their mobile phones and tablets to be vital tools for parenting or caregiving. This contrasts with 56% of all mothers who feel the same. The study was commissioned by Verizon and conducted in collaboration with Morning Consult.

Elsewhere in the study, nearly 2 out of 5 Latino parents, particularly Latina mothers, say that their use of their mobile phone has changed since having children, using it more than expected for parenting (63% versus 43% of all mothers in the U.S.) and 3 in 5 Latina mothers say they they use their mobile phone more than they expected for raising their children (63%) compared to all U.S. mothers (43%).

The survey, which included national samples of 2,203 U.S. adult respondents, 1,100 U.S. Hispanic respondents, and 846 U.S. Latina mothers and caregivers, also revealed that cell phone usage overall is big among Latina mothers in general, as 53% said they favored the use of their phones for relaxation or self-care, work and parenting.

When it comes specifically to Mother's Day and the differences between Latino mothers and other demographics, the study also dished out several insights:

• 54% of Latino adults celebrate a female caregiver in addition to their mother on Mother's Day, compared to 41% of adults in the U.S. in general. These include sisters, grandmothers, or aunts.
• Latino adults prefer to perform activities (26%) and video calls (25%) to celebrate their maternal figures more than the average U.S. adult.
• Latino adults tend to communicate with their maternal figures early in the morning (44%) on Mother's Day, more than the average U.S. adult (33%).
• Latin mothers show a greater preference for receiving a mobile phone (22%) or a smartwatch (18%) as a gift compared to mothers in general.

One additional tidbit of information provided by the sprawling report has to do with Latino mothers' preferences color preferences, a tip that might come in handy now that certain flowers have been prohibited from crossing the border. Purple and blue are the most common favorite colors among U.S. mothers in general, while Latino mothers are more divided between blue, red, and pink.