Effects of Physical Context on Stereotyping of Mexican American Males

Based on Trope 's (1986) model of perception, the effects of physical context on stereo-typing and willingness to affiliate with Mexican American males were examined. In this two-part study, the effect of context alone was explored by showing a stilled videoframe of a library room and a crime scene without people in them. Results indicated that the context affected expectations of the type of people who might be seen in those contexts. In the second study, the interaction of context and stereotyping was examined by placing two Mexican American males (one of whom was "stereotypical") in scholar, crime, and neutral contexts. Results reveal an interaction between context and target stereotyping whereby physical context did not affect stereotyping except when the target could not be easily categorized by ethnicity alone. Discussion centers on contributions of these studies to the literature on context, stereotyping of Mexican Americans, and future research.

Effects of Cultural Orientation on the Perception of Conflict between Relationship and Education Goals for Mexican American College Students

Cultural factors internal to the ethnic group may exacerbate external and economic barriers to the pursuit of higher education for Mexican American students. In particular, cultural variables related to traditional, relationship-oriented behaviors and expectations may be perceived to conflict with educational pursuits. The present study examined the relationship between components of cultural orientation and attitudes and values that may create tension between relationship and educational goals for Mexican American men and women. Results of a survey that assessed cultural orientation and marriage and gender role attitudes of Mexican Americans (female, N = 356; male, N = 200) indicated that the ethnic-loyalty component of cultural orientation most consistently predicted adherence to beliefs that may lead to the perception of conflict between relationship and educational goals. Discussion centers on the role of ethnic loyalty as a risk factor for Mexican American men’s and women’s decisions to pursue and complete higher education.

What Does It Mean to Be “Mexican”? Social Construction of an Ethnic Identity

To better understand the impact of ethnic identity, it is important to examine people’s social construction, or definition, of that identity. In this study, the social construction of ethnic identity of predominantly low-acculturated, first-and second-generation U.S. Mexicans and Mexican Americans was examined by asking focus group participants to talk about what it meant to them to be members of their ethnic groups. These open-ended responses then were coded along Phinney’s aspects of ethnicity. Several interesting patterns emerged, some of which have not been emphasized in previous literature, such as conflict with African Americans and Chicanas/Chicanos. Discussion centers on the value of listening to people’s social constructions of their ethnic identity to better understand their social realities.

Stereotypes about Chicanas and Chicanos

A review of the literature on stereotypes about Chicanas/os reveals that people of Mexican descent are perceived predominantly in derogatory terms, with the few positive terms primarily related to the centrality of the family for this ethnic community. This review also indicates that Chicanas/os themselves often endorse these stereotypes. However, the extant literature has not examined the counseling process in relation to consensual, social stereotypes of this ethnic group. This article serves to bridge that gap in the literature. Counselors are strongly encouraged to be cognizant of how stereotypes may affect Chicanas/os, especially in areas related to identity, risky behavior, stereotype threat, education, gender roles, and stigmatization. Counselors are encouraged to increase racial awareness as part of the mental health development of their Chicana/o clients. Counselors are particularly challenged to examine how their own conscious and unconscious stereotypes may affect the counselor-client relationship. Future research directions are also discussed.

Current Directions in Chicana/o Psychology

In this Major Contribution, we focus on the mental and psychological health issues relevant to Mexican Americans or Chicanas/os, and we identify and introduce some important contemporary areas of research that reflect the unifying theme of Current Directions in Chicana/o Psychology. These areas include counseling, assessment, and service-delivery issues; the content and influence of stereotypes; and the role of ethnic identity in the psychological health of Chicana/o people. To provide an ecological context for the series of articles that follow, identifying labels/terminology, demographics, cultural characteristics, and political barriers descriptive of Chicanas/os are addressed. Our hope is that the series of articles composing this issue serves to raise the awareness of mental health professionals about issues facing Chicanas/os and to provide guidelines for future counseling intervention and research.

Causal relationships of processes of change and decisional balance: stage-specific models for smoking

This study, a secondary analysis of prospective data of smokers, tested whether the causal relationships between the processes of change and decisional balance of the transtheoretical model of change (TTM) are stage-specific. It was expected that for smokers in the contemplation stage, higher levels of experiential processing cause the cons of smoking to become more important and the pros of smoking to become less important. In other words, the level of experiential process use was expected to causally influence decisional balance (pros minus cons) for people in the contemplation stage. For ex-smokers in the action stage, when the cons outweigh the pros (cons become more important while pros become less important), they should increase their behavioral process use: decisional balance was expected to causally influence use of behavioral processes. Cross-lagged panels were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that experiential process use has causal predominance over decisional balance for smokers in the contemplation stage. For those in the action stage, however, neither decisional balance nor behavioral process had apparent causal predominance. Mean-level invariance indicates that the contemplation and action stages are different. Further analysis investigated smokers who progressed from contemplation to either preparation or action or from preparation to action. For these smokers who had progressed toward action, decisional balance did causally influence use of behavioral processes. This evidence provides support for the use of the TTM as the basis for planning interventions that target specific stage-dependent causal mechanisms.

Relationship of solo status, academic rank, and perceived distinctiveness to job satisfaction of racial/ethnic minorities

The relationships among solo status of racial/ethnic minorities in psychology departments, job satisfaction, and subjective feelings of distinctiveness were examined. Distinctiveness was defined as stigmatizing feelings associated with token status of racial/ethnic minorities in academia. It was hypothesized that minorities in positions of solo (relative to nonsolo) status within their departments, members of more stigmatized groups, and minorities occupying lower academic ranks would feel more distinctive and less satisfied with their jobs and that perceptions of distinctiveness would mediate job satisfaction. The data partially supported these hypotheses, most notably for African Americans. The implications of situational salience and the importance of recognizing differences among and between minority groups are considered.