Objectives: Previous research has documented that Latinos/as value the cultural script Simpatía, a tendency to be kind, polite, and focus on others. No previous study has been able to capture the behavioral markers of Simpatía in a naturalistic environment. Method: Behavioral cross-sectional audio data were collected on the daily interactions between Latina and White European mothers with their partners and other adults using a digital audio recorder across 4 days. A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze the data. Results: Latinas exhibited increased behavioral Simpatía when talking to other adults compared to White European counterparts. Additionally, Latina mothers chose as a main character of their conversations other people rather than themselves. Conversely, White European mothers chose themselves as a main character of their conversations instead of other people. Conclusions: These results show that core features of Simpatía (kindness and focus on others) can be found at the behavioral level in the environment that Latina mothers face on a daily basis. Implications for the cultural self and future research are discussed.

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Research has demonstrated that bilingual individuals experience a “double personality,” which allows them to shift their self-schemas when they are primed with different language modes. In this study, we examine whether self-schemas change in Mexican-American (N = 193) bilinguals living in the U.S. when they provide open-ended personality self-descriptions in both English and Spanish. We used the Meaning Extraction Helper (MEH) software to extract the most salient self-schemas that influence individuals' self-defining process. Following a qualitative-inductive approach, words were extracted from the open-ended essays and organized into semantic clusters, which were analyzed qualitatively and named. The results show that as expected, language primed bilinguals to think about different self-schemas. In Spanish, their Mexican self-schemas were more salient; whereas, in English their U.S. American self-schemas were more salient. Similarities of self-schemas across languages were assessed using a quantitative approach. Language differences and similarities in theme definition and implications for self-identity of bilinguals are discussed.

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Latinx in the United States have greater life expectancy than other groups, in spite of their socioeconomic and psychosocial disadvantage. This phenomenon has been described as the Latinx health paradox. This investigation observed the interplay of cultural processes and social networks to shed light on this paradox. Latina (N = 26) and White-European (N = 24) mothers wore a digital recorder as they went about their daily lives. Four conversation styles were characterized from the recordings to measure the mothers’ quality of their conversations (small talk and substantive conversations) within different social networks (with the father vs. other adults). As a positive indicator of well-being, laughter was assessed during the conversations. Results demonstrated that Latina mothers tend to laugh more than White-European mothers; and that this relation is mediated by substantive conversations with others. This suggests that Latinas’ cultural processes afford meaningful conversations, which relates to more behavioral laughter, a process that may have positive implications on well-being.