Latino Masculinity: Underlying Factors in College Persistence Levels

Abstract

Despite growing numbers, Latinos lag behind whites in higher education. This gap is especially salient for Latino men, who earned only 37.6 percent of associate's and bachelor's degrees awarded to Latino students in 2010. The following study uses interviews with thirteen ethnically diverse, first-generation, self-identified Latino men currently enrolled in four-year universities in the Greater Boston area to explore the influences Latino men idetnify as impacting their collge success and persistence rates. Grounded theory analysis of the inerview data reveals the correlations between previous academic experiences and family influence on participants' ability to graduate. The paramount role of participants' cultural constructions of masculinity and their effect on help-seeking behaviors was a surprising and unique finding. Masculinity and help-seeking behaviors were, therefore, found to play a key role in college achievement and persistence for the men in this study. This article also discusses implications for mental hleath practitioners, educational advocacy groups, and universities.

“Be that Light for the Next Generation”: Latino Men Find Agency During Their Undergraduate Experiences

“…As a part of the study, participants shared a re-occurring experience where their friends, who identified as Latino men, made it a point to clearly identify any male individual who expressed feelings that could be deemed too sensitive. The participants of this study qualified these experiences by suggesting that their Latino friends were much more concerned with “acting stereotypically male” (Vasquez, 2015, p. 37). The gender policing that Latino men practice and reinforce greatly limits their capacity to perform alternate forms of masculinity (Saez et al, 2009).…”

“…These narratives are reinforced by the messaging the participants received via interactions with peers who identified as men (Circle No. 2) through gender policing (Mora, 2013; Vasquez, 2015). The participants clearly stated what would happen to anyone who did not perform appropriately.…”

“…Latino boys learn to promote a heteronormative masculine gendered identity from their peers (Mora, 2013). Vasquez (2015) offered clear examples of gender policing among Latino men in a study on the undergraduate experiences of Latino undergraduate men students. As a part of the study, participants shared a re-occurring experience where their friends, who identified as Latino men, made it a point to clearly identify any male individual who expressed feelings that could be deemed too sensitive.…”

Exploring the Role of Women as Validating Agents for Latino Men in Their Transfer Success

“…The women in the lives of the participants all played influential roles that are critical toward transfer success for Latino men. Acting as out-of-class validating agents, participants' girlfriends provided navigational awareness of educational spaces; bonds with grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and aunts played a significant role in advising, motivation and supporting these men in their transfer process (Vazquez, 2015).…”

Mental health among Latinx emerging adults: Examining the role of familial accusations of assimilation and ethnic identity

“…Further, a qualitative study on Latinos young men found that hyper-policing often occurs among them. There is an expectation of emotional stoicism, "manliness," and machismo, against emotional difficulties or vulnerabilities (Vazquez, 2015) that may be critical to the Latino man. This may explain their tendency to cope solitarily in ways that may reflect characteristics that may be seen more with depression than anxiety.…”