The struggle tells me I don’t belong, yet I will stand up and show up: A psychosociocultural exploration of how Latino/x male undergraduates’ name, process, and manifest their identities.

Abstract

Latino/x undergraduate males continue to face unique challenges in higher education that call for greater exploration. This qualitative study explored how Latino/x males name, process, and manifest their salient identities. Using a psychosociocultural approach (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000), we interviewed 10 selfidentified Latino/x undergraduate males at a predominantly White university located in the midwestern United States yielding four metathemes per a multistep content analysis. Based on students' narratives, four metathemes (i.e., Naming What I Know, Awareness, Action, and Deepening the Narrative: Pick a Struggle) emerged and provided greater understanding of Latino/x males' educational struggles and identity strengths. Public Significance StatementLatino/x males navigate and negotiate their social identities as part of their educational experience within higher education. For greater understanding of these experiences, the present study explores how 10 Latino male undergraduates held knowledge about, were aware of, and took action for their communities on-and off-campus. Our findings direct student service personnel to prioritize the strength-based processes within the educational struggles of Latino/x male students as they honor and uphold their cultural values in service of themselves, their families, and future generations of students.