Assessing Cultural Assimilation of Mexican Americans: How Rapidly Do Their Gender-Role Attitudes Converge to the U.S. Mainstream?

Authors: Su, Dejun; Richardson, Chad; Wang, Guang-zhen

Source: Social Science Quarterly, Volume 91, Number 3, September 2010 , pp. 762-776(15)

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Abstract:

Objective.

This study assesses the pace of cultural assimilation of Mexican Americans by comparing changes in their gender-role attitudes over generations to the European-origin U.S. mainstream. Methods.

Using cumulative data from the 1972-2004 General Social Survey, we examine the rate at which progressive generations of Mexican Americans approach the mainstream gender-role attitudes. We also employ a set of logistic regressions to assess the differences in gender-role attitudes between Mexican and European Americans. Results.

For five out of the eight gender-role-related questions considered in the study, Mexican Americans of the third or later generations show more liberal or egalitarian gender-role attitudes than those of the first or second generations. A comparison between Mexican and European Americans suggests that Mexican Americans in the sample have more conservative gender-role attitudes than European Americans in terms of division of labor at home and women's participation in politics. Conclusion.

Mexican Americans become more likely to adopt egalitarian gender-role attitudes as generation progresses. The differences between Mexican and European Americans in terms of gender-role attitudes are sensitive to the particular domains of attitudes under consideration.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00718.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Texas-Pan American

Publication date: 2010-09-01