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Psychocultural Characteristicsof College-Bound andNoncollege-Bound ChicanasRaymond Buriel a & Evangelina Saenz aa Pomona College , USAPublished online: 01 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Raymond Buriel & Evangelina Saenz (1980) PsychoculturalCharacteristics of College-Bound and Noncollege-Bound Chicanas, The Journal ofSocial Psychology, 110:2, 245-251, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1980.9924251

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The Journal of Social Psychology, 1980, 110, 245-251.

PSYCHOCULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COLLEGE- BOUND AND NONCOLLEGE-BOUND CHICANAS*'

Pomona College

RAYMOND BURIEL* AND EVANGELINA SAENZ

SUMMARY The purpose of the present exploratory study was to determine if

college-bound and noncollege-bound Chicanas differed on a number of psychocultural variables. The Ss were Chicana high school senior girls and included 25 college-bound and 30 noncollege-bound students. Discriminant analysis was used to compare the two groups of Ss on sex-role identity (masculinity and femininity), biculturalism, and family income. Results indicated that, with the exception of femininity, the psychocultural vari- ables discriminated significantly between the two groups of Chicanas. The college-bound group was found to be more masculine and bicultural, and also had higher family incomes. Results were discussed in terms of (a) the relative importance of the psychocultural variables for differentiating college-bound and noncollege-bound Chicanas and (b) the possibility that masculinity and biculturalism may develop as a function of family income.

A. INTRODUCTION At present, there is an absence of empirical research dealing with prob-

lems of higher education among Mexican American females, the Chicanas (12, 17). The traditional role of Chicanas has been that of housewife and mother (1, 13, 15, 17). Young women have been expected to assume this role relatively early in life which often precluded the completion of a secondary education. Moreover, postsecondary education was seen as a possibility reserved only for males. However, the social upheavals asso- ciated with urban living and the constant exposure to the acculturating

* Received in the Editorial Office, Provincetown, Massachusetts, on October 30, 1978.

The authors are grateful to Margarita Echavarria who made subjects available for this

* Requests for reprints should be sent to the first author at the address shown at the end of

Copyright, 1980, by The Journal Press.

study.

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246 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

influences of Anglo American culture are forcing a modification of tradi- tional sex roles in many sectors of the Chicano community. Currently, more and more Chicanas are foregoing early assumption of the role of wife and mother for the sake of obtaining an education. Census data (18) indicate, for example, that 87.2% of all Chicanas between the ages of 14 and 1 7 are enrolled in school. In addition, a small, but increasing number of Chicanas are pursuing a college education and preparing themselves for careers outside the home.

Despite the changing lifestyles of many Chicanas there is practically no information concerning the psychocultural processes that accompany, and perhaps motivate, the movement away from traditional, culturally pre- scribed sex roles. In particular, there are no studies that attempt to identify the important psychocultural characteristics of Chicanas who decide to pursue a college education after graduating from high school. The purpose of the present exploratory study was to investigate the possibility that college-bound and noncollege-bound Chicanas differed along three impor- tant psychocultural dimensions including sex-role identity (masculinity and femininity), biculturalism, and socioeconomic status.

The sex-role orientations that Chicanas hold could have important impli- cations for college attendance. In general, many of the traits associated with masculinity center around a cognitive and instrumental orientation (3). Since such an orientation would seem to be a major prerequisite for success in college, we might expect college-bound Chicanas to describe themselves more highly on a variety of masculine traits than their noncollege-bound counterparts. Furthermore, assuming the validity of the concept of psychological androgeny (3, 4), which posits that persons may hold both masculine and feminine traits a t the same time, there is no a priori reason for expecting college-bound Chicanas to have a less feminine view of themselves than noncollege-bound Chicanas. Overall, therefore, college-bound Chicanas should hold a more masculine orientation than noncollege-bound Chicanas, but the two groups should not differ sig- nificantly in terms of their femininity.

Biculturalism refers to an integration of the competencies and sen- sitivities associated with two cultures within a single individual (16). The bicultural Chicano, therefore, is one who has the capability of interacting successfully in both the Chicano and Anglo cultural worlds. Both Ramirez (14) and Buriel (6) note that educational achievements tend to be greater among Chicanos who maintain close ties to their primary culture and at the same time adapt to Anglo American culture. Research by Garza and

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RAYMOND BURIEL AND EVANGELINA SAENZ 24 7

Widlak (8) also suggests that a college environment may be more congruent with the attitudes and expectations of bicultural Chicanos. They found that Chicanos viewed college as an institution adhering closely to the standards of the dominant society, thus indicating perhaps that bicultural Chicanos may be less apprehensive about enrolling in what they perceive as being an Anglo-oriented environment. Biculturalism may therefore be an important variable associated with the decision to attend college among Chicanas.

Previous research has consistently demonstrated that socioeconomic status is an important correlate of educational success among Chicanos ( 2 , 5 , 11). Consequently, it seems appropriate to examine its importance rela- tive to the other variables in this study for discriminating college-bound and noncollege-bound Chicanas.

B. METHOD 1. Subjects

Fifty-five Chicana high school senior girls were Ss in the present investi- gation. They represented the entire Chicana graduating class of a large urban high school in southern California. Enrollment at the school is approximately 50% Chicano, 30% Black, and 20% Anglo. There is no bussing of students either to or from other areas and thus almost all students in the school live in the surrounding community. School records indicate that the majority of Ss are from stable families who have lived in this same community for a number of years. There was considerable variation in Ss’ gross family incomes which ranged from a low of less than $4000 per year to a high of over $2 1,000 per year. The Ss included 10 first-, 10 second-, and 35 third-generation Chicanas. All first generation Ss re- ported coming to the United States as small children and receiving most of their primary and all of their secondary education in this country. All Ss understood and spoke English and many were bilingual. Ss’ ages ranged from 17 to 19 years.

2. Measures Bem’s (3) Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) was used to measure sex-role pref-

erence. The BSRI was developed according to the theoretical premise that persons may hold both masculine and feminine traits at the same time and does not, therefore, force a negative correlation between masculinity and femininity. The BSRI requires Ss to use a seven-point scale to rate them- selves on 20 “masculine,” 20 “feminine,” and 20 “neutral” adjectives.

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Scores for the masculine items are averaged to obtain a masculinity score and the same procedure carried out with the feminine adjectives to obtain a femininity score.

To compensate for the possibility that the BSRI may be an “Anglocen- tric” measure ( 1 7) , six additional adjectives divided equally by sex-type and reflecting desirable behaviors within the context of Chicano culture were added to the scale. The masculine items were “proud,” “make decisions at home,” and “know about world affairs.” The feminine items included “religious,” “relate easily with family members,” and “easy to speak with.” Scores for these six additional items were included in computing the S’s total masculinity and femininity scores.

The Biculturalism Inventory for Mexican American Students [BIMAS (16)] was used to assess degree of biculturalism. The instrument measures biculturalism based upon (a) degree of bilingualism, ( b ) the frequency of intra- and interethnic friendships, ( c ) positive interethnic attitudes, ( d ) comfortable functioning in a variety of situations regardless of ethnic setting, and, ( 4 ) acceptance by both Chicanos and Anglos. Items in the inventory are presented in a multiple-choice format and response alterna- tives given values of either 1, 3 , or 5 . A score of 1 on an item represents either an exclusively Chicano or an exclusively Anglo orientation; 3 repre- sents either a moderately Chicano or moderately Anglo orientation; and 5 represents an equal Chicano and Anglo orientation. Ss’ scores are summed to derive a total biculturalism score with higher scores indicating greater amounts of biculturalism.

3 . Procedure

Ss were called from their classrooms to the school counseling office where they completed the BSRI, BIMAS, and a personal information blank. They were tested two at a time by the same female Mexican American high school counselor. All testing was completed on the same day. On the basis of their responses to a series of questions concerning their immediate postgraduation plans, Ss were assigned to either a “college- bound” or “noncollege-bound” group. They were assigned to the col- legebound group if they indicated they planned to attend college and, in addition, had already made an application to some college. They were assigned to the noncollege-bound group if they indicated they had no plans of attending college and, in addition, had not made any college applica-

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RAYMOND BURIEL AND EVANGELINA SAENZ 2 49

tions. Four Ss who indicated they planned to attend college but had not already made an application were dropped from the study. The college- bound group included 2 5 Ss and the noncollege-bound group 30 Ss. The present study was conducted in late April of 1978 when most students planning to attend college have already made their college applications.

C. RESULTS

Since the psychocultural variables were intercorrelated, stepwise discrim- inant analysis was used as the method of analysis to compare the two groups. Results of this analysis revealed that the linear combination of three variables including masculinity, biculturalism, and family income discriminated significantly between college-bound and noncollege-bound Chicanas (multivariate F = 18.85, df = 3/50, p < .001); as expected, femininity did not discriminate significantly between the two groups. The standardized discriminant function coefficients presented in Table 1 indi- cate the relative discriminating power of the variables selected in the discriminant function. Since the discriminant analysis program routinely provides univariate F ratios for the difference between group means, they are also included in the table. I t can be seen that results of the univariate analysis, although unadjusted for intercorrelations among the psychocul- turd variables, nevertheless parallel the results of the discriminant analy- sis: that is, femininity does not emerge as a significant factor discriminating the two groups.

D. DISCUSSION

Results of the present study revealed that college-bound Chicanas were more masculine and bicultural, and also had higher parental incomes than

TABLE 1 DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOCULTURAL VARIABLES

Psyc hocultural variables Univariate F

Standardized discriminant function coefficients

Masculinity 7.43** .so Femininity 3 .23 -.02 Biculturalism 4.77* . 1 7 Gross familv income 4 1.24*** - 5 7

* p < .05. ** p < .01.

*** p < ,001.

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Chicanas not planning to pursue a college education. The discriminant analysis also revealed that these variables differed substantially in the contribution which they made in discriminating the two groups of Ss. Thus, the size of the discriminant function coefficients indicated that gross family income contributed more than any of the other variables in differ- entiating college-bound and noncollege-bound Chicanas. This fmding sup- ports Bender and Ruiz’ ( 5 ) conclusion that socioeconomic status is the most important factor in determining higher educational aspirations among both male and female Chicano high school students.

Masculinity, with its associated cognitive and task-centered orientation, also emerged as an important antecedent of college attendance among Chicanas. In fact, judging from the size of the standardized discriminant function coefficients, masculinity was almost as important as gross family income in discriminating college-bound and noncollege-bound Chicanas.

Biculturalism was also a significant variable related to college atten- dance. The discriminatory power of this variable was, however, less than both family income and masculinity. Nevertheless, since one dimension of biculturalism involves a Chicano outlook and set of behaviors, the finding that biculturalism is associated with college attendance challenges the assertion that identification with Chicano culture depresses higher educa- tional aspirations and achievement motivation ( 7 , 9, 10). The present findings, however, are consistent with Ramirez’ (14) and Buriel’s (6) con- clusion that identification with Chicano culture is an important prerequisite for achievement among members of this group.

The greater masculinity and biculturalism of college-bound Chicanas may be related to the higher family incomes of these students. For exam- ple, the oppressive social conditions that are more likely to be experienced by Chicanas from low income families may work against the development of certain types of assertive and instrumental behaviors such as those often associated with masculinity. In the same manner, the greater financial resources of college-bound Chicanas’ families may have provided these students with more opportunities to participate more fully in both Chicano and Anglo cultures, thus accounting for their greater biculturalism.

The present study did not address such variables as students’ level of achievements and attitudes toward school. These and other variables may also be important for explaining Chicanas’ decision to attend college and should therefore be considered in future research.

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RAYMOND BURIEL AND EVANGELINA SAENZ 251

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