Latinos and Latinas in community psychology: a review of the literature

Abstract

Latinos and Latinas are one of the largest minority groups in the United States yet they remain a silent group. The article begins by considering the social, historical, and economic backgrounds of Latino and Latina groups in the U.S. as a context for understanding diversity and as a resource for explaining the participation of this minority group in community psychology. This article then examines the extent to which Latinos and Latinas are present and participate in community psychology throughout its publications and explores the nature of their participation through a thematic analysis of the published literature. A content analysis was conducted on 1,851 articles published from 1973 through 1992 in the American Journal of Community Psychology and the Journal of Community Psychology to evaluate the presence of Latinos and Latinas in the community psychology literature. The quantitative analysis revealed that 3.7% (n = 69) of all the articles reviewed focused on Latinos and Latinas or had samples with at least 15% of the participants coming from this ethnic group. Mexican Americans/Chicanos were the focus of the largest number of articles about specific Latino and Latina subgroups, followed by Cubans and Puerto Ricans. The results indicated less attention to Latino and Latina populations in the community psychology literature than would be expected from the field's goals. However, a qualitative review of the articles was more encouraging since many articles by and about Latinos and Latinas reflected values consonant with the field such as cultural pluralism or employed conceptual tools of the discipline such as empowerment or ecological approaches. Nevertheless, some of the articles reviewed also lacked a concern for the field's values in relation to Latinos and Latinas as a group. Finally, suggestions and strategies to empower this group are offered.