Hispanic American Students' Cultural Orientation: Does Geographic Location, Institutional Type, or Level of Stress have an Effect?

Abstract

This article looks at 370 Hispanic college students from institutional locations where Hispanics are significantly present in the population and from areas were Hispanics are not a critical mass. The Bicultural Orientation Model was used as a framework to determine whether geographic location influenced the students’ level of acculturation and/or level of ethnic identification. The findings indicate that students in areas where Hispanic Americans do not have a critical mass adjusting to the majority culture at a higher level than students in critical mass locales. No difference was found in their level of ethnic identity. Cultural orientation was not found to be associated with institutional type or scores on the College Stress Inventory.