Latino Male Youth Research Articles

Resisting the Neoliberal Role Model: Latino Male Mentors’ Perspectives on the Intersectional Politics of Role Modeling

This article reports on research with two Latino male youth workers who express strong criticism of their positioning as “positive” role models for struggling Latino boys in a Latino male mentorship program. Drawing from analytic frameworks attune to the intersectional politics of race and neoliberalism, this article centers the voices of these educators to raise important questions about the neoliberal logics commonly undergirding intervention strategies aimed at boys and young men of color. In particular, these youth workers outline the ways neoliberal notions of respectability and heteropatriarchy become the expected performances for Latino men working with Latino boys. They also describe the ways they resist the positive male role model label to challenge neoliberal definitions of Latino manhood.

Supporting Black and Latino boys in school: A call to action

The educational experiences of Black and Latino males in K-12 are often riddled with unnecessary challenges and stresses that contribute to diminished academic outcomes. Adrian H. Huerta, Tyrone C. Howard, and Bianca N. Haro seek to highlight instead the importance of positive asset-based research and practice efforts focused on supporting Black and Latino male high school students. Based on a yearlong study of more than 200 Black and Latino male youth in six urban high schools in California, they provide recommendations for more effectively studying and supporting this population. The combination of asset-based research and practice drawn from that research is intended to better support, engage, and enhance the educational experiences of Black and Latino male students in K-12 institutions and beyond.

African American and Latino Male Youth: Perceived Strengths in Career Exploration

African American and Latino Male Youth: Perceived Strengths in Career Exploration

A Longitudinal Examination of Parenting Influences and School Engagement among African American and Latino Male Youth

Some racial minority males lag behind their White counterparts with regards to school engagement. However, few studies have examined this association longitudinally nor explored whether such a relationship might be mediated by youths’ own educational aspirations. Therefore, both considerations are addressed in this study. Among a sample of 226 African American and Latino male youth and their caregivers, measures were assessed for parenting influences (i.e., monitoring, discipline, educational, economic and life aspirations), youth educational aspirations, and school engagement (i.e., motivation and attainment). Parents’ education and life aspirations for their sons and the youths’ educational attainment were positively and significantly related. Moreover, the relationship between parents’ educational and life aspirations and academic engagement (i.e., school motivation and educational attainment) were mediated by youths’ educational aspirations. Implications for promoting the school engagement of these youth are discussed based on these findings.

America's Disposable Youth: Undocumented Delinquent Juveniles

Through discriminatory rhetoric state and local officials construct delinquent juvenile immigrant youth as the embodiment of a threat to public safety and American values. Accordingly, alleged delinquent undocumented immigrant children who have spent the majority of their lives in the United States, are subjected to discrimination and exclusionary practices, which enable lessened protections under the law. This article critically analyzes how undocumented delinquent youth, mainly Latino males, are constructed through the various narratives of immigrant children that are perpetuated by the media and policymakers, and how this impacts their treatment within the juvenile justice and immigration systems. Central to this analysis is how the immigrant children’s multiple identities of race, class, gender and socio-economic status intersect and impact the Latino delinquent immigrant child’s interactions within these legal institutions. The article examines how increased interior immigration enforcement through the creation of state and local policies for the referral of delinquent immigrant youth to the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin removal proceedings. In examining state and local policies, the article considers the inherent bias and the targeting of particular groups that may develop from varied state and local policies that are not uniform and based on the discretion of political actors. Overall, this article takes a critical look at the contrasting ways in which vulnerable undocumented immigrant youth are defined within these legal systems and how the “othering” of Latino male youth facilitates decreased guarantees of substantive legal protections and due process rights, which reinforce existing hierarchies and stereotypes.

Perspectives: Life course perspectives can help us understand health-related disparities among marginalised Latino male youth

Perspectives: Life course perspectives can help us understand health-related disparities among marginalised Latino male youth

Ethnic Identity and Positive Youth Development in Adolescent Males: A Culturally Integrated Approach

The present study examined the relation between ethnic identity and indicators of positive youth development (PYD) in a sample of low-income, urban Black and Latino male youth (N = 254; 66% Black, mean age = 14). Using structural equation modeling, a two-factor model of PYD and ethnic identity was found to provide the best fit to the data with a significant, positive relation between the two factors. At age 14, PYD was positively related to concurrent involvement in prosocial activities, and negatively related to criminal and externalizing behaviors; ethnic identity was related to lower levels of internalizing symptoms. The PYD factor was also related to higher prosocial activity involvement and lower criminal offending at age 15. The findings suggest that male Black and Latino teens living in urban poverty have intrapersonal competencies that promote healthy outcomes and that integration of culturally-relevant factors can enhance our understanding of positive youth development.

The Protective Role of Ethnic Identity for Urban Adolescent Males Facing Multiple Stressors

Having a connection to one's ethnic heritage is considered a protective factor in the face of discrimination; however, it is unclear whether the protective effects are persistent across multiple stressors. Furthermore, the dimensions of ethnic identity that reflect group pride/connection (affirmation) and exploration of the meaning of group membership (achievement) may operate differently in the face of stress. The present study examined the moderating role of ethnic identity affirmation and achievement on concurrent and longitudinal relationships between exposure to stress (discrimination, family hardship, exposure to violence) and antisocial behavior in a sample of 256 Black and Latino male youth (70% Black) living in low-income urban neighborhoods. Using regression analysis, concurrent associations were examined at age 18, and longitudinal associations were tested 18 months later. We found that, among youth experiencing discrimination, high levels of achievement and low levels of affirmation predicted greater aggressive behavior and delinquency. Low affirmation also predicted more criminal offending in the face of discrimination. The two dimensions operated similarly in the context of family stress, in which case high levels of affirmation and achievement predicted lower levels of antisocial behavior. The findings suggest a differential role of the two dimensions of ethnic identity with respect to discrimination; furthermore, the coping skills that may be promoted as youth make meaning of their ethnic group membership may serve as cultural assets in the face of family stress.

Experiences of Central California Latino Male Youth: Recollecting Despair and Success in Barrios and Schools

This study examined the community and schooling experiences of Latino male youth (ages 14–24) in the California Central Valley. Seven semi-structured focus groups (n = 35) were conducted with Latino youth regarding how factors related to health, safety, and education affected their lives. Latino Critical Theory was used as a framework to explain how the disparities described by Latino youth are part of larger social and academic inequalities. Findings showed that the Latino youth have unique race-, gender-, and class-specific experiences related to structural inequalities. The study concludes with recommendations for policy and practice that can help improve Latino youths’ lives primarily by addressing structural inequalities in their communities and schools. Strategies for how community and school leaders can address the Latino youth disparities are provided.

Young men in uncertain times

Introduction. Pursuing Respectable Adulthood: Social Reproduction in Times of Uncertainty. Vered Amit and Noel Dyck PART I: JUST TRYING TO FIT ITPart I. Just Trying To Fit In Chapter 1. 'Shining' in Public: Masculine Assertion and Anxiety in Globalizing Kerala. Ritty A. Lukose Chapter 2. There will be a lot of old young men going homeA: Combat and Becoming a Man. Anne Irwin Chapter 3. Institutionalizing an Extended Youth Phase in Chinese Society: Social Class and Sex Differences in the Pursuit of the Personal and the Pragmatic. William Jankowiak, Robert Moore, and Tianshu Pan PART II: MAKING DO IN CHANGING TIMESPart II. Making Do in Changing Times Chapter 4. Young Men's Struggles for Adulthood in Urban Ethiopia: Unemployment, Masculinity, and Migration. Daniel Mains Chapter 5. Gendered Modernities and Traditions: Masculinity and Nationalism in the Society Islands. Deborah A. Elliston Chapter 6. Good Hearts or Big Bellies: Dzmak'atsoba and Images of Masculinity in the Republic of Georgia. Martin Demant Frederiksen Chapter 7. Being 'Made' Through Conflict: Masculine Hardening in Northern Ireland. Rosellen Roche PART III: DEALING WITH BEING 'TROUBLE' Chapter 8. Young Men, Trouble, and the Law: A French Case. Susan J. Terrio Chapter 9. Incarcerable Subjects: Working-Class Black and Latino Male Youth in Two California Cities. Victor M. Rios and Cesar Rodriguez Chapter 10. Managing Urban Disorder? 'The Street' and its Malcontents in the London Borough of Camden. Gary Armstrong and James Rosbrook-Thompson Chapter 11. Big Man System, Short Life Culture. Gillian Evans Notes on Contributors

Healing Wounded Relationships to Reduce Latino Youth Violence

Latino male youth in the United States are disproportionately affected by violence. This study explores the experiences that young Latino males in a long-term correctional treatment center have had with violence. An iterative qualitative research design was used to guide sequential periods of data collection and analysis. Data was gathered through the use of open-ended, semi-structured group and individual interviews. The information that these young men shared about their lives both in and out of the facility highlight the importance of healing wounded relationships. Long-term interventions that focus on healing, strengthening, and building the relationships that high-risk Latino youth have with caring adults will help to decrease their risk of suffering further violence-related morbidity and mortality.

The Hyper-Criminalization of Black and Latino Male Youth in the Era of Mass Incarceration

This article discusses how Black and Latino youth labeled “deviant” are impacted by criminalization after coming in contact with the juvenile justice system. The findings are based on ethnographic interviews I conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area from 2002–2005. From this data I argue that Black and Latino youth are further stigmatized and “hyper-criminalized” upon entering the juvenile justice system even when the majority are arrested for non-violent offenses. Non-violent juvenile offenders thus experience the full force of direct and indirect punishment and criminalization traditionally aimed at violent offenders. Furthermore, in a time when punitive crime control measures have drastically increased, youth of color not only experience this hyper-criminalization from criminal justice institutions but also from non-criminal justice structures traditionally intended to nurture: the school, the family, and the community center. Ultimately, in the era of mass incarceration, a “youth control complex” created by a network of racialized criminalization and punishment deployed from various institutions of control and socialization has formed to manage, control, and incapacitate Black and Latino youth.

65: The role of healing relationships in the treatment of violence and depression among Latino male youth in a Correctional Treatment Center

65: The role of healing relationships in the treatment of violence and depression among Latino male youth in a Correctional Treatment Center

Exposure to Community Violence and Violence Perpetration: The Protective Effects of Family Functioning

Although research has found that urban youth are exposed to excessive levels of community violence, few studies have focused on the factors that alter the risk of exposure to violence or the processes through which youth who are exposed to community violence do better or worse. This study investigates the risk of exposure to community violence and its relation to violence perpetration among a sample of 263 African American and Latino male youth living in inner-city neighborhoods. The study also examines the role that family functioning plays in moderating the risk. The study finds that youth from struggling families—those that consistently used poor parenting practices and had low levels of emotional cohesion—were more likely to be exposed to community violence. It also finds a relation between exposure to violence and later violence perpetration. However, youth exposed to high levels of community violence but living in families that functioned well across multiple dimensions of parenting and family relationship characteristics perpetrated less violence than similarly exposed youth from less well-functioning families.

Partner Violence and Street Violence among Urban Adolescents: Do the Same Family Factors Relate?

Few studies have evaluated how participation in violence that occurs on the streets as part of criminal or delinquent behavior relates to violence that occurs as part of dating or marital relationships (partner violence). Using longitudinal data from 141 African American and Latino male youth (15–19 years old), the relation between family characteristics and participation in one or both types of violent behavior was evaluated. The youth in this study were more likely to report use of violence in relationships if they were also participating in violence as part of other criminal behavior. However, there were distinct groups of offenders. Among those males reporting involvement in a dating or romantic relationship, four groups were identified: (1) those who had not participated in either type of violence, 57%; (2) those who had participated in partner violence only, 14%; (3) those who had participated in street violence only, 12%; and (4) those who had participated in both, 17%. Discriminate function analyses significantly differentiated the group who had participated in both types of violence from the nonviolent group, with the former group having poorer functioning families. These two groups were also differentiated from the partner violence‐only and street violence‐only groups. No differences were found between the partner violence‐only and the street violence‐only groups. Implications for intervention and prevention are discussed.