The Relationship of Traditional Mexican American Culture to Adjustment and Delinquency among Three Generations of Mexican American Male Adolescents

Abstract

The present study tested the hypothesis that integration with traditional Mexican American culture promotes healthy psychological adjustment and less juvenile delinquency. Predictions from Merton's theory of social structure and anomie were also tested. Generation was used as an index of cultural integration while disjunctions between educational aspirations and expectations were used to measure adjustment. Delinquency measures were obtained from subjects' self-reports. Eighty-one Mexican American male adolescents, divided equally into the first, second, and third generation, served as subjects. There were no differences in educational aspirations. However, thirdgeneration subjects had lower expectations, higher delinquency rates, and higher disjunction scores. In addition, there was a significant correlation between delinquency and disjunction scores for the third generation. Results are discussed in terms of the psychological advantages arising from integration with traditional Mexican American culture.