Mexican-American Recreation Activities: A Reply to McMillen

Abstract

The analysis of Mexican-American and Anglo groups observed in Chicago public parks indicates substantive and systematic differences in the social organization of recreation activities between the two groups. Differences are observed not only in the type of activity, but also in the age, sex, size, and social composition of recreation groups. The Chicago results contradict those reported earlier by McMillen (1983), and it is suggested that the very different patterns of recreation behavior may result from the perseverance of important social and cultural differences between the Mexican-American and general American population.

KEYWORDS:

• Mexican-Americans
• social participation
• leisure behavior