The Latino Assumption: A Research Note

Abstract

The Latino assumption refers to the presumption that individuals residing in the United States and its commonwealths who have descended from Latin American countries and Spain constitute a homogeneous panethnic social identity. Inappropriately studying individuals of Latin American and Spanish descent as a homogeneous group in leisure research may result in threats to internal validity, statistical conclusion, and external validity. This article examines these issues and the historical context of the Latino assumption.

Keywords:

• Hispanic
• Latino
• panethnicity
• social identity
• threat to validity

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Mark A. Hager, Peg M. Bortner, and the anonymous reviewers for their careful review and thought provoking insights and comments on earlier drafts of this article.