Identity & Cultural Wealth of Latino Male College Students: A Scoping Review

ABSTRACT

Values in the Latino community play a significant role in the identity development of Latino male college students and can have an impact on their college student success. Though often maligned in the literature, machismo, when focusing on the caballerismo attributes, can aid in the academic success of Latino men while in college, if channeled through educational and cultural groups on campus. A small-scale scoping review was conducted to identify what is known about how machismo, caballerismo, and other masculinity-related values and constructs shape the identity development of Latino male college students. Ten empirical articles all published within the last ten years (2012–2022) were selected as part of this scoping review. Our findings are categorized into three groups: 1) cultural capital & support, 2) expectations & cultural values, and 3) machismo and caballerismo. Guided by Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth Model and Umaña-Taylor’s ethnic identity theory, Latino men are influenced by familial values, cultural beliefs, and gender constructs of what a Latino man should be and when in college, these play a role in their development and growth.

KEYWORDS:

• Latino men
• machismo
• identity development
• student success
• cultural wealth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).