As Latino males are entering and graduating from higher education at significantly lower rates than their counterparts, this study focused on their educational coping processes. Interviews with five upper-division Latino male undergraduates at a large predominantly White 4-year university revealed a range of coping processes which were self-protective and that helped them persist to graduation. In particular, spirituality was explored as a central cultural coping mechanism, and results indicated that Latinos hold and understand different elements of their spirituality as a means to manage their educational experiences. Implications for gender-and culture-specific educational support for Latino undergraduates are addressed.

Data of 306 Caucasian American, 284 Asian American, and 259 Latino/a American college students were analyzed in this study to test a modified version of Lent and Brown's (2006, 2008) satisfaction model in the academic context. In addition to the full set of variables hypothesized in the original model, the modified academic satisfaction model also included independent and interdependent self-construals to represent one's cultural orientations. Comparisons between the hypothesized model and 2 alternative models showed that direct paths from extraversion and emotional stability added significantly to the predictions of academic satisfaction and life satisfaction for all 3 racial/ethnic groups while those from independent and interdependent self-construals also had the same effects for Latino/a American students. The hypothesized model offered excellent fit to the data of all 3 racial/ethnic groups. Consistent with theoretical prediction, academic supports, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, or goal progress formed pathways that mediated the relations of personality traits and self-construals to academic satisfaction or life satisfaction across 3 groups. Although full measurement equivalence (configural invariance and metric invariance) was observed, 4 structural paths and 16 indirect effects differed significantly by race/ethnicity. Most of these differences in structural paths and indirect effects occurred between Caucasian Americans and Asian Americans. On balance, findings of the study provided evidence for the cross-racial/ethnic validity of the modified academic satisfaction model while identifying racial/ethnic differences that might have useful clinical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record

An understudied topic is the social experiences of college Latinos. In this study, six men shared their experience of brotherhood or hermandad. Individual interviews yielded qualitative data that were subjected to inductive coding resulting in seven descriptive themes conveying the essence of brotherhood. The findings and implications are discussed in light of extant literature. Study limitations precede discussion on future scholarship that is focused on the postsecondary success of a highly underrepresented student population. Resumen Un tema de poco estudio es experiencias sociales de estudiantes universitarios latinos. En este estudio, seis hombres compartieron sus experiencias de hermandad. Entrevistas individuales arrojaron información cualitativa que se sujetó a código inductivo resultando en siete temas descriptivos que sugieren la esencia de la hermandad. Los hallazgos e implicaciones se discuten a la luz de la literatura existente. Limitaciones del estudio preceden la discusión sobre futuras investigaciones enfocadas en el éxito posterior a la preparatoria de la población estudiantil minoritaria.

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