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.

Three generations of Mexican American adolescents and Anglo Americans rated persons of Mexican descent living in the United States in terms of both positive and negative stereotypes. In general, Anglo American subjects held significantly less favorable stereotypes of Mexican descent persons than any of the three Mexican American groups. However, a significant linear trend for both positive and negative group stereotypes indicated that with each successive generation (first through third), the stereotypes of Mexican Americans approached the less favorable image held by Anglo Americans. Results are discussed in terms of a two-dimensional model that includes the dual effects of Anglo American prejudice and the degree to which Mexican Americans retain an identification with their traditional culture.