The effect of cultural assimilation on the importance of family-related and nature-related recreation among Hispanic Americans

This paper examines the influence of Hispanic-American ethnicity on the family-related and nature-related benefits of outdoor recreation activity. Gordon's ethnic assimilation theory is used as a conceptual framework to examine patterns of Angle-conformity in perceived recreation benefits, and to look for deviations in these patterns suggestive of selective acculturation. Data were collected through a telephone survey of 995 households in central and southern California. Hispanic respondents were classified as "least-acculturated," "bicultural," or "most-acculturated" based on their comprehension and use of Spanish vs. English. These three groups were compared to Anglo-Americans who had very low comprehension of Spanish. A strong Anglo-conformity pattern was found in the perceived importance of nature-related benefits from outdoor recreation participation. The more assimilated the Hispanic respondents, the more similar they were to Angles in the importance of these benefits. This indicated that varying levels of assimilation are an important source of diversity within ethnic groups. Some support was found for the proposition that the Hispanic cultural value on "familism" is less prone to assimilation effects, as reflected in the greater importance that the bicultural Hispanic group placed on family-related recreation benefits compared to Angles and the least-assimilated Hispanics.