For many years I have conducted qualitative research with Latino women and have generally found that they are very willing to yield to their children’s requests for purchases, even if these are non-essential. I have had the suspicion that this is particularly true of Hispanic women in comparison to other mothers but have not had the quantitative data to explore this idea.
Using data from Experian Marketing Services’ Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study that was collected in the twelve months ending on August 31, 2012, I created crosstabulations with self identification as Hispanic/Latino, Asian, African American/Black, or White by those who agreed a lot or a little (combined) with the statement “I find it hard to resist my children’s requests for non-essential purchases” and “I enjoy shopping with my children.” The results for both have striking similarities, not surprisingly, perhaps, as seen in the charts below:
I Find it Hard to Resist My Children’s Requests for non-Essential Purchases
I Enjoy Shopping with My Children
Hispanics are quite a bit more likely to enjoy shopping with their kids and also to yield to their requests. They are followed by Asians who show a similar pattern when it comes to enjoying the shopping experience with their kids, but not so in yielding to their requests for non-essential purchases. Perhaps the Asian approach to child rearing, which is known to be stricter, accounts for their lack of yielding. Non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans are less likely than Latinos to enjoy the shopping experience with kids and yielding to their children.
The meaning of these findings is likely to relate to the way in which these consumers interpret their relationship with their children. In particular, I have heard Hispanics many times articulate the notion that they want their kids to have what they did not have as children. They have also indicated they feel guilty for not doing the absolute best they can for their kids.
Hispanics are at a stage in their immigration and economic development where pleasing their children and families in general is a luxury they could not afford before. What they do in life is for their children and want them to be happy as they grow up. They seem to place a very strong value in their sense of fulfillment. Perhaps Whites have become habituated to living in a culture of abundance where kids can wait to fulfill their desires and where shopping represents labor rather than fun.
This data shows that it is not just a stereotype but an actual trend that Latinos shop in family groups and have fun doing so. Asians show a more complex pattern in which they enjoy the shopping experience with kids, but are strictest in pleasing kids as compared with anyone else. The implications for marketers are that Latino children in particular can be important influences in the decision making regarding purchases of products and that they cannot be ignored in the overall communication and placement plan.
As we have discovered in other pieces of research, collective decision making is more prevalent among Latinos than among other groups. Thus, the different parts of the decision making process need to be taken into consideration.
The data used here is from Experian Marketing Services’ Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study and was collected from August 1, 2011 to August 31, 2012. The sample of respondents with children at home contained 2,955 Latinos/Hispanics, 3,645 non-Hispanic Whites, 552 non-Hispanic African American/Black, and 253 non-Hispanic Asians.
Do attitudes towards Latino culture change depending on the language preference of Hispanics? This is a question that has importance to marketers and service providers. If cultural attitudes differ for those who prefer to speak English and those who prefer to speak Spanish then one can conclude that language preference is also an indicator of how close one is to one’s own culture. If on the contrary, cultural attitudes do not differ or differ to a small extent between English and Spanish preferred Latinos, then one can conclude that the overall Latino culture persists regardless of current language preference.
Using data from the Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study that was collected in the twelve months ending on March 16, 2012, I created crosstabulations of language preference by cultural attitudes among Hispanics. Language preference was gauged as the language the respondent prefers to speak in general and the response categories were Only English, Mostly English but Some Spanish, Mostly Spanish but Some English, and Only Spanish. For this analysis I collapsed Only and Mostly English and Only and Mostly Spanish to form the preferences for English or Spanish.
Cultural attitudes were measured with a Likert type scale “Agree a lot,” Agree a little,” “Neither agree nor disagree,” “Disagree a little,” and Disagree a Lot.” The items to agree or disagree with were:
- I believe it is important to teach Spanish to Hispanic Children as a way to help preserve Hispanic culture
- I have more Hispanic friends than non-Hispanic friends
- I make an effort to have my personal appearance reflect that I am Hispanic/Latino
- Speaking English in our home is a priority in our Household
- Speaking Spanish in our home is a priority in our Household
The two agree response categories in the scale were added up to have an overall agreement percentage. The following chart shows the average percentages for those who prefer to speak English and those who prefer to speak Spanish for each of the attitudes.
The reader can see that generally speaking those who prefer to communicate in English exhibit a lesser priority in endorsing items that reflect a cultural attachment. In particular, and in a somewhat obvious way, those who prefer to speak in English express that Speaking English at home is more of a priority for them than for their Spanish preferred counterparts. That trend is strongly reversed for those who prefer to speak Spanish as they indicate a very strong priority for Spanish to be the language of the home.
What is counterintuitive and revealing is that a large majority of those who prefer to speak English indicate that teaching Spanish to Children is a way to help preserve Hispanic culture. To me that means that preferring to speak English does not necessarily mean that the Spanish language is not highly thought of.
That those that prefer Spanish have more Hispanic friends than those who prefer English is not surprising. The social networks of those who prefer English are likely to be wider and more diversified. Those who prefer Spanish are likely to live and work in conditions that may be somewhat more segregated.
While a Latino personal appearance is not highly important in general, those who prefer Spanish endorse it to a larger extent. And that is not very surprising either, because as one’s circles and circumstances expand one is more likely to also acquire the styles of those varied groups.
The main lesson for marketing, from my point of view is that while language preference does differentiate Latinos’ cultural attitudes, positive attitudes towards cultural elements persist among those who prefer to speak English. In particular this is true when it comes to the education of children. It is an ambition to have one’s kids learn Spanish as a proxy for preserving the culture.
The moral of the story is that while Hispanics may be acculturating and switching to English as they stay longer in the United States, their loyalty to their heritage appears to persist. Thus, cultural messages are likely to be a key link to reaching out to Hispanics be they Spanish or English preferred.
The data used here is from the Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study and collected from January 31, 2011 to March 16, 2012. The sample contained 3,518 English preferred Latinos, and 2,104 Spanish preferred Hispanics.
