Differences in Behavioral Conventions: A Comparison of United States-Born and Mexico-Born Hispanics, and Anglo Americans1

Past research on ethnicity in outdoor recreation has focused on park use and participation in recreation activities. Explanations of differences in park use and participation rates by minorities and non-minorities have emphasized the marginality and ethnicity hypotheses. A different approach can be used that emphasizes visitor’s expectations and preferences for appropriate behaviors at an urban proximate forest recreation site. Four social regularities are identified based on birth place and ethnic identity: cross cultural, United States indigene, Mexican born Hispanic, and Hispanic. The complexity of social regularities means that manag­ ers must maintain a high degree of familiarity with different visitor groups and the problems they encounter. With a few recent exceptions (Carr and Williams 1993, Floyd and Gramann 1993, Floyd and others 1993), previous recreation studies on ethnic groups have focused on differences in participation rates and activity preferences between the minority ethnic groups and the dominant social group, usually Anglo Americans (McMillen 1983). Earlier studies focused particularly on differences in recreation usage by African-Americans and whites. In these studies the Hispanic population was largely ignored. However, research recently has expanded to include Hispanic populations recognizing the possible differences in recreation styles due to cultural influences not present in the dominant Anglo-American culture. As before, these studies generally compare participation rates and activity preferences of Hispanics to Anglo Americans and occasionally to other minorities. The two hypothesis most often used to explain underparticipation of minorities in recreation activities are the marginality hypothesis and the ethnicity hypothesis (Allison 1988, Carr and Williams 1993, Floyd and Gramann 1993). The marginality hypothesis attributes differential rates of participation to socioeconomic barriers against minorities that prohibit them from taking advantage of recreation opportunities available to others. These barriers are the results of discrimination practices that keep minorities at lower income levels and segregated from the recreation opportunities available to the dominant social group (McDonald and Hutchison 1987; Kelly and Godbey 1993). The ethnicity 1An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the Second Symposium on Social Aspects and Recreation Research, February 23-25, 1994, San Diego, California. 2Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Graduate Research Associate, respectively, Ohio State University. hypothesis attributes differences in recreation participation and style to cultural differences that exist between ethnic groups and the dominant social group. According to this hypothesis, minority groups use recreation to maintain their ethnic identity and re-establish cultural ties that differentiate them from the dominant social group (Washburne 1978). More recently, some researchers have become interested in how assimilation and acculturation of minority groups affects recreation participation. Yinger (1985) defined assimilation as “... a process of boundary reduction that can occur when members of two or more societies, ethnic groups, or smaller social groups meet.” One aspect of assimilation is acculturation. Acculturation occurs when the minority group adopts the dominant group’s cultural characteristics such as diet, language, and religion (Yinger 1985; Floyd and Gramann 1993; Negy and Woods 1992). Floyd and Gramann (1993) found least acculturated Mexican-Americans participated in significantly fewer activities than Anglos and concluded that higher levels of acculturation in Mexican-Americans result in more similarities in recreation style with Anglos. Another aspect affecting recreational choices and behavior is the generational status of the minority group (Carr and Williams 1993). Generational status refers to the number of generations that have lived in close contact with the dominant social group. Socialization is affected by generational status as a cumulative effect from one generation to the next (Kelly and Godbey 1993). Carr and Williams (1993) found the “primary dimension contributing to similarities and differences in outdoor recreation preferences and behavior is ancestral group membership.” As generational status increased, so did the similarities in recreation styles and preferences between Hispanics and Anglos. Research to determine differences in behaviors and recre­ ation styles is needed to understand more fully diversity within ethnic groups. Ethnic groups are not homogeneous entities but they are typically treated as such by most researchers. Recently, however, recreation research has recognized differences within the Hispanic culture. Carr and Williams (1993) found significant differences between Central-Americans and Mexican-Americans and their generational status. Social and cultural processes can result in behavioral differences between minority ethnic groups and Anglo Americans participating in recreation. Social conventions and norms establish patterns of social regularities that arise and are maintained through social interactions within groups. An important Hispanic social regularity is simpatía, the maintenance of harmonious interpersonal relations USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-156. 1995. 35 characterized by dignified and respectful behavior (Triandis and others 1984). Simpático behavior would be different than the more individualistic, self-centered behavior characteristic of Anglo Americans,and such differences could express themselves in dissimilar social conventions and norms. The purpose of the research reported here was to describe differences in behavioral expectations and preferences among Hispanics and between Hispanics and Anglo Americans for a number of behavioral problems encountered in a high density, day use, urban proximate forest recreation setting. Studying behavioral expectations and preferences can provide information on behavioral conventions (Heywood 1993). Behavioral conventions are found in situations that have two or more equally acceptable solutions to a behavioral problem. Lewis (1969) defines convention as a regularity in the behavior of the members of a population when they are agents in a recurrent situation in which some fraction of everyone prefers and expects some fraction of everyone else to prefer and expect some fraction of everyone to conform to the regularity.