The Changing Image of Hispanic Americans

Data from surveys representative of the adult population of the United States were used to examine changes from 1990 to 2000 in the image of Hispanic Americans on wealth, work ethic, violence, and intelligence as seen by 2,226 European Americans, 90 Jewish Americans, 304 African Americans, and 205 Hispanic Americans. The image that European Americans and Jewish Americans had of Hispanics for wealth, work ethic, and intelligence improved significantly between the two time periods. For African Americans, only the work ethic image they had of Hispanics improved significantly. There were no significant changes in the image of the proneness toward violence for Hispanics for any of the groups. Hispanic American self-images were relatively favorable but did not change significantly during the decade. The results raise many questions for future research regarding the influence of media images and stereotyping of Hispanic Americans.