Examining colonial mentality, ethnic identity, and gender roles in mainland and island Puerto Ricans

Resumen

Building off of prior studies examining colonized people (Capielo Rosario et al., 2019; Tuazon et al., 2019) and an initial study that explored the relationship between colonial mentality, ethnic identity, and mental health help-seeking in Puerto Ricans, we aimed to further examine the relationship between colonial mentality and ethnic identity among mainland and island Puerto Ricans. By using an experimental approach and manipulating rather than measuring ethnic identity, participants (N=75) were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group (N=39) participated in a discussion on ethnic identity, while the control group (N=30) participated in a trivia game using the Kahoot! Platform. Afterwards, participants completed an online survey via Qualtrics. Ethnic identity, colonial mentality, caballerismo and machismo were measured through The Colonial Mentality Scale for Mainland Puerto Ricans (Capielo Rosario et al., 2019), The Ethnic Identity Scale (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2004), Machismo and Caballerismo Scale (Arciniega et al., 2008), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), and The Big Five Personality Inventory (Goldberg, 1992). Although colonial mentality remained unchanged between conditions, colonial mentality and ethnic identity were negatively associated (r = -.35, p = .002). Additionally, although machismo and colonial mentality weren’t related, caballerismo and colonial mentality were positively associated (r = .62, p =.002). In regard to future studies, a larger sample could prove more representative and ethnic identity manipulation could be stronger through other sources of priming.