The myth of sameness among Latino men and their machismo

This study examined the construct of machismo in relationship to measures of machismo, masculinity, and gender role identity. One hundred forty-eight Latino men with an average age of 36, primarily Mexican American and Puerto Rican, participated. Results indicate that machismo can be characterized as a multidimensional construct, and cluster analyses found that traditional definitions of machismo as authoritarian, emotionally restrictive, and controlling represented only about 10% of the classified Latinos. Most of the sample identified with more emotionally responsive, collaborative, and flexible masculinity styles. Five identity dimensions identified were Contemporary Masculinity, Machismo, Traditional Machismo, Conflicted/Compassionate Machismo, and Contemporary Machismo. Implications include the need to change stereotypes of machismo to be more congruent with the variation in Latino male identity.