Abstract
Latinos make up 18.9% of the U.S. population and constitute a similar proportion of those working in the field of behavior analysis. However, little is known about their cultural values and how individuals approach their work. Because behavior analysts work closely with students and clients, their learning history and cultural values likely influence their behavior as mentors, supervisors, researchers, and clinicians (Beaulieu & Jimenez-Gomez, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 55, 337–356, 2022). The purpose of this project was to survey the demographics, activities, roles, and values of Latino behavior analysts to better understand their cultural background. A Qualtrics survey was shared via social media and professional listservs. Eighty-six individuals completed the survey. We summarize results of the survey and discuss implications for future research and service delivery.
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Data Availability
Data are available upon written request to the authors.
Notes
We acknowledge some may prefer to use gender neutral terms such as Latinx or Latine. We chose to use the term Latino throughout this article because it is the term most commonly used, with the alternative terms having low acceptability in the Latino community (Noe-Bustamante et al., 2020). The use of the term Latino is in alignment with statements from governments of Spanish-speaking countries banning the use of gender-neutral variants as they violate rules of the Spanish language, which is a gendered language (Lankes, 2022). The gendered verbal behavior affects the rules and behaviors of members of the community. Finally, Latino is also the term used in other behavior analytic publications by and about Latinos (Rosales et al., 2021).
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Acknowledgments
We thank Sofia Urdaneta and Kaitlyn Picallo, two Latina undergraduate students who helped with creating and testing the survey.
Author note
Authors identify as Latina behavior analysts. CJG was born and raised in Venezuela. SL was born in the United States from Argentinian parents. DR was born in the United States and is the daughter of parents born and raised in Mexico.
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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research (IRB protocol #17044, 01/18/2023). The approved IRB protocol included a waiver of consent given all data were collected electronically and without identifying information.
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Jimenez-Gomez, C., Lechago, S. & Rios, D. An Exploratory Survey of Latinidad in Behavior Analysis. Behav Analysis Practice (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-00914-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-00914-4