The psychological literature on colorism, a form of within-group racial discrimination, is sparse. In an effort to contribute to this understudied area and highlight its significance, a concise and selective review of the history of colorism in Latin America is provided. Specifically, three historical eras (i.e., conquest, colonization, and…

The article discusses a legislation that would effectively terminate Mexican American Studies programs in k-12 was passed in Arizona in 2010. In this article, the author traces how this legislation drew from discourses of anti-Americanism and wickedness initiated by the state's superintendent of public instruction against Mexican American Studies…

The "underclass" concept pervades social science research on poverty, racial relations, and more recently, immigration. In this article, we elaborate and extend Massey's critique of the underclass concept by briefly reviewing the history of this concept and emphasizing its contemporary application to immigrants and undocumented workers. We also…

At the start of their term, the Obama administration pledged to reform two failing policy systems in the United States: immigration and health care. The Latino populations' attitudes toward these two critical policy areas are particularly relevant due to the large foreign born population in the Latino community and the large number of Latinos who…

Measurement of race and ethnicity is integral to assessing and addressing health disparities experienced by minorities. However, the unique experiences of Latinos related to race and the discordance between understandings of race among Latinos and the predominant U.S. conceptualizations of this construct impact how Latinos respond to measurement…

This article describes how the perceived increase in Latino/a immigration, the present economic conditions, and the tendency to ascribe negative attributes and behaviors to the immigrant are resulting in anti-immigration actions and laws. It directs attention to the detrimental effects that such perceptions, actions, and laws are having on the…

President Obama characterized Arizona's recent immigration law as undermining "basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans." The authors' extend the national discussion regarding immigration to ethics and research. Therefore, the purpose of this methodological article is to advance areas for ethical consideration when researching…

Eurocentrism is a worldview of the academic mainstream. It is grounded in a European perspective that manifests as a tendency to interpret and prioritize the world in Western terms, Western values, and Western experiences. Eurocentric frames of reference are pathological as pertains to the psychological well-being of Latinos. Evidence of said…

This article provides recommendations for conducting culturally competent qualitative research with Latino immigrants, a historically exploited group that represents more than half of all U.S. immigrants and is continuously growing. Limited research exists on Latino immigrants despite their large presence in the United States. The authors draw…

There has been a significant trend among families from Mexico and Central America to immigrate to the United States due to difficult living conditions, financial hardship, and the lack of opportunity. This article addresses the role of serial migration, where one family member immigrates first and then brings the rest of the family at a later…

Minorities are significantly underrepresented in the U.S. physician workforce. Female minorities wishing to become doctors face additional gender barriers, since women who enter college with the desire of becoming physicians are more likely than men to exit programs of undergraduate studies ("premed studies") that lead to medical school. To…

On September 7th, 2008, the mental health field lost a trailblazing researcher and clinician as he lost his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. Dr. Israel Cuellar made significant contributions to the study of acculturation including its importance in delivering appropriate mental health…

The following is a historically informed review of Puerto Rican phenotype. Geared toward educating psychologists, this review discusses how various psychological issues associated with phenotype may have arisen as a result of historical legacies and policies associated with race and racial mixing. It discusses how these policies used various…

Over the last three decades there has been a notable increase in interest about fathers and their role in the socioemotional, academic, and cognitive development of young children. Concurrently, there has been a shift in this nation's ethnic minority demography, where Latinos are now the nation's largest minority group. The father-involvement…

The authors show associations between immigration and alcohol disorders using data from the 1995 and 2000 U.S. National Alcohol Surveys and the 1998 Mexico National Household Survey on Addictions. The prevalence of alcohol dependence was 4.8% for the Mexicans, 4.2% for the Mexico-born immigrants, and 6.6% for the U.S.-born Mexican Americans. They…