Table 5.
Educational, Social, and Language Background Characteristics
| Descriptive Characteristics | ||
|---|---|---|
| M(SD), % | n | |
| Educational Background | ||
| Years of education in country of origin | 8.53 (4.80) | 227 |
| Years of education in the U.S. | 2.53 (4.73) | 227 |
| Proportion of education by country | 227 | |
| More years of education in country of origin | 84.14% | 191 |
| More years of education in the U.S. | 14.98% | 34 |
| Equal number of years of education in both countries | 0.88% | 2 |
| Type of school attendeda | 243 | |
| Large | 55.56% | 135 |
| Regular | 39.92% | 97 |
| Small | 4.53% | 11 |
| Number of students in the class | 247 | |
| Less than 21 | 15.39% | 38 |
| 21 to 30 | 39.27% | 97 |
| 31 to 40 | 24.29% | 60 |
| 40+ | 21.05% | 52 |
| Had to stop attending school to work | 224 | |
| Yes | 28.57% | 64 |
| Social Background | ||
| Mother’s years of education | 5.76 (3.65) | 180 |
| Father’s years of education | 6.79 (5.06) | 163 |
| Years lived in country of origin | 26.41 (12.49) | 245 |
| Years living in the U.S. | 10.69 (10.85) | 245 |
| Childhood SES | 251 | |
| Very poor | 5.98% | 15 |
| Poor | 27.09% | 68 |
| Middle class | 58.17% | 146 |
| Upper class | 8.77% | 22 |
| Worked as a child | 248 | |
| Yes | 52.82% | 131 |
| Reason to work | 131 | |
| Help family financially | 38.17% | 50 |
| Own benefit | 61.83% | 81 |
| Age started working as a child | 12.98 (3.18) | 131 |
| Currently Gainfully Employed | 224 | |
| Yes | 68.75% | 154 |
| Language | ||
| First Language | 250 | |
| Spanish | 98.40% | 246 |
| English | 0.40% | 1 |
| Both | 1.20% | 3 |
| Current Language Use Ratingb | 251 | |
| Radio or TV | 2.37 (1.03) | -- |
| Reading | 2.24 (1.18) | -- |
| Math | 1.54 (1.05) | -- |
| Praying | 1.26 (0.72) | -- |
| With family | 1.56 (0.89) | -- |
| Performance-based language fluency | 203 | |
| Spanish dominant | 62.07% | 126 |
| English dominant | 0.00% | 0 |
| Bilingual | 37.93% | 77 |
Note. M: mean; SD: standard deviation.
a
Type of school attended: ‘large’ refers to large school that had many classrooms and room to play); ‘regular’ refers to a school of regular size that had at least one classroom per grade and room to play; and small school refers to a small school with less than one classroom per grade.
b
Ratings for each activity ranged from 1 “Always in Spanish” to 5 “Always in English”, with 3 being “similarly in English and Spanish”).