Hispanics Lifestyle in the U.S. – Research on Shopping Habits, Financial Situation and Online Communication

How do Hispanics in the U.S. feel about their lifestyles today – and how do their views differ from non-Hispanics? New findings by Knowledge Networks provide some valuable answers for anyone who needs to understand the multifaceted Hispanic marketplace.

Knowledge Networks conducted 22,565 nationally representative online interviews from October to December 2008 and 12,550 from January to April 2009 – including 2,657 and 1,316 in each of the two periods with Hispanics – and analyzed results from period to period.Here’s a summary of the findings:

1. 53% of Hispanics agree that they “love to shop” – a level unchanged from 2008 to 2009 and 18 points higher than their non-Hispanic counterparts. Yet 72% of Hispanics say, “I just don’t have enough money to live the life I would like to live” — a level seven points higher than non-Hispanics.

2. Shifts in how Hispanics are keeping in touch — driven perhaps by changes in technology availability more than anything. Hispanics were pretty much on par with the general population in reporting use of cell phones — but their use has dropped, from 74% to 69%, whereas it rose slightly among non-Hispanics, from 75% to 77%. Hispanics reporting email use also declined, from 40% to 36%; the non-Hispanic level remains much higher (67%) and statistically unchanged since 2008.

3. Hispanic use of online communities for communications grew with 8% reporting use in 2009 versus 5% last year; this may be due to the availability of more relevant community options. The level of online community use also rose, as well, among non-Hispanics, but less so — from 5% to 6%.

4. 47% of Hispanics in each year agree that “so much of my time is spent working that I have very little time left for myself” but the proportion among non-Hispanics is 33% — statistically lower than the 35% seen in 2008. This gets to a core element of quality of life, where the need to make money intersects with the wish for more time alone or with family and friends.
5. Accompanying the shift in Hispanics’ view of loss of personal time, there’s a narrowing of their cross-ethnic social circle; in 2009, 57% report top-two-box agreement that “most of my friends are from the same racial or ethnic group as me,” up five percentage points from last year. This puts Hispanics — below the level for non-Hispanics, which has stayed at about 60% agreement.

6. In 2009, 43% of Hispanics strongly or somewhat agree with the statement, “Life is so busy that I find I have less time to spend with family and friends” — up 6 points from 2008. This pace likely contributes to 50% of Hispanics saying, “I feel stressed most of the time” in 2009 — up 5 points from 2008 and at a level 11 points higher than that for non-Hispanics.

My view on this is that the perception of not having enough time for the family is mostly due to the collectivistic nature of the Hispanic tradition where family matters a lot and this feeling of not having enough time for them is more pressuring than with non-Hispanic groups.

Source: MediaPost

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