ABSTRACT
Over the past several decades, the United States has undergone profound demographic changes, evidenced by the dramatic increase of ethnic and racial minority populations at rates exceeding those of nonminorites. Moreover, the trend toward greater racial and ethnic diversity is expected to continue (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997). Specifically, almost 1 in 11 (8.8%) Americans are foreign born and in 1995 almost half (46.7%) of these foreign-born Americans were of “Hispanic” origin (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997). Projections demonstrate that the Hispanic or Latino segment of the citizenry will be a substantial factor in the population growth into next millennium.
