ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a portrait of the respondents to the National Latino Immigrant Survey. These data allow the interested reader to compare the NLIS sample with available census and Immigration and Naturalization Service data in order to evaluate the quality of the sample. This chapter also presents background information for evaluating the characteristics of the people whose attitudes and behaviors we discuss in the next five chapters. The data presented in this chapter should accent the need to examine the characteristics of individual Latino national origin groups as well as to explore their collective experiences. We divide our discussion into four parts: (1) personal familial, and household demographics; (2) education, income, employment, and housing; (3) language abilities; and (4) immigration and citizenship experiences.
