This report examines the dynamic, multicultural teen and young adult population, aged 12-34, offering insights into their priorities, interests, hobbies, and activities. Given that this generation is at the forefront of digital connectivity, focus is given to their ownership and use of, and attitudes toward, technology. This report probes how the internet is shaping how young adults shop, socialize, work, and communicate, examining how these vary by race and ethnicity. It examines how these diverse young adults use blogs and online communities to learn about and shop for new products. Young adults are also an important consumer base for sports, music, entertainment, and cultural events. This report probes their interests in these areas, noting commonalities and differences on the basis of race and ethnicity. It examines how digital formats and new technologies are shaping these interests. Major demographic data are also analyzed to deepen the analysis of the consumer research. This report also explores how the role of gender and household income shape preferences among multicultural young adults, offering further understanding into their interests and buying habits.

This report builds on Mintel’s report Multicultural Young Adults—U.S., February 2009.

The categories covered in this report include online activity (internet usage and access, as well as downloading of content) and electronics (television, stereos, MP3 players, computers, e-readers, tablets, video players, cable TV, cell phones, and smartphones). It also examines activities and hobbies including sporting goods purchased and sports viewed as well as consumption of movies, music, books, and e-books.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through Toluna USA of 839 respondents aged 18-34. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in January 2012.

Mintel selects survey respondents so that they are proportionally balanced to the entire U.S. adult population based on the key demographics of gender, age, household income, and region.

Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Consumer Research, using the Simmons National Consumer Study (NCS), National Hispanic Consumer Study (NHCS), and the Teens Study. The NCS/NHCS was carried out during the spring of 2011 and the results are based on the sample of 2,290 adults aged 18-34. The Teens survey, also carried out in the spring of 2011, includes 1,774 teens aged 12-17, of whom 326 are Hispanic teens.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection) is a target group identification method that is used to highlight key target groups. CHAID is a classification system that subdivides the sample into a series of subgroups that share similar characteristics toward a specific response variable and allows us to identify which combinations have the highest response rates for the target variable. The first predictor category (on which the sample will be split) is the predictor that is associated the most with the response variable (i.e., it gives the most differentiating groups of respondents). Each subgroup is then further split until the analysis does not find any significantly discriminating predictor anymore. The output is a tree of which the branches are the predictor variables that split the sample in discriminating groups.

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The following abbreviations are used in this report:

The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino”/“Latina” are used interchangeably in this report. The terms Black and African American are also used interchangeably throughout this report.

Generations are discussed within this report, and they are defined as:

* also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers