There are almost 16 million Hispanic households in the US. Compared to the typical US household, Hispanic households are larger on average and are significantly more likely to have children. Traditional gender roles (where the female head does most of the household activities) are often observed – as well as conflicting parenting approaches, where both control and independence are desired. These are just some of the characteristics that affect the family dynamics in Hispanic households. Further, Hispanic households try to balance two cultures – the American and Hispanic – as people in different levels of acculturation live under the same roof.

With Hispanic buying power projected to reach nearly $1.7 trillion by 2019, brands will benefit from learning about how family dynamics shape Hispanic households. Marketers who get an understanding of how their brands and products fit into this dynamic will be in a better position to reach them in meaningful ways.

This is the first report that Mintel has produced on Hispanic family dynamics. However, readers may also be interested in Mintel’s The Shopping Experience of Hispanic Consumers – US, April 2014, Hispanic Consumers and Social Media – US, June 2014, Hispanics and American Culture and Identity – US, July 2014, Hispanic Millennials – US, February 2015, Hispanic Lifestyles and Entertainment – US, April 2015, and Family Dynamics of Black Consumers – US, May 2015.

This report offers an overview of the family dynamics that take place at Hispanic households. Its coverage includes an overview of the household members, the division of household chores, relationships with family members, parenting styles, how Hispanics look at their homes, and how they make decisions (individually versus joint) when they are buying products in specific categories. Where applicable, findings are analyzed by key demographics including age, gender, household income, language spoken at home, and level of acculturation.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through SSI and Lightspeed GMI to explore the family dynamics at Hispanic households. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in March 2015 among a sample of 1,000 Hispanic adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.

For this study, Mintel applies post-stratification weights to survey respondents so that results are proportionally balanced to the entire online US Hispanic adult population. Please note that our surveys are conducted online in the participant’s language of choice (ie English or Spanish). Hispanics who are not online are not included in our survey results.

Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the NHCS (Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study). The Simmons NHCS was carried out during November 2013-December 2014, and the results are based on the sample of 27,446 adults aged 18+, including 8,107 Hispanics, with results weighted to represent the US adult population/US adult Hispanic population.

Note: When Experian Marketing Services, Simmons NHCS results are presented by language spoken at home, the sum of the sub-segments may not add to the total, due to the fact that some respondents answered “some other language.”

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.

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

* also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers

In this report Mintel includes analyses of the consumer data by level of acculturation. As defined by Merriam-Webster, acculturation is the “cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture.” In other words, it is the process whereby Latinos learn about, and embrace, the mainstream culture while also maintaining their culture of origin. The acculturation algorithm developed by Mintel is based on 1) the language Hispanics speak at home and 2) the culture Hispanics consider that is most dominant in their lives – the American or the Hispanic culture. Results of the algorithm indicate that the bicultural segment is the largest segment, followed by the unacculturated segment. The smallest of all three is the acculturated segment. The following outlines some demographic information that helps put the acculturation groups into context:

• Unacculturated Hispanics (~30%) skew female and tend to have a lower household income. While they are distributed across all ages, they are more likely to be in the 25-34 age range. The majority are born outside the US. They tend to live in urban settings.

• Bicultural Hispanics (~50%) skew male and tend to be younger. Bicultural Hispanics are distributed across all ages. They skew slightly US-born. They live primarily in urban settings. This is the segment that is projected to grow the most as the Hispanic demographic as a whole becomes more bicultural.

• Acculturated Hispanics (~20%) tend to be young; over-indexing among Hispanics aged 18-24. They tend to live in households with higher household incomes, and are almost equally likely to be male or female. The majority are US-born. They are more likely than any of the other groups to live in the suburbs.

For further information about acculturation, please refer to the Acculturation section of this report.