Puerto Rican Families in Central Florida: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Their Implications for Successful Intergration

Central Florida is an emerging destination for Puerto Ricans migrating to the contiguous states of the United States. We use in-depth interviews with Puerto Rican adults and young adults (N=25) and data from the U.S. Census to examine Central Florida Puerto Rican families’ demographic and economic profiles and to compare them to those in older destinations such as New York. We focus particularly on socioeconomic integration. Findings from interviews suggest that kinship networks may aid the efforts of families to maintain socioeconomic stability by providing access to social capital. However, the generational status and levels of acculturation may affect the kinds of jobs that are attainable. Importantly, experiences with discrimination may blunt economic progress and socioeconomic integration. The erosion of feelings of belonging due to discrimination may, in turn, affect future settlement decisions. We discuss the implications of these results for Puerto Rican families’ socioeconomic status and economic stability.