Chapter 2: Latino Male College Students’ Counseling Practices

Latino males are not completing postsecondary educational degrees at the same rates as their non-Latino counterparts (Perez Huber et al., 2015). Latino males also are more likely to drop out of high school and enter the workforce as well as more likely to leave college before graduation (Castellanos et al., 2006; Saenz & Ponjuan, 2009). Because of statistics such as these presented above, researchers have suggested that Latino males are vanishing from postsecondary educational institutions (Saenz et al., 2013) with Latino college students underrepresented (Carnevale & Strohl, 2010). Although there are college success programs for underrepresented students, researchers found that administrators and high school counselors did not have awareness of educational obstacles for Latino male students and did not have specific programs for Latino male students (Clark et al., 2013). This finding is important because educators must understand factors that positively and negatively influence Latino males’ educational experiences and mental health practices.