Psychoneuroses among Mexican Americans and other Whites: Prevalence and caseness Article

Vega, WA, Kolody, B, Warheit, G. (1985). Psychoneuroses among Mexican Americans and other Whites: Prevalence and caseness . AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 75(5), 523-527. 10.2105/AJPH.75.5.523

cited authors

  • Vega, WA; Kolody, B; Warheit, G

authors

abstract

  • This paper reports the findings from an epidemiological survey conducted in California using the Health Opinion Survey (HOS), a measure of psychoneuroticism, as well as other scales and inventories. Uncontrolled results indicate that Mexican Americans have higher symptom and case levels, but that these differences are found primarily among marginally acculturated and immigrant respondents. HOS caseness levels were 15.4 for Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans, 6.6 for English-speaking Mexican Americans, and 5.5 for other Whites. Joint effects of ethnicity for sex, age, education, and marital status were substantial, however there were differences in caseness between Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans, English-speaking Mexican Americans, and other Whites on four measures of psychological distress. The results indicate the importance of acculturation-related factors, including educational attainment, language preference, and nativity for predicting symptomatology among Mexican Americans.

publication date

  • January 1, 1985

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 523

end page

  • 527

volume

  • 75

issue

  • 5