Mexican-American acculturation, counselor ethnicity and cultural sensitivity, and perceived counselor competence.

189 Mexican-American community college students identified as low, medium, or high in acculturation were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 possible stimulus conditions generated by crossing 2 counselor introductions (Mexican American or Anglo American) with 2 tape-recorded counseling simulations (culturally responsive or culturally unresponsive). A significant cultural sensitivity effect was found for perceptions of cultural competence. Highest ratings of cultural competence were obtained when the counselor was portrayed as culturally responsive and lowest ratings when the counselor was portrayed as culturally unresponsive, regardless of counselor ethnicity or participant acculturation. All other main and interaction effects for perceived counselor credibility and cultural competence were nonsignificant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mexican-American acculturation, counselor ethnicity, counseling style, and perceived counselor credibility.

Used a 3?×?2?×?2 factorial design to study the effects of S acculturation (low, medium, or high), counselor ethnicity (Anglo-American or Mexican-American), and counseling style (directive or nondirective) on Mexican-American Ss' perceptions of and willingness to see a counselor. Within acculturation levels, Ss were randomly assigned to view stimulus materials (in which the counselor's ethnicity was varied) and to listen to tape recordings of a simulated counseling session (in which the counseling style was varied). No evidence was found of an acculturation effect for any dependent variable. However, Ss gave higher credibility ratings and were more willing to see a counselor who was Mexican American for personal, academic, and vocational concerns. Also, more positive ratings were given to the directive counseling style than the nondirective counseling style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mexican Americans' bilingual ability, counselor bilingualism cues, counselor ethnicity, and perceived counselor credibility.

In a completely crossed, factorial design, 186 Mexican American college students were exposed to a counselor introduction that identified her as either Mexican American or Canadian American, followed by an audiotape-recorded bogus counseling session in which the counselor either spoke English only or English combined with cues of Spanish-speaking ability. After listening to the tape-recorded counseling session, participants rated the counselor's credibility and cross-cultural competence. No effect was found on ratings for counselor language or counselor ethnicity. However, ratings of both counselor credibility and cross-cultural competence were found to be a function of participants' bilingual ability. Combined with evidence of a similar relationship between generation since immigration and ratings of the counselor, these findings suggest that, as Mexican Americans acculturate, their perceptions of counselor credibility and cross-cultural competence diminish. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor helping model, participant ethnicity and acculturation level, and perceived counselor credibility.

An analogue research design was used to examine the relationships between participant ethnicity, acculturation level, counselor model of helping, and ratings of counselor credibility. A total of 199 community college students (109 Mexican Americans, 90 European Americans) evaluated counselor credibility after being exposed to 1 of 4 counseling vignettes. Evidence was found to support the hypothesis that ethnic background and adherence to cultural norms and behaviors are related to perceptions of counselor expertise and trustworthiness. Results also showed that loss of Mexican culture, rather than the acquisition of North American culture, is associated with less positive perceptions of counselor credibility. Contrary to the cultural barrier theory used to explain underutilization of mental health services among Mexican Americans, these results suggest that aspects of the Mexican culture support the use of counseling services among Mexican Americans. Implications for counselors and suggestions for future research are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturation and its effects on self-esteem among immigrant Latina women

Relationships in the stress-process model, examining level of acculturation, social support, marital status, religion, education, and ethnicity associated with self-esteem in 491 immigrant women from Latin America at baseline and 1 year later were studied. The mediating/moderating effects of social support, marital status, religion, and education on the relation between level of acculturation and self-esteem were analyzed. Findings, based on correlations and various multiple regression analyses, showed that the Latina immigrant women experienced increases in both level of acculturation and self-esteem over the 1-year period. When baseline self-esteem was controlled for, only ethnicity and change in level of acculturation were significantly related to follow-up self-esteem; no significant mediators or moderators of acculturation change were found. Differences between Mexican and other Central American participants were noted.     

Effects of level of acculturation and counseling style on Hispanic students' perceptions of counselor.

It was hypothesized that level of acculturation and counseling style would affect Hispanic students' perceptions of certain counselor attributes and willingness to see a counselor. Pretesting on an acculturation scale placed 94 Hispanic undergraduate college students in one of three types, Hispanic acculturated, bicultural, or Anglo acculturated. The participants viewed a counseling videotape of one of two White female counselors portraying either a directive or a nondirective counseling style and rated her on two scales. Results indicated that acculturation had a significant effect on ratings of trustworthiness and counselor understanding. Counseling style had a significant effect on the students' perception of counselor knowledge of psychology, counselor willingness to help, and on their own willingness to see a counselor. Sex of the participants had a significant effect on perceptions of counselor attractiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Archetypal patterns, mental representations, and replicative processes in infancy

This study was designed to identify the expectancies held by Mexican Americans toward the drinking of alcoholic beverages as well as toward excessive drinking. Random samples of 534 Mexican American and 616 non-Hispanic White residents of San José, California and of San Antonio, Texas were interviewed over the telephone. Mexican Americans were found to have unique expectancies toward drinking of alcoholic beverages and toward excessive drinking that differed from those held by non-Hispanic Whites. In addition, Mexican Americans expected the various outcomes in greater proportion than non-Hispanic Whites and the Mexican American respondents classified as high in acculturation tended to respond in a manner similar to that of non-Hispanic White respondents. Multivariate analyses of variance with common (across ethnic groups) factor scales with ethnicity, gender, and drinking status as independent variables showed main effects for drinking status and for ethnicity. The group differences in expectancies identified here support the need for culturally appropriate interventions that target group-specific beliefs.     

Expanding the concept of acculturation in Mexican American rehabilitation psychology research and practice.

The acculturation process is increasingly being viewed as an important variable that provides a context for understanding Mexican American health disparities. Although rehabilitation psychologists have noted the importance of utilizing acculturation in research and practice, scholars continue to use out-dated conceptualizations and models of acculturation. Objectives: The authors provide a brief overview of current trends in acculturation theory and research. Limitations of current rehabilitation research and how acculturation theory can help explain Mexican American health outcomes are discussed. Finally, recommendations for rehabilitation research and practice are provided. Conclusions: The authors recommend that rehabilitation scholars develop and test theoretical models that incorporate multiple dimensions of acculturation in order to understand how it influences Mexican American health outcomes. Rehabilitation professionals should incorporate acculturation theory and culturally informed interventions into rehabilitation practice with Mexican Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnicity and acculturation: Assessing Mexican American couples' relationships using the Marital Satisfaction Inventory—Revised.

This study compared the marriages of 75 Mexican American and 66 non-Hispanic White American couples sampled from the same geographic region of the southwestern U.S., using the Marital Satisfaction Inventory—Revised (MSI—R) . Analyses of internal consistency and scales' intercorrelations provided partial support for the structural equivalence of MSI-R scales across both samples. Multivariate analyses indicated modestly higher levels of relationship distress among the Mexican American couples, although group differences dissolved after controlling for demographic variables other than ethnicity. Ratings of higher acculturation among Mexican American couples were modestly related to higher levels of marital distress for wives but unrelated to relationship satisfaction for husbands. Implications of findings for the study of Mexican American marriages and interventions with clinically distressed couples are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photodiagnosis (PD) using endogenous photosensitization induced by 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA): current clinical and development status

Although low levels of social support have been related to mortality from coronary heart disease, little is known about the role of social support among Mexican Americans. The authors therefore examined the relationship between social support and long-term survival in the Corpus Christi Heart Project. They developed a social support scale that used data collected during in-hospital interviews of 292 Mexican Americans and 304 non-Hispanic Whites who survived a myocardial infarction for more than 28 days. The scale incorporated three measures: marital status; if not married, whether living alone; and whether advised to seek help. During an average follow-up period of 43 months, 115 participants died. Survival following myocardial infarction was greater for those with high or medium social support than for those with low social support. With age, gender, ethnicity, education, employment, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia included in a proportional hazards regression model, the relative risk of mortality was 1.89 (95% CI, 1.20-2.97) for those with low social support. But when the two ethnic groups were analyzed separately, low social support was no longer a significant predictor of mortality for non-Hispanic Whites, whereas for Mexican Americans, the relative risk of mortality was 3.38 (95% CI, 1.73-6.62) for those with low social support.     

Asian-American acculturation, severity of concerns, and willingness to see a counselor.

Asian Americans at a major West Coast university were surveyed to determine how severe each of 24 problems was for them and to assess their willingness to see a counselor for each problem. Factor analysis reduced the 24 problems to 8 areas of concern. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that severity ratings for the 8 concerns were related to acculturation and ethnicity. With severity ratings as covariates, a repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was computed for willingness to see a counselor ratings. Willingness to see a counselor was found to be related to both acculturation and gender across all 8 concerns. Women expressed greater willingness to see the counselor than did men and low-medium acculturated students expressed greater willingness to see a counselor than did high-acculturated students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mexican-American cultural commitment, preference for counselor ethnicity, and willingness to use counseling.

Mexican-American college students who expressed a strong commitment to the Mexican-American culture (28 Ss), strong commitment to the Anglo-American culture (18 Ss), strong commitment to both cultures (38 Ss), or weak commitment to both cultures (14 Ss) rated their preference for an ethnically similar counselor and completed a willingness to use professional counseling survey. Results show that preference for counselor ethnicity and willingness to self-disclose in counseling were related to cultural commitment. Ss with a strong commitment to the Mexican-American culture expressed the greatest preference for an ethnically similar counselor and the least willingness to self-disclose. The 51 females expressed a greater willingness to use professional counseling services than did males. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective, behavioral, and physiological reactivity to ethnically matched and ethnically mismatched film clips.

This study examined whether individuals from 4 major ethnic groups within the United States (African American, Chinese American, European American, and Mexican American) showed greater subjective, behavioral, and physiological responses to emotional film clips (amusement, sadness, and disgust) with actors from their own ethnic group (ethnically matched) compared with actors from the other 3 ethnic groups (ethnically mismatched). Evidence showed greater responsivity to ethnically matched films for African Americans and European Americans, with the largest effect for African Americans. These findings were consistent across both sex and level of cultural identification. Findings of ethnic difference notwithstanding, there were many areas in which ethnic differences were not found (e.g., little or no evidence was found of greater response to ethnically matched films in Chinese-American or Mexican- American participants). These findings indicate that the emotional response system clearly reacts to stimuli of diverse ethnic content; however, the system is also amenable to subtle "tuning" that allows for incrementally enhanced responding to members of one's own ethnic or cultural group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of acculturation, problem-solving appraisal, and career decision-making self-efficacy to Mexican American high school students' educational goals.

This study examined the contributions of acculturation, problem-solving appraisal, and career decision-making self-efficacy on 105 Mexican American high school students' educational goals. A standard regression analysis indicated that Anglo-oriented acculturation and problem-solving appraisal accounted for significant variance in educational goals. Mexican-oriented acculturation and career decision-making self-efficacy did not contribute significant variance to students' educational goals. The regression model accounted for 19.5% of the variance in educational goals. Results of the structure coefficients for the predictor variables indicated that Anglo-oriented acculturation and career decision-making self-efficacy were the 2 most important predictors, followed by problem-solving appraisal and Mexican-oriented acculturation, respectively. Implications of the findings are discussed, and recommendations for interventions are provided for enhancing the educational and career development among Mexican American adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of ethnic, sex, and attitude similarity on counselor credibility.

Surveyed 63 male and 64 female Mexican-American community college students to determine their attitude toward acculturation. Ss were then randomly assigned to receive written material describing the sex, ethnicity, and attitude toward acculturation of a counselor they subsequently heard in a tape-recorded excerpt of a counseling session. After reading the written introduction and listening to the counseling excerpt, Ss rated the counselor's credibility and attractiveness on the Counselor-Effectiveness Rating Scale (CERS). A repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between attitude similarity and the repeated factor (CERS subscales). Post hoc analyses indicated that Ss' ratings of their willingness to see the counselor were significantly lower than other credibility ratings for those Ss who were exposed to a counselor with a dissimilar attitude. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A causal model of the educational plans and career expectations of Mexican American high school girls.

A structural model predicting the educational and career expectations of 282 Mexican American high school girls was developed and then tested on samples of 247 Mexican American boys and 228 European American girls. Predictors included socioeconomic status, acculturation, academic achievement, instrumentality, expressiveness, gender role attitudes, parental and teacher support, family and career commitment, and perceptions of barriers. Results indicated that the initial model was plausible in the sample of Mexican American girls. Findings from the multiple-groups analyses provided evidence supporting the primacy of cultural influences over gender in predicting the educational and career expectations of Mexican American girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of observer ratings of multicultural counseling competence in Black, Latino, and White American trainees.

Using transcribed intake sessions of 52 counselor–client dyads, this study explored the relative contributions of (a) counselor and client race or ethnicity, (b) counselor–client racial or ethnic match, (c) previous academic training in multicultural counseling, and (d) self-reported multicultural counseling competence to observer ratings of trainees' multicultural counseling competence. Results revealed that (a) Black American and Latino American counselor trainees were rated as more multiculturally competent than their White American peers, and (b) prior multicultural training was positively predictive of observer-rated multicultural counseling competence. Implications of the findings for counselor training and practice are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suggestions for psychologists working with Mexican American individuals and families in health care settings.

The number of Mexican Americans in the United States continues to grow at a rapid rate. As these numbers increase, so does the likelihood that Mexican Americans will eventually come into direct contact with the health care system. Mexican Americans with traditional Mexican attitudes, values, and behaviors encounter barriers as they attempt to access medical and rehabilitative care. Issues such as acculturation, language, family, interdependence, attitudes toward authority, and time orientation are some of the areas that may present challenges to rehabilitation staff. Psychologists working in health care facilities who have the cultural competence to intervene effectively with the Mexican American patient can play an important role in helping to remove some of these barriers. Specific suggestions for working with Mexican American patients are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)