Barriers to medical care of Mexican-Americans: the role of social class, acculturation, and social isolation.
Literature on medical care utilization by Mexican-Americans suggests that patterns of utilization can be explained, in part, by acculturation, social class and social isolation. The relative importance of these variables is explored in a survey of a rural Mexican-American community in Southern Texas. Data on 152 families are analyzed using a logit analysis, with utilization as the outcome variable. The results suggest that acculturation has a direct effect, while social class and social isolation interact to have a weak effect independent of acculturation. These results confirm the importance of understanding all three variables in planning and implementing medical care programs in Mexican-American communities.
D000328:Adult; D003467:Cultural Deprivation; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011897:Random Allocation; D012923:Social Class; D012934:Social Isolation; D013781:Texas