Health In The Mexican American Culture

Hispanics and the Future of America presents details of the complex story of a population that varies in many dimensions, including national origin, immigration status, and generation. The papers in this volume draw on a wide variety of data sources to describe the contours of this population, from the perspectives of history, demography, geography, education, family, employment, economic well-being, health, and political engagement. They provide a rich source of information for researchers, policy makers, and others who want to better understand the fast-growing and diverse population that we call "Hispanic." The current period is a critical one for getting a better understanding of how Hispanics are being shaped by the U.S. experience. This will, in turn, affect the United States and the contours of the Hispanic future remain uncertain. The uncertainties include such issues as whether Hispanics, especially immigrants, improve their educational attainment and fluency in English and thereby improve their economic position; whether growing numbers of foreign-born Hispanics become citizens and achieve empowerment at the ballot box and through elected office; whether impending health problems are successfully averted; and whether Hispanics' geographic dispersal accelerates their spatial and social integration. The papers in this volume provide invaluable information to explore these issues.

By the middle of the twenty-first century, one out of every six Americans will be of Mexican descent; and as health care becomes of increasing concern to all Americans, the particular needs of Mexican Americans will have to be more thoroughly addressed. Mexican Americans and Health explains how the health of Mexican-origin people is often related to sociodemographic conditions and genetic factors, while historical and political factors influence how Mexican Americans enter the health care system and how they are treated once they access it. It considers such issues as occupational hazards for Mexican-origin agricultural workers?including pesticide poisoning, heat-related conditions, and musculoskeletal disorders?and women's health concerns, such as prenatal care, preventable cancers, and domestic violence. The authors clearly discuss the health status of Mexican Americans relative to the rest of the U.S. population, interweaving voices of everyday people to explain how today's most pressing health issues have special relevance to the Mexican American community: ? how values such as machismo, familismo, and marianismo influence care-seeking decisions and treatment of illness; ? how factors such as cultural values, socioeconomic status, peer pressure, and family concerns can contribute to substance abuse; ? how cultural attitudes toward sex can heighten the risk of AIDS?and how approaches to AIDS prevention and education need to reflect core cultural values such as familismo, respeto, and confianza. The book also addresses concerns of Mexican Americans regarding the health care system. These include not only access to care and to health insurance but also the shortage of bilingual and bicultural health care professionals. This coverage stresses not only the importance of linguistic competency but also the need to understand folklore illnesses, herbal remedies, and spiritual practices that can delay the treatment of illness and either complement or compromise treatment. Of all the issues that face the contemporary Mexican American community, none is as important to its very survival as health and health care. This timely book gives readers a broad understanding of these complex issues and points the way toward a healthier future for all people of Mexican origin. Mexican Americans and Health and Chicano Popular Culture are the first volumes in the series The Mexican American Experience, a cluster of modular texts designed to provide greater flexibility in undergraduate education. Each book deals with a single topic concerning the Mexican American population. Instructors can create a semester-length course from any combination of volumes, or may choose to use one or two volumes to complement other texts.

Providing in-depth coverage of the Mexican American population from social, cultural, and psychological (clinical) perspectives, this book promotes the understanding of cultural practices and sociological characteristics of this important ethnic group. There are now more than 32 million Mexican Americans living in the United States. As a result, the odds that a clinician will work with a member of this population—one of the fastest-growing minority groups in the United States—is extremely high. Understanding the culture, society, psyche, acculturation, assimilation, and linguistics specific to Mexican Americans, as well as their crises and appropriate interventions, is imperative to provide counseling/therapy services and culturally sensitive assessments. In this book, author Mario Tovar explains how Mexican American history and society affects the needs of this group and how services to Mexican Americans require adjustments as a result. Tovar documents significant differences among Mexican Americans depending on whether they are documented or undocumented immigrants, and on their place of origin—rural versus urban areas of Mexico, and northern versus southern Mexico, for example. Readers will understand how the region of the United States in which Mexican Americans settle can influence the development of certain traits for them and learn about mental and physical health care practices common to Mexican Americans, including folk medicine and "healers" who often include grandmothers and elder neighbors.

This timely and much-needed book addresses the demographic trends affecting the Latinos in the United States, Mexico and Latin America, looking at the health concerns and of this growing population, as it ages. Further examination of this previously understudied group– now the nation’s largest minority group – offers the possibility to promote healthy aging for the entire nation. As international immigration continues to increase, collections such as this are critical for understanding the social and health consequences of this immigration.

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health sponsored and financed the Hidalgo Project on Differential Culture Change and Mental Health during the 4-year period from 1957 to 1961; this document is an abbreviated report of that study of Mexican-American culture in Hidalgo County, Texas. Acculturation levels of various classes of the Mexican-American population are analyzed. Family structure and its influences, the conflict between Protestant and Catholic religions, and the conflict between medical technology and folk cures and superstitions are illustrated by examples from individual case histories.