Robert L. Leon

Texas Snowbirds: seasonal migrants to the Rio Grande Valley.

This article compares the results of a 1985 survey of elderly seasonal migrants to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas with those of five earlier studies to provide a more comprehensive profile of such migrants than is currently available. Sociodemographic, life-style, and health characteristics are reviewed. Based on apparent similarities among elderly seasonal migrants in the six studies, suggestions are made for the direction of future research.

Hazards in opportunity.

Epidemiology studies have found that immigrants who enter the United States from Mexico have prevalence rates of mental disorder similar to residents of Mexico City. These rates are much lower than rates of mental disorder found in those of Mexican decent who were born in the United States. Prevalence of depression in U.S.-born Mexican-Americans approximates prevalence rates for the general U.S. population and is twice as high as the rates for recent immigrants from Mexico. This paper will discuss hypotheses that might contribute to these findings. These include decrease in family and social support, the need to compete in a more open society, and the inability to satisfy perceived needs and marginal position in society.

Mental disorders among family practice patients in the United States-Mexico border region

SummaryA standardized interview including parts of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule was used to determine the prevalence of depressive and generalized anxiety disorders among female family practice patients in San Antonio, Texas, and Monterrey, Mexico. Rates of depression and anxiety were not significantly different in texas and Mexico. There were differences in age-specific rates of anxiety with the disorder being prominent among middleaged women in Mexico. In both countries, women with mental disorders had higher rates of hospitalization, use of psychotropic medication(s), and physical complaints than women without such disorders.

Coping in thebarrio: Case studies of Mexican-American families

This paper reports preliminary findings of a study of coping abilities of Mexican-American families. The purpose of the study was to identify variables related to styles of behavior that can be characterized as adaptive. A complex of factors differentiated families who were judged to be dealing effectively with their environment (“copers”) from those who were not (“noncopers”). The factors included the health status of the children, various child-rearing attitudes and practices, and patterns of decision making as they related to a more general ability of parents to conceptualize and organize time.

Family Composition, Birth Order, and Gender of Mexican Children in Psychological Treatment

This chapter describes the composition of family households of Mexican children and adolescents undergoing psychological treatment, and explores hypotheses relative to the differential selection of Mexican children into treatment. The hypotheses, derived from descriptions of the Mexican family by Diaz-Guerrero (1955) and Ramirez and Parres (1957), focus on three variable characteristics: birth order, gender, and family composition. The hypotheses are explored by using data obtained for other purposes from records of a sample of Mexican children undergoing psychological treatment.