Perception of Mental Illness in a Mexican-American Community

Somatization and malingering for workers' compensation applicants: A cross-cultural MMPI study

“…This finding lends further support to the notion that cultural factors may contribute to Hispanics' reporting emotional distress in terms of physical symptoms. It is consistent with the conclusions of nonpsychometric studies, which have stated that cultural factors predispose Hispanics to somatize when under stress (Escobar, 1987;Kolody et al, 1986;Koss, 1990) and that Hispanics are more likely to believe that work-related "nervous" conditions (including depression) are physical illnesses and should be treated by a physician (Karno & Edgerton, 1969). The cultural differences in somatization may provide insight into the proliferation of workers' compensation claims filed by Hispanics relative to other groups.…”

Social support in high‐risk adolescents: Structural components and adaptive impact

“…Such a finding suggests that this population may be particularly appropriate for and receptive to interventions employing individuals such as school personnel to provide social support. The uniformly low levels of social support perceived by Hispanics, especially males, is consistent with the literature on the problems faced by this group in the process of acculturation (Karno & Edgerton, 1969;Padilla & Ruiz, 1969) and points out the need for more concerted efforts at establishing prevention and intervention programs for this group which reduce the complexity of the task of developing social support and enhance the skills of these adolescents for mastering such tasks (Cowen, 1980;Felner, Primavera, & Cauce, 1981).…”

Race and social class as factors in the orientation toward psychotherapy.

“…The finding that for the middle class, race is not related to orientation toward professional help would, on the face of it, suggest that race is not an important issue in entering and successfully completing treatment. This finding is similar to Karno and Edgerton's (1969) that there were remarkably few differences between the perceptions and definitions of mental illness of Mexican-Americans and Anglos. Yet the Mexican-Americans greatly underuse mental health treatment facilities.…”