Date of Award

2005

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lawrence Grebstein

Abstract

The Latino population in the United States has been consistently growing over the past few years and it is estimated that it will only increase in greater numbers in the future (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). Individuals of Mexican descent are the largest group amongst Latinos. Along with the growth of this population has come an ever-increasing need for the provision of high quality mental health services. One of the challenges often found by providers is the difference in culture between the provider and the client (Sharma & Kerl, 2001). The cultural values of familismo, personalismo, and machismo are frequently cited in the literature and are useful for understanding the belief system and behaviors of Latino individuals. In addition to the differences in culture, other factors such as acculturation, generational status, primary language, and gender may also play a significant role in understanding the subtleties of a Latino individual. This study aims to investigate these factors with a specific subset of the Latino population composed of Mexican and Mexican-American individuals in a Southwest border town. Results showed that while there was no significant differences between Mexican and Mexican-Americans endorsement of familismo, F (1,146) = .043, p = .84, personalismo, F (1, 146) = .026, p = .87, and machismo, F (1, 146) = .090, p = .77. However, there was a significant difference between men and women on their beliefs on machismo, F (1, 146) = 4.206, p <. 05.

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