Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 1988 May;26(5):441-52.
doi: 10.1097/00005650-198805000-00001.

Factors affecting the probability of use of general and medical health and social/community services for Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites

K B Wells  1 , J M Golding, R L Hough, M A Burnam, M Karno
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Factors affecting the probability of use of general and medical health and social/community services for Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites

K B Wells et al. Med Care. 1988 May.

Abstract

Are individual characteristics associated with use of general and mental health and human service sectors similar for Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic whites (NHWs)? We addressed this question using data from the Los Angeles site of the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program. A random sample of the general population of two mental health catchment areas was interviewed in 1983-1984. With four exceptions, individual variation in sociodemographic factors, insurance coverage, and health status had similar effects on the probability of use of the general and mental health and human service sector for both NHWs and MAs. Recent psychiatric disorder was associated with greater use of general medical providers for mental health care for both NHWs and MAs, but significantly more so for NHWs. Female NHWs were more likely to use the human service sector (e.g., social service agencies) than male NHWs, but gender had no effect on this type of use for MAs. Higher job status was associated with greater use of outpatient general medical services, but significantly more so for NHWs than MAs. By contrast, having private health insurance was associated with a greater increase in use of outpatient general medical services for MAs than for NHWs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources