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This study examines associations between ethnic identity, regional history, and genomic ancestry in New Mexicans of Spanish-speaking descent (NMS). In structured interviews, we asked 507 NMS to select from a list of eight ethnic identity terms identified in previous research. We estimated genomic ancestry for each individual from 291,917 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and compared genomic ancestry, age, and birthplace between groups of individuals who identified using each ethnic identity term. Eighty-eight per cent of NMS who identified as "Hispanic," "Nuevomexicano/a," and "Spanish," on average, were born in New Mexico, as were the vast majority of their parents and grandparents. Thirty-three per cent of NMS who identified as "Mexican" and "Mexican American" were born in Mexico, as were 59 per cent of their parents and 67 per cent of their grandparents. Average Native American and African ancestry proportions in "Hispanic" (0.26, 0.02, respectively), "Spanish" (0.25, 0.01), and "Nuevomexicano/a" (0.24, 0.01) NMS were significantly lower than in "Mexican American" (0.37, 0.04) NMS. Significant age differences between older "Spanish" and younger "Nuevomexicano/a" individuals, combined with widespread use of the term "Hispanic," may reflect ongoing nomenclature changes. Patterns of correspondence between ethnic identity, ethnic nomenclatures, and genomic ancestry reflect historical patterns of migration, colonization, and cultural change.

Background: This study examines the association between perceived neighborhood violence, perceived neighborhood collective efficacy, and binge drinking among Mexican Americans residing on the U.S.-Mexico border., Methods: Data were collected from a multistage cluster sample of adult Mexican Americans residing in the U.S.-Mexico border areas of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas (N = 1,307). The survey weighted response rate was 67%. Face-to-face interviews lasting approximately 1 hour were conducted in respondents' homes in English or Spanish. Path analysis was used to test whether collective efficacy mediated the impact of perceived neighborhood violence on binge drinking., Results: Among 30+-year-old women, perceived neighborhood collective efficacy mediated the effects of perceived neighborhood violence on binge drinking in a theoretically predicted way: Lower perceptions of violence predicted an increased perception of collective efficacy, which in turn, predicted less binge drinking. Direct effects of violence perceptions on binge were nonsignificant. Younger 18- to 29-year-old women showed a similar (but nonsignificant) pattern of effects. Perceived collective efficacy also mediated the effects of perceived violence on binge drinking among men, but in opposite ways for older and younger men. Older men showed the same mediating effect as older women, but the effect reversed among younger men due to a strong, positive relation between collective efficacy and binge drinking. There were also age differences in the direct effect of violence perceptions on binge drinking: Perceptions of violence predicted more binge drinking among young men, but less among older men., Conclusions: These results highlight the complexity of people's responses to neighborhood characteristics in regard to their drinking. Young men in particular seem to react very differently to perceptions of collective efficacy than other groups. However, among both men and women, collective efficacy may come to play an increasingly important protective role in health outcomes with age., (Copyright © 2015 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: Acculturation to life in the United States is a known predictor of Hispanic drinking behavior. We compare the ability of 2 theoretical models of this effect-sociocultural theory and general stress theory-to account for associations between acculturation and drinking in a sample of Mexican Americans. Limitations of previous evaluations of these theoretical models are addressed using a broader range of hypothesized cognitive mediators and a more direct measure of acculturative stress. In addition, we explore nonlinearities as possible underpinnings of attenuated acculturation effects among men., Methods: Respondents (N = 2,595, current drinker N = 1,351) were interviewed as part of 2 recent multistage probability samples in a study of drinking behavior among Mexican Americans in the United States. The ability of norms, drinking motives, alcohol expectancies, and acculturation stress to account for relations between acculturation and drinking outcomes (volume and heavy drinking days) were assessed with a hierarchical linear regression strategy. Nonlinear trends were assessed by modeling quadratic effects of acculturation and acculturation stress on cognitive mediators and drinking outcomes., Results: Consistent with previous findings, acculturation effects on drinking outcomes were stronger for women than men. Among women, only drinking motives explained acculturation associations with volume or heavy drinking days. Among men, acculturation was linked to increases in norms, and norms were positive predictors of drinking outcomes. However, adjusted effects of acculturation were nonexistent or trending in a negative direction, which counteracted this indirect normative influence. Acculturation stress did not explain the positive associations between acculturation and drinking., Conclusions: Stress and alcohol outcome expectancies play little role in the positive linear association between acculturation and drinking outcomes, but drinking motives appear to at least partially account for this effect. Consistent with recent reports, these results challenge stress models of linear acculturation effects on drinking outcomes and provide (partial) support for sociocultural models. Inconsistent mediation patterns-rather than nonlinearities-represented a more plausible statistical description of why acculturation-drinking associations are weakened among men., (Copyright © 2012 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

This study examines attitudes of Mexican female immigrants to Albuquerque, New Mexico, regarding barriers to health care access in the United States and Mexico for stigmatizing and non-stigmatizing illnesses and moderating effects of social support. Native Spanish speakers conducted three focus groups (in Spanish) lasting two hours with seven to eight participants. Focus groups were transcribed, translated, and coded. Frequency data were calculated by number of times concepts or themes were raised. Comparisons of barriers to health care access were made between U.S. and Mexican cultures. The majority (86%) of comments on barriers for non-stigmatizing illnesses implicated U.S. culture; the majority (90%) for stigmatizing illnesses implicated Mexican culture. Social support for stigmatizing illnesses was discussed. Participants discussed important issues of health care access for stigmatizing illnesses that may have implications for this population's health status. Greater attention should be paid to stigma and social support in future empirical studies.

Mandates for culturally competent substance abuse and mental health services call for behavioral health providers to recognize and engage cultural issues. These efforts to incorporate culture typically focus on client culture, but provider views of culture can also influence the provision of services. Analysis of 42 semistructured interviews with behavioral health providers suggests that culture is considered by many to be an obstacle to help seeking and treatment of substance-abusing youth. Although some providers do not highlight cultural issues, others conceptualize culture in terms of (a) generalized Hispanic cultural attributes, (b) male-dominant gender roles, and (c) the culture of poverty. Recommendations for provider training on cultural issues focus on ways they might critically consider their ideas about culture.

The extent to which the construct of body image is measurement invariant across ethnic groups is an important consideration for studies examining ethnic differences and characteristics that influence body image disturbances. However, the literature examining the body image construct as a function of ethnic group membership is limited. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether Hispanic/biethnic-Hispanic and non-Hispanic White preadolescent girls (aged 8 through 12 years old; N=141) had fundamentally different conceptualizations of body image in a low to low/middle socioeconomic status school-based sample. Our findings suggest that the measurement construct of body image was similar and relatively stable for Hispanic/biethnic-Hispanic and non-Hispanic White preadolescent girls. In addition, the body image construct was predictably related to disordered eating symptoms in both groups, with different dimensions of body image differentially predictive by ethnic group. Overall, body image appears to be a meaningful construct with similar measurement meanings across Hispanic/biethnic-Hispanic and non-Hispanic White ethnic groups.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine Mexican American knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about colorectal cancer and barriers to receiving colorectal cancer screening exams., Design: We developed an open-topic focus group schedule that addressed knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about screening for colorectal cancer and identified cultural issues to be considered when developing educational interventions to increase screening participation. Focus groups were used to elicit participant responses., Setting: Two small communities (colonias) along the US-Mexico border., Subjects: Mexican Americans ages > or = 50 years., Results: A total of 43 individuals (20 men and 23 women) participated in the focus groups, each of which lasted approximately 90 minutes. Few focus group participants had ever heard of colorectal cancer or specific screening exams to detect early forms of cancer. Participants identified cost of medical care and embarrassment about receiving colorectal exams as barriers to screening participation. Respondents commonly expressed fatalistic attitudes about their chances of recovering from cancer, some preferred not to know if they had cancer or believed that they would refuse treatment if diagnosed with cancer. Nevertheless, many participants noted that strong support from family and friends or a strong will would allow one to survive cancer., Conclusion: Interventions to improve participation in screening services for colorectal cancer should focus on reducing the influences of cost and embarrassment and improving levels of knowledge about colorectal cancer and the need for screening.

Objectives: To examine the association between Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score and subsequent muscle strength (measured using handgrip strength) and to test the hypothesis that muscle strength will mediate any association between impaired cognition and incident activity of daily living (ADL) disability over a 7-year period in elderly Mexican Americans who were initially not disabled., Design: A 7-year prospective cohort study (1993-2001)., Setting: Five southwestern states (Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California)., Participants: Two thousand three hundred eighty-one noninstitutionalized Mexican-American men and women aged 65 and older with no ADL disability at baseline., Measurements: In-home interviews in 1993/1994, 1995/1996, 1998/1999, and 2000/2001 assessed social and demographic factors, medical conditions (diabetes mellitus, stroke, heart attack, and arthritis), body mass index (BMI), depressive symptomatology, handgrip muscle strength, and ADLs. MMSE score was dichotomized as less than 21 for poor cognition and 21 or greater for good cognition. Main outcomes measures were mean and slope of handgrip muscle strength over the 7-year period and incident disability, defined as new onset of any ADL limitation at the 2-, 5-, or 7-year follow-up interview periods., Results: In mixed model analyses, there was a significant cross-sectional association between having poor cognition (MMSE<21) and lower handgrip strength, independent of age, sex, and time of interview (estimate=-1.41, standard error (SE)=0.18; P<.001). With the introduction of a cognition-by-time interaction term into the model, there was also a longitudinal association between poor cognition and change in handgrip strength over time (estimate=-0.25, SE=0.06; P<.001), indicating that subjects with poor cognition had a significantly greater decline in handgrip strength over 7 years than those with good cognition, independent of age, sex, and time. This longitudinal association between poor cognition and greater muscle decline remained significant (P<.001) after controlling for age, sex, education, and time-dependent variables of depression, BMI, and medical conditions. In general estimation equation models, having poor cognition was associated with greater risk of 7-year incident ADL disability (odds ratio=2.01, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.60-2.52); the magnitude of the association decreased to 1.66 (95% CI=1.31-2.10) when adjustment was made for handgrip strength., Conclusion: Older Mexican Americans with poor cognition had steeper decline in handgrip muscle strength over 7 years than those with good cognition, independent of other demographic and health factors. A possible mediating effect of muscle strength on the association between poor cognition and subsequent ADL disability was also indicated.

A focused ethnographic study was conducted among 13 moderately to highly acculturated American mothers of Mexican ancestry to determine how they influence the health of their family members. Using the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health (a state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease) as a guide for interview questions, we conducted 32 in-depth interviews with study participants. The thread of struggle ran through each woman's narrative. Women's process of struggle is presented as one way to conceptualize the gendered nature of household health work.

Objective: To examine how diabetes in combination with stroke affects functional activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), self-rated health, and 5-year mortality in elderly Mexican Americans with or without other comorbid conditions., Design: Longitudinal study., Setting: Five southwestern states., Participants: A total of 3050 subjects of age 65 years or older, of whom 23% had diabetes and 6% had a stroke., Interventions: Not applicable., Main Outcome Measures: ADL and IADL disabilities, self-rated health, and 5-year mortality., Results: Subjects with both diabetes and stroke but without other comorbid conditions had almost 18 times higher risk of having any ADL disability (odds ratio [OR]=18.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.3-105.2) and 10 times higher risk of having any IADL disability (OR=10.6; 95% CI, 1.1-101.5), compared with subjects without either of the 2 conditions. The risk of disability was further increased if the subject had a comorbid condition (hypertension, heart attack, cancer, hip fracture, arthritis). The risk of fair or poor self-rated health was 3.5 (95% CI, 1.4-8.6) and the hazard ratio for 5-year mortality was 2.4 (95% CI, 1.7-3.4) in people with both diseases., Conclusions: Diabetes and stroke in combination is strongly associated with a higher risk of disabilities, poor self-rated health, and 5-year mortality in elderly Mexican Americans. The effect on outcomes appears to follow an additive model. Information on disability risk and morbidity and mortality should be useful to rehabilitation professionals in discharge planning and allocation of therapy resources.

This report describes ethnic and gender differences in suicide ideation among two large samples of middle school students in New Mexico (n = 2,140) and Texas (n = 1,302). Students completed a self-administered questionnaire on suicide ideation and psychosocial risk factors. Mexican Americans in both samples reported significantly higher prevalence of suicide ideation than did their European American counterparts. Mexican Americans were 1.8 times more likely to have high suicide ideation than European Americans. The suicide ideation risk for Mexican Americans remained unchanged in both samples after adjusting for gender, age, family structure, depression, low social support, and self-esteem. This study indicates that ethnicity plays an important role in suicidal ideation, but the mechanism remains unclear.

A survey of 208 girls and 191 boys attending a public high school in southwestern New Mexico was conducted to examine students' use of smokeless tobacco products. One Mexican-American girl identified herself as a user of chewing tobacco. Of the boys 8% (17) indicated that they used chewing tobacco and 7% (15) reported that they dipped snuff. 6% (12) indicated use of both snuff and chewing tobacco. The boys included 153 Mexican-Americans of whom 7% used smokeless tobacco and 26 Anglo-Americans of whom 34% were users.

A telephone survey was conducted to compare the extent of smokeless tobacco consumption by Anglo-Americans and Mexican-Americans. Using systematic random sampling, one out of every 25 phone numbers was selected from the Grant County, New Mexico, telephone directory. Two hundred and ten individuals were interviewed. All of the female respondents, including 46 Mexican-Americans and 81 Anglo-Americans, indicated that they did not use smokeless tobacco. Twenty-five percent of the 51 Anglo-American males and 26% of the 30 Mexican-American males identified themselves as consumers of smokeless tobacco. A chi-square analysis revealed no significance difference between the number of Mexican-Americans and Anglo-Americans among the male self-identified users of smokeless tobacco.

A modified version of the Illinois Department of Public Health Smokeless Tobacco Survey was administered to 220 women and 134 men attending a state university in New Mexico. The respondents included 65 male and 83 female Mexican-Americans as well as 118 female and 59 male Anglo-Americans. All Mexican-American women identified themselves as nonusers of smokeless tobacco. Of the Anglo-American women, one indicated that she used snuff, and 3 disclosed that they chewed tobacco. 33% of the Anglo-American men and 18% of the Mexican-American men stated that they used smokeless tobacco products. A chi-squared analysis showed this difference was significant. Implications are discussed.