RESUMO
This study examined the effects of religious attendance on three dimensions of psychological well-being using panel data from a three-generations study of Mexican Americans from Texas (N = 624). Well-being dimensions included life satisfaction (the 13-item LSIA), and respective seven- and four-item depressed and positive affect subscales of the CES-D. Two-wave path analyses revealed a cross-sectional association between religious attendance and life satisfaction in the two oldest generations, and a salutary longitudinal effect of religious attendance on subsequent depressed affect in the youngest generation. Findings for life satisfaction and depressed affect withstood controlling for health and five sociodemographic correlates of religious attendance and well-being.
Assuntos
Aculturação , Adaptação Psicológica , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Americanos Mexicanos/psicologia , Religião e Psicologia , Adulto , Idoso , Depressão/psicologia , Feminino , Humanos , Relação entre Gerações , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Satisfação Pessoal , Determinação da Personalidade , TexasRESUMO
Determinants of physician utilization were examined using a three-generational sample of Mexican-Americans in San Antonio. A typical version of Andersen's causal behavioral model was moderately successful in predicting physician utilization in the middle and older generations and less successful in the younger generation. Consistent with the literature, need factors (health indicators) tended to affect utilization most directly. The authors also examined whether acculturation into the larger society positively influenced utilization regardless of need, as the literature suggested. While three separate measures of acculturation had no independent effects on physician utilization, acculturation did affect utilization indirectly via the need variables in the middle generation, although these effects were not consistently in the direction of greater utilization. Generational differences in determinants of physician utilization are discussed particularly in relation to the model's greater relevance for the middle and older generations.
Assuntos
Serviços de Saúde/estatística & dados numéricos , Hispânico ou Latino , Médicos/estatística & dados numéricos , Aculturação , Adulto , Fatores Etários , Idoso , Economia , Emprego , Família , Feminino , Nível de Saúde , Humanos , Masculino , Casamento , México/etnologia , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Modelos Teóricos , Visita a Consultório Médico , Aceitação pelo Paciente de Cuidados de Saúde , Distribuição Aleatória , Fatores Sexuais , TexasRESUMO
The relationship between religion and health was investigated using data from a three-generation study of mexican Americans. Two measures of religion-religious institution attendance and self-rated religiosity-were correlated with a number of functional health indicators, including self-rated health, activity restriction owing to health, bed disability days, physician utilization, worry over health, a physical symptoms scale, and a depression scale. In addition, prevalence rates were calculated for several major chronic diseases. Many significant associations obtained, as well as an inverse relationship between self-rated religiosity and hypertension. These findings are interpreted in light of the literature on religious attendance and health and on religion and aging.