Race, class, ethnicity and Chicano mental health: A psychosocioeconomic model.

Compared to members of the dominant culture, people of Mexican descent in the United States experience unique dynamics related to the maintenance of mental health. These include the influence of such factors as lower socioeconomic status, racial features (i.e. skin color), acculturation, and ethnicity. These factors are rarely viewed from the standpoint of the historical relations extant between the dominant culture and the minority culture--one of subjugation. A theoretical model known as internal colonialism is used as a basis for expanding a framework with which to organize and interpret these relationships. These factors and their interrelationships are influenced by the Ideology of Stratification within a socioeconomic sphere and by the Ideology of Denigration within a sociopsychological sphere. Using causal models these variables were analyzed using data from the National Chicano Survey (N = 991), a national area probability sample of the Mexican-origin heads of household. Among the major findings there was support for the socioeconomic hypotheses that darker phenotype (darker skin color and Indian features) is related to lower education and lower income, which in turn is related to lower self-esteem. Within the sociopsychological sphere, darker phenotype is also directly related to lower self-esteem for the U.S.-born, while darker phenotype was related to higher self-esteem for the Mexican-born. The results of the predictors of ethnic identity is more complex. Generally, those choosing the Mexican label tended to have more obvious ethnic markers (i.e. darker phenotype and less English proficiency). Those Mexican-born choosing Mexican American tended to have a lighter phenotype and higher levels of English proficiency. For the U.S.-born, higher education and incomes were related to choosing Mexican American, while higher education was related to choosing the Chicano index. Of all the ethnic labels, there was a trend observed for only those choosing Chicano to have higher self-esteem (p $<$.06). The results support the thesis that the heritage of domination continues to influence the socioeconomic status and mental health of the Mexican-origin population. These results are discussed within the proposed theoretical framework, along with implications for present practices, further theoretical development, and future research.PhDEducationEducational psychologyEthnic studiesPsychologySocial SciencesSocial psychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128501/2/9023533.pd