RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the extent of intracultural consensus in perceptions of childhood obesity among Mexican American mothers living on the Texas-Mexico border. DESIGN AND SAMPLE: A descriptive, cross-sectional study examined women's judgments about the parameters of childhood obesity. The convenience sample consisted of 61 Mexican American women who were mothers of at least 1 child under age 18. MEASURES: Participants underwent an anthropometric assessment and were surveyed regarding self-perceived weight and household food security. They were then shown photographs of 36 Mexican American boys ages 6 and 7 and asked to sort them into categories by weight status; they also selected 3 children they believed represented the healthiest, most appropriate weight for age. Accuracy scores were computed and examined for bivariate relationships with women's own body mass index (BMI) and survey responses. RESULTS: We found considerable intracultural variation in women's judgments, which could not be explained by the anthropometric and survey variables tested. Women selected a wide range of percentiles as representative of a healthy child. On average, about half of the truly overweight children (BMI>or=95th percentile), however, were considered normal or even underweight. CONCLUSIONS: Local perceptions and language may not correspond to CDC/WHO clinical standards. Larger studies are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.
Assuntos
Atitude Frente a Saúde/etnologia , Transtornos da Nutrição Infantil , Americanos Mexicanos/etnologia , Mães/psicologia , Obesidade , Adulto , Antropometria , Criança , Transtornos da Nutrição Infantil/classificação , Transtornos da Nutrição Infantil/etnologia , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Abastecimento de Alimentos , Humanos , Julgamento , Masculino , Americanos Mexicanos/educação , Mães/educação , Análise Multivariada , Pesquisa Metodológica em Enfermagem , Obesidade/classificação , Obesidade/etnologia , Percepção , Projetos Piloto , Q-Sort , Autoavaliação (Psicologia) , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Texas/epidemiologiaRESUMO
In data from the Texas Educational Agency and the Health Resources and Services Administration, we found fewer autism diagnoses in school districts with higher percentages of Hispanic children. Our results are consistent with previous reports of autism rates 2 to 3 times as high among non-Hispanic Whites as among Hispanics. Socioeconomic factors failed to explain lower autism prevalence among Hispanic schoolchildren in Texas. These findings raise questions: Is autism underdiagnosed among Hispanics? Are there protective factors associated with Hispanic ethnicity?
Assuntos
Transtorno Autístico/etnologia , Americanos Mexicanos , Adolescente , Transtorno Autístico/prevenção & controle , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Fatores Epidemiológicos , Humanos , México/etnologia , Prevalência , Risco , Texas/epidemiologia , População Branca/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
Depressive disorders are present in a high percentage of Mexican American adolescents. Among the US Mexican American population, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 10- to 19-year-olds. Little research, however, has focused on Mexican American adolescents' knowledge and views about depression and seeking help for depression. Results from a qualitative study on Mexican American adolescents' attitudes about depression are investigated in this paper. Sixty-five high school and middle school students in a largely Mexican American, urban school district in San Antonio, Tex, participated in 9 semistructured, focus group interviews where participants were asked questions to elicit their understanding of depression, treatment for depression, and words used to describe it. Coding of salient words and themes from transcribed interviews were entered into Atlas. ti for qualitative analysis. Three themes emerged: (1) adolescents' definitions of depression, (2) beliefs about adolescent depression, and (3) treatment for adolescent depression. While depressive symptoms among Mexican American adolescents are common and recognized, resource and treatment knowledge is scarce. An understanding of the beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge of these adolescents can provide crucial information about the content and structure of a universal, school-based, peer-facilitated depression awareness program.