Adaptation of the Psychological-Behavioral Acculturation Scale to a Community of Urban-based Mexican Americans in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To report the psychometric properties of the Psychological-Behavioral Acculturation Scale (P-BAS), a tool gauging behavioral and psychological acculturation after adapting it through formative research to people of Mexican origin in the United States. METHODS: We analyzed data from adapted P-BAS questionnaires in the TalaSurvey study, using standard methods to establish internal consistencies (Cronbach's alpha), construct validity, and ascertain if the value orientation profile differed by ethnic group. RESULTS: In 2012-13, 505 respondents (mean age 45.2 ± 14.1, 56% female) participated: 250 European Americans (EA) and 255 people of Mexican origin (MA). CONCLUSIONS: Although internal consistencies of 15 value orientation measures were occasionally low, overall results were encouraging. A weighted combination of value orientation scores strongly discriminated between EA and MA. Additionally, the pattern of relationships among MAs identified between acculturation scores and the validity contrasts supported the construct validity of the proposed dual framework. The trend was particularly evident for most behavioral variables.

Qualitative description of dental hygiene practices within oral health and dental care perspectives of Mexican-American adults and teenagers.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to identify dental hygiene themes voiced by adults and teenagers of Mexican origin [or Mexican Americans (MAs)] and place these themes within the larger landscape of oral health and dental care perceptions. METHODS: Interviews with urban-based MAs were analyzed to identify barriers, beliefs, and behaviors influencing engagement in dental hygiene practices. RESULTS: Adult (n = 16, ages 33-52) and teenage (n = 17, ages 14-19) MAs reported themes pertaining to structural factors (financial and economic-related barriers, the dual challenges of reduced access to care vis-à-vis successfully navigating the dental care system, and the effects of reduced social support derived from migration) and to individual factors (different agendas between MAs and health systems for dental care utilization and indications for oral self-care, including limited dental hygiene instruction from professionals and larger impacts from school-based and mass media). Also, prior experiences with dental hygiene, prevention, and associated themes were characterized by a range of attitudes from fatalistic to highly determined agency. Good family upbringing was instrumental for appropriate dental hygiene, anteceding good oral health; and outlining a loose structure of factors affecting oral health such as diet, having "weak" teeth, or personal habits. CONCLUSIONS: Themes from adults and teenagers in the Midwest United States were generally similar to other groups of MA parents and younger children. Dental hygiene was not salient relative to other oral health and dental care matters. Several opportunities for improvement of knowledge and enhancing motivation for dental hygiene practices were identified, both within and outside professional resources.