Psychosocial predictors of service utilization among Cuban-American elders.

The utilization of service by Cuban-American elders is studied in light of the informal network and sociodemographic hypotheses extant in the current literature. In addition, the effects of psychological variables are assessed. The data from questionnaires administered to 88 Cuban-American elderly give partial support for findings previously obtained with elderly subjects. However, the results suggest that unidimensional hypotheses are inadequate for explaining service utilization. More complex models that account for multidimensional interactions between population-specific variables must be developed to guide future research and practice.