Reliability of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, a 20-item symptom checklist, is examined using data from a sample of community respondents containing Anglos (254), Blacks (270), and Mexican Americans (181). Although the survey response rate was lower for Mexican Americans, quality of the data provided by this group was not significantly different from that for Anglos or Blacks. That is, there were no differences among these groups in terms of missing data or internal consistency reliabilty (as measured by Cronbach's alpha and Spearman-Brown split halves). Factor-analytic results also demonstrate the same general structure of responses among the three groups.

Reliability of the CES-D Scale in different ethnic contexts.

Health services research conducted over the past 25 years makes a compelling case that having health insurance or using more medical care would improve the health of the uninsured. The literature's broad range of conditions, populations, and methods makes it difficult to derive a precise quantitative estimate of the effect of having health insurance on the uninsured's health. Some mortality studies imply that a 4% to 5% reduction in the uninsured's mortality is a lower bound; other studies suggest that the reductions could be as high as 20% to 25%. Although all of the studies reviewed suffer from methodological flaws of varying degrees, there is substantial qualitative consistency across studies of different medical conditions conducted at different times and using different data sets and statistical methods. Corroborating process studies find that the uninsured receive fewer preventive and diagnostic services, tend to be more severely ill when diagnosed, and receive less therapeutic care. Other literature suggests that improving health status from fair or poor to very good or excellent would increase both work effort and annual earnings by approximately 15% to 20%.

Sicker and poorer--the consequences of being uninsured: a review of the research on the relationship between health insurance, medical care use, health, work, and income.

Recent research has demonstrated that black Americans are far more politically active than whites of similar socioeconomic status. The difference has been related to black consciousness. Yet the reasons for this relationship have not been adequately explained. Starting with the work of Gurin and Gamson, this article theorizes that black consciousness contributes to political mistrust and a sense of internal political efficacy which in turn encourages policy-related participation. The relationship between the two attitudes and policy-related behavior is demonstrated to be conditional. The conditions favor blacks more than whites. What I shall call the Gamson-Gurin thesis is supported by data from Verba's and Nie's 1967 survey of the American public. The thesis, and its derivations, prove useful in clarifying the scope and nature of black participation in the American political process as well as helping us to understand how individuals in general select one mode of participation over another and how the choice varies by race and social class.

Black Consciousness and Political Participation: The Missing Link

Anthropological and socio-medical health care research in developing countries.

This article uses data from the Citizen Participation Study – a large-scale survey of the voluntary activity of the American public designed to oversample African-Americans and Latinos as well as political activists – to inquire about the extent and sources of differences in levels of political activity among African-Americans, Latinos and Anglo-Whites. Considering a variety of political acts, we find that, in the aggregate, African-Americans are slightly, and Latinos are substantially, less active than Anglo-Whites. However, the resources that facilitate participation – some of which, for example, education, are related to social class and others of which, for example, religious preference and activity are associated with race or ethnicity – are distributed very unevenly across the three groups, with Latinos at a particular disadvantage. After accounting for differences in politically relevant resources, there is no significant difference among the three groups in political participation.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0007123400006694

Race, Ethnicity and Political Resources: Participation in the United States

Quantitative Methods for Public Administration: Techniques and Applications

Interviewing in a mexican-american community: an investigation of some potential sources of response bias

A sample of Mexican Americans was interviewed to ascertain their attitudes toward medical care and doctors and to determine what kinds of medical care they are receiving. Social characteristics of the respondents are examined to explain differences in "folk" medical beliefs. Beliefs are most strongly related to the size of the Mexican-American community the respondent lives in, but are not highly correlated with any characteristic. Finally, an attempt is made to explain variance in the utilization of medical services by both social and attitudinal variables. Utilization of medical services is found to be related more to class and age than either to attitudes toward modern medicine or to respondent's closeness to "Mexican culture."

Some social and attitudinal correlates of health care among Mexican Americans

The effects of reapportionment on partisan balance and on the reelection of incumbents should be expected to differ, depending on whether the reapportionment process was effectively controlled by one party or was bipartisan or nonpartisan. These hypotheses are tested in 15 state legislatures for the post-1980 redistricting. Partisan effects are most likely to occur where the process is highly partisan. Even then, however, the partisan gains are likely to be short term and to dissipate after two or three elections. Incumbents who run appear more likely to get reelected in the years following an election, whether the process was controlled by one party or was bipartisan.

Partisan and Incumbent Effects in State Legislative Redistricting

An extensive social science literature has described the impact of ethnicity on political and social participation. In particular, attention in recent years has focused on black-white differences (Greenberg, 1970; Ippolito et al., 1968; Hirsh and Donohew, 1968; Langton and Jennings, 1968; Orum, 1966; Olson, 1970). Only recently and in small numbers, however, have social scientists done empirical research comparing Mexican and Anglo Americans in terms of political and social participation. Comparative studies have found Mexican American political participation generally to be lower than that of Anglos, but social, economic, and other structural variables were not held constant (Grebler et al., 1970; McCleskey and Merrill, 1973). However, Williams and his associates (1973) find that lower rates of voluntary association memberships among Mexican Americans in comparison with Anglos are a product of their lower SES rather than of their ethnicity. This paper will extend these works by analyzing both political and social participation while controlling for structural variables. In so

John Comer

Papers

Quantitative Methods for Public Administration: Techniques and Applications

Interviewing in a mexican-american community: an investigation of some potential sources of response bias

Some social and attitudinal correlates of health care among Mexican Americans

Partisan and Incumbent Effects in State Legislative Redistricting

Ethnic Differences in Social and Political Participation: A Comparison of Some Anglo and Mexican Americans