Class, familism and utilization of health services in Durango, Mexico: A replication

This paper summarizes findings from a Durango, Mexico sample which lend support to some earlier findings by Hoppe and Heller [1]. Contrary to conventional wisdom in the literature, Hoppe and Heller, in a study of Mexican-Americans living in San Antonio, Texas, hypothesized, that familism was not a deterrent to the utilization of health service by members of this lower class, ethnic population.

As in the United States, lower-class Durangans are found less likely than are their middle-class counterparts to have a stable source of medical care, and more likely to use a public as opposed to a private source of care. However, with the addition of familism as an intervening variable between class and source of health care, it is found that lower-class Mexicans with high degrees of familism are more likely to have a stable source of health care than are lower-class Mexicans possessing low commitment to familistic ties.

In aggreement with Hoppe and Heller, we see familism as a positive structural force which facilitates the seeking of health care because the family and kin group acts as a buffer between Mexican-American lower-class and Anglo middle-class society.