Use of the Orthogonal Cultural Identification Scale with 2,048 Mexican American and American Indian adolescents found that, as predicted, identification with one culture was independent of identification with another; cultural identification was strongly rooted in the family; and the scale was factor invariant across gender, grade level, and…

A modified version of the Societal, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale (SAFE) was administered to 71 Latino and Euramerican children aged 8-10 from southern California. Despite being U.S.-born, Latino children experienced significantly more acculturative stress than their Euramerican peers, thereby helping to…

Various concepts of culture related to ethnicity, language use, values, material goods, and rituals have influenced development of culturally competent mental health programs. Describes how understanding of culture's complexity influences assessment of Hispanic clients at three inpatient bilingual/bicultural psychiatric programs in New York City.…

Questionnaires that were developed to measure factors in the academic persistence of minority college students were administered to 454 Mexican American students at two large southwestern universities. Both the Cultural Congruity Scale and the University Environment Scale were significant predictors of academic persistence of Mexican American…

The Cuban Behavioral Identity Questionnaire is a short, eight-item questionnaire answerable in a seven-point Likert-scale format. It inquires as to the frequency with which respondents engage in several ethnic behaviors and the degree to which they are familiar with Cuban idiomatic expressions and Cuban artists/musicians. (Author/NQ)

Among 97 Mexican-origin seventh and eighth graders surveyed in 2 Houston Catholic schools, attitudes toward women's rights and roles in society were generally liberal and girls' attitudes were more liberal than boys'. Girls' attitudes were significantly related to their academic achievement, as measured by their grades in mathematics and language…

Describes an acculturation scale for Mexican Americans which can be administered in English, Spanish, or both languages; is applicable with both normal and psychiatric populations; and differentiates five distinct types of Mexican Americans based on four major factors. Includes reliability and validity data and a copy of the scale. (Author/SB)

The Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanic Youth is a modification of an existing acculturation scale for Hispanic adults. Initial normative data as well as internal consistency and split-half reliabilities are provided. Exploratory factor analysis on scores of 141 Hispanic youth, grades 5-8, resulted in factors labeled Extrafamilial Language Use,…

In a low-income south Texas school with primarily Mexican American students, teacher assessments of fourth-grade students' content reading ability and work habits predicted student success for that school year, as measured by grades and achievement scores. Teacher input can be critical in the early identification of students at risk of dropping…