Harry W. Martin’s research while affiliated with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and other places

This chapter describes the composition of family households of Mexican children and adolescents undergoing psychological treatment, and explores hypotheses relative to the differential selection of Mexican children into treatment. The hypotheses, derived from descriptions of the Mexican family by Diaz-Guerrero (1955) and Ramirez and Parres (1957), focus on three variable characteristics: birth order, gender, and family composition. The hypotheses are explored by using data obtained for other purposes from records of a sample of Mexican children undergoing psychological treatment.

Data from a survey of anglophone Canadian snowbirds wintering in Florida and one of U.S. snowbirds in the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley are used to compare the two groups in terms of sociodemographics, chronic health conditions, and use of health services. The Canadians were younger and reported fewer chronic problems than did the U.S. snowbirds; Canadians aged 65 and over had a lower reported prevalence for four of five chronic conditions than did persons of the same age in the Canadian population. In contrast, the U.S. snowbirds had higher reports on four of the conditions than did U.S. Whites aged 65 and over. Hypotheses are suggested for future research, and methodological issues are discussed.

This article compares the results of a 1985 survey of elderly seasonal migrants to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas with those of five earlier studies to provide a more comprehensive profile of such migrants than is currently available. Sociodemographic, life-style, and health characteristics are reviewed. Based on apparent similarities among elderly seasonal migrants in the six studies, suggestions are made for the direction of future research.

The functional integrity of the U.S.-Mexico border region is jeopardized whenever the policies of either nation disrupt important transborder linkages. A case in point is the economic distress experienced in U.S. border cities following a series of drastic monetary changes initiated by the Mexican government in 1982. The peso devaluations, coupled with foreign exchange and trade controls, precipitated sharp drops in Mexican commercial demand, which in turn led to widespread business failures, spiraling unemployment, and expanding welfare rolls in border communities highly dependent on Mexican trade. While the well-documented economic shocks caused by the 1982 devaluations varied in magnitude by locale (Baerresen 1982, Diehl 1983, Hansen 1983, Shellhammer 1984, Ellard 1985, Harrell and Fischer 1985), their broader social impacts across border cities have not yet been examined. The effect of the devaluations on crime patterns is an especially relevant issue from both public-policy and social-scientific standpoints. The present study addresses the influence of economic disruption on crime within the four major Texas cities adjacent to the Mexican border -- Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, and El Paso.

Reports the findings of a survey of continuing medical education interests among physicians practicing in Mc Allen, Texas, and Reynosa, Mexico. Examines the prevalence and some correlates of patients' reports of folk illnesses to their physicians.-after Authors