Skip to main content

Acculturation and Cross-Border Utilization of Health Services

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health volume 14, pages 563–569 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Health services from Mexico constitute an important source of care for U.S. residents living along the U.S.-Mexico border. Data from The Cross-Border Utilization of Health Care Survey (n = 966) were used to estimate logit models that related acculturation, as measured by generational status, to the use of medication, physician, dental, and inpatient services from Mexico by U.S. residents in the Texas border region. Relative to first-generation Mexican immigrants, later-generation Mexican–Americans were progressively less likely to go to Mexico for health services. This finding holds with or without adjusting for the effects of selected demographic and socioeconomic variables. Addressing unmet needs in medical care in the southwestern U.S. border area should go beyond a simple expansion of health insurance coverage—it is also important to deliver health services that are sensitive to generational differences within the population in terms of linguistic and cultural barriers to health care access.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

References

  1. Saenz R, Filoteo J, Murga AL. Are Mexicans in the United States a threat to the American way of life? Du Bois Rev: Soc Sci Res Race. 2007;4:375–93.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Health, United States, 2009: With Special Feature on Medical Technology. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2010.

  3. Antecol H, Bedard K. Unhealthy assimilation: why do immigrants converge to American health status levels? Demography. 2006;43(2):337–60.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Shah M, Zhu K, Wu H, Potter J. Hispanic acculturation and utilization of cervical cancer screening in the US. Prev Med. 2006;42(2):146–9. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2005.10.002.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Laroche M. Health status and health services utilization of Canada’s immigrant and non-immigrant populations. Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques. 2000;26(1):51–75.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Evenson KR, Sarmiento OL, Ayala GX. Acculturation and physical activity among North Carolina Latina immigrants. Soc Sci Med. 2004;59(12):2509–22. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.04.011.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Abraído-Lanza AF, Chao MT, Flórez KR. Do healthy behaviors decline with greater acculturation? Implications for the Latino mortality paradox. Soc Sci Med. 2005;61(6):1243–55. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.01.016.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Leclere FB, Jensen L, Biddlecom AE. Health care utilization, family context, and adaptation among immigrants to the United States. J Health Soc Behav. 1994;35(4):370–84.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rivera JO, Ortiz M, Cardenas V. Cross-border purchase of medications and health care in a sample of residents of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. J Natl Med Assoc. 2009;101(2):167–73.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Seid M, Castañeda D, Mize R, Zivkovic M, Varni JW. Crossing the border for health care: access and primary care characteristics for young children of latino farm workers along the US-Mexico border. Ambulatory Pediatrics. 2003;3(3):121–30. doi:10.1367/1539-4409(2003)003<0121:ctbfhc>2.0.co;2.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Escobedo LG, Cardenas VM. Utilization and purchase of medical care services in Mexico by residents in the United States of America, 1998–1999. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública. 2006;19:300–5.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Macias EP, Morales LS. Crossing the border for health care. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2001;12(1):77–87.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Fernandez L, Amastae J. Transborder use of medical services among Mexican American Students in a U.S. border university. J Borderlands Stud. 2006;21(2):77–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Wallace SP, Mendez-Luck C, Castaneda X. Heading south: why Mexican immigrants in California seek health services in Mexico. Med Care. 2009;47(6):662–9.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bastida E, Brown HS, Pagán JA. Health insurance coverage and health care utilization along the U.S.–Mexico Border: Evidence from the Border Epidemiologic Study on Aging. In: Angel JL, Whitfield KE, editors. The health of aging Hispanics. New York: Springer; 2007. p. 222–34.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Bastida E, Brown HS, Pagan JA. Persistent disparities in the use of health care along the US-Mexico Border: an ecological perspective. Am J Public Health. 2008;98(11):1987–95. doi:10.2105/ajph.2007.114447.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Su D, Richardson C, Wen M, Pagán JA. Cross-border utilization of health care: evidence from a population-based study in South Texas. Health Serv Res. 2011;46(3):859–76. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6773.2010.01220.x.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Huntington SP. Who are we? the challenges to America’s national identity. New York: Simon and Schuster; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  19. U.S. Census Bureau. 2009 [cited 2011 January]; Information on population size by county. Available from: http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en.

  20. Suro R, Passel JS. The rise of the second generation: changing patterns in Hispanic population growth. 2003 [cited 2010 Novermber]; Available from: http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/22.pdf.

  21. Andersen R, Newman JF. Societal and individual determinants of medical care utilization in the United States. Milbank Mem Fund Q Health Soc. 1973;51(1):95–124.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Andersen RM. Revisiting the behavioral model and access to medical care: does it matter? J Health Soc Behav. 1995;36(1):1–10.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Browner CH, Mabel Preloran H, Casado MC, Bass HN, Walker AP. Genetic counseling gone awry: miscommunication between prenatal genetic service providers and Mexican-origin clients. Soc Sci Med. 2003;56(9):1933–46. doi:10.1016/s0277-9536(02)00214-9.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Bustamante AV, Ojeda G, Castañeda X. Willingness To pay for cross-border health insurance between the United States and Mexico. Health Aff. 2008;27(1):169–78. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.27.1.169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and South Texas Border Health Disparities Center, University of Texas–Pan American, 1201 W. University Drive, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA

    Dejun Su

  2. Department of Economics & Finance, College of Business Administration and South Texas Border Health Disparities Center, University of Texas–Pan American, 1201 W. University Drive, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA

    Daphne Wang

Authors
  1. Dejun Su
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daphne Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dejun Su.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Su, D., Wang, D. Acculturation and Cross-Border Utilization of Health Services. J Immigrant Minority Health 14, 563–569 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-011-9518-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-011-9518-x

Keywords

  • Acculturation
  • Generational status
  • Cross-border health care utilization
  • U.S.-Mexico border