Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2003 May; 9(2): 197-206.

Feeling frugal: socioeconomic status, acculturation, and cultural health beliefs among women of Mexican descent.

Borrayo EA, Jenkins SR.

Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA. Borrayo@colostate.edu

Psychosocial and socioeconomic variables are often confounded. The authors combined quantitative with grounded theory analysis to investigate influences of acculturation, socioeconomic status (SES), and cultural health beliefs on Mexican-descent women's preventive health behaviors. In 5 focus group interviews sampling across levels of acculturation and SES, women expressing more traditional Mexican health beliefs about breast cancer screening were of lower SES and were less U.S. acculturated. However, SES and acculturation were uncorrelated with screening behaviors. Qualitative analysis generated hypotheses about joint influences of SES and traditional health beliefs; for example, low-SES women may learn frugal habits as part of their cultural traditions that influence their health care decision making, magnifying SES-imposed structural restrictions on health care access.