The high prevalence of use of health care services in Mexico by Texas border residents is suggestive of unmet needs in health care on the U.S. side of the border. Addressing these unmet needs calls for a binational approach to improve the affordability, accessibility, and quality of health care in the U.S.-Mexico border region.

Objective. This study assesses the pace of cultural assimilation of Mexican Americans by comparing changes in their gender-role attitudes over generations to the European-origin U.S. mainstream. Methods. Using cumulative data from the 1972-2004 General Social Survey, we examine the rate at which progressive generations of Mexican Americans approach the mainstream gender-role attitudes. We also employ a set of logistic regressions to assess the differences in gender-role attitudes between Mexican and European Americans. Results. For five out of the eight gender-role-related questions considered in the study, Mexican Americans of the third or later generations show more liberal or egalitarian gender-role attitudes than those of the first or second generations. A comparison between Mexican and European Americans suggests that Mexican Americans in the sample have more conservative gender-role attitudes than European Americans in terms of division of labor at home and women's participation in politics. Conclusion. Mexican Americans become more likely to adopt egalitarian gender-role attitudes as generation progresses. The differences between Mexican and European Americans in terms of gender-role attitudes are sensitive to the particular domains of attitudes under consideration.

In this paper, we review and extend previous work on U.S.-Mexico border economic informality with a special focus on the South Texas borderlands. Specifically, we offer three conceptual models of economic informality relevant to South Texas: 1) the informal marketplace at the border; 2) the confluence of (in)formality through the possession of different forms of personal documentation including the relationship between earnings and individual documentation; and 3) the graduation of informality to formality as informal firms mature (and grow) over time. Each of these models is supported with fieldwork, extended interviews, and case studies from the region. We conclude with a call for further research initiatives based upon the conceptual models proposed and offer methodological suggestions in the conduct of borderlands research on economic informality.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the use of community health workers (CHWs, aka promotoras de salud in Spanish) in the control of type 2 diabetes (diabetes mellitus) in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Known from the literature as "a disease of the 21st century" and being the third leading cause of death in the United States, type 2 diabetes is a very common disease in the RGV because of its predominantly Mexican American population, a group genetically vulnerable to the disease. Unlike prior studies that examined the overall effectiveness of the CHW model, the authors used registered CHWs as primary diabetes educators. Another innovation of this study was the authors monitored a wide range of biologic (HbA1c and body mass index [BMI]) and behavioral (diabetes knowledge, self-efficacy, self-management activities scores) outcomes. The research hypothesis was that the educational service provided by CHWs to the diabetic patients would assist them in controlling their disease. The design of the study was experimental. The target population consisted of Mexican American adults from RGV diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and willing to participate. The intervention group received monthly visits from CHWs. The results showed a significant improvement after one year of intervention in all outcomes, except BMI, in the experimental group.

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