Literature on the psychological orientation of lower class Puerto Rican clients, their cultural value system, and their expectations for mental health services was reviewed. First, lower‐class Puerto Rican client's psychocultural orientation to therapy was seen as relatively dissimilar to that of the typical middle‐class American client. Second, differences in expectations of therapy between the Anglo therapist and lower‐class Puerto Rican client were described. Factors affecting the minimal use of mental health services by the lower‐class Puerto Rican community were also discussed. Recommendations were offered to aid in the amelioration of these problems for Puerto Rican clientele.

Influences on underuse of mental health services by the urban, low-income Latino subgroup are analyzed through a systems-cultural framework. Results of a review of over 100 applied, empirical, and theoretical published works in the last 14–16 years strongly suggest that when social–ecological and psychocultural perspectives are used by service providers, their therapeutic relationship, techniques, and treatment plan become more clinically and culturally compatible with the presenting problems of the urban Latino client. Accuracy of assessment and effectiveness of treatment also have been found to increase. Recommendations for the overlapping domains of clinical practice, graduate training, and program and policy development are offered. By augmenting assessment and intervention models to encompass a psychocultural and socioecological view, professionals move toward a greater concordance with the life problems, phenomenology, and value orientation of urban, culturally diverse Hispanic families.

Cultural influences and urban ecological factors are significant mediators in the emotional, sociobehavioral, and academic development of low-income urban Hispanic students. A review of the literature indicates that the school psychology profession has an underdeveloped knowledge base explicating how ethnocultural variables and socialization practices impinge upon the developmental and learning experiences of the Hispanic student. Psychocultural variables and the socioadaptational patterns of Puerto Rican families and students are delineated and elucidated. An organizing assessment and intervention framework as well as an illustrative case with specific approaches are described. Recommendations for psychoeducational policy, training, and practice are also provided. School psychology directors, practitioners, and trainers are urged to reexamine and reconceptualize service delivery strategies to be more culturally and phenomenologically compatible with the needs, differences, and strengths of this specific population.

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