People with psychiatric disabilities experience disproportionately high rates of unemployment. As research evidence is mounting regarding effective vocational programs, interest is growing in identifying subgroup variations. Data from a multisite research and demonstration program were analyzed to identify demographic characteristics associated with employment outcomes, after adjusting for the effects of program, services, and study site. Longitudinal analyses found that people with more recent work history, younger age, and higher education were more likely to achieve competitive employment and to work more hours per month, while race and gender effects varied by employment outcome. Results provide strong evidence of demographic subgroup variation and need.

Data from a community sample of 1,784 Anglo, African‐American, and Mexican‐American adults were examined to assess: (1) the nature and magnitude of observed racial/ethnic and acculturation level differences in depression, (2) the relative contribution of sociodemographic and psychosocial factors (fatalism and religiosity) to observed differences, and (3) the joint effects of fatalism and religiosity as sociocultural resources with regard to depression in differing racial/ethnic and acculturation level subgroups. Analyses indicate the most dramatic differences in depression among males—African Americans were roughly similar to Anglos and levels of depression were significantly higher among the least acculturated Mexican Americans relative to Anglos, even after statistical controls. Acculturation level differences among Mexican‐American females were explained by statistical controls. Lower levels of depression among more highly acculturated than among less acculturated Mexican Americans provide little support for a simplistic stress formulation of acculturation. Rather, the interplay of acculturation, fatalism, and religiosity supports a more complex cultural marginality model, emphasizing the consistency of attitudinal elements and language use as facilitators or inhibitors of assimilation into Anglo culture. Both those who successfully acculturate and those who are most insulated in traditional culture appear least depressed from this perspective.

In this paper we report on the process of translating five mental health outcome measures into Spanish and adapting them to Latino culture. The instruments considered are the World Health Organization-Disability Assessment Scale, the Burden Assessment Scale, the Family Burden Scale, Lehman's Quality of Life Interview and the Continuity of Care in Mental Health Services Interview. A systematic process of translation and adaptation of the instruments was followed with the goal of achieving cultural equivalence between the English and Spanish versions of the instruments in five dimensions: semantic, content, technical, construct, and criterion equivalence. In this paper we present data about the semantic, content, and technical equivalence. Various steps were taken to achieve equivalence in these dimensions, including the use of a bilingual committee, a multi-national bilingual committee, back-translation, and focus groups with mental health patients and their relatives.

Data are presented on drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems among 164 Anglo and 149 Mexican American male regular drinkers. The paper examines the role of acculturation with regard to alcohol use by categorizing Mexican American respondents into three acculturation groups using a multi-item measure developed for this study. Data from a random sample of males drinking at least 2-3 times a month, aged 20-50, showed that, even after socio-demographic controls, Mexican Americans were less frequent, but higher quantity drinkers than were Anglos. No ethnic differences were found for alcohol-related problems. Quantity was significantly higher among less acculturated Mexican Americans than among the more highly acculturated. "Escape" drinking motives were most common among Mexican Americans, particularly among the least acculturated. Exploratory analyses among Mexican Americans using a combination of acculturation and generational status measures indicated the heaviest drinking patterns and the highest prevalence of both alcohol-related problems and escape drinking motives among the least acculturated second generation males. These suggestive data do not support either a "simple acculturation" or an "acculturation stress" model. Rather, the data suggest a cultural marginality/stress model wherein risk of heavy and problem drinking is greatest among younger Mexican Americans who have not become acculturated.

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