The factors associated with the health and social service utilization behavior of the elderly have been widely studied over the last 20 years. Little is known, however, about what factors are related to the mental health behavior of the elderly. Moreover, no research has tested causal models of formal mental health use among the minority elderly, or has evaluated when Latino elderly turn to others outside of the family for help. This study examines the influence of Predisposing, Enabling and Need factors on the utilization of the professional, the physician, and the church for mental health help by the Mexican and MexicanAmerican elderly.
The three types of formal mental health behavior were analyzed by regression analysis. The results for Mexican Americans indicated that use of a professional was the strongest predicted criterion measure, accounting for 19% of the variance, followed by use of the church at 12%, and use of a physician at 10%. The results for the Mexican elderly indicated that use of the church was the strongest predicted criterion measure, accounting for 23% of the variance, followed by use of a professional at 10%, and use of a physician at 8%. The findings indicated that Need was the strongest predictor across service type with greater variability among the Enabling and Need factors among both groups. This study suggests that the use of health and mental health services are similar because of their emphasis on Need factors. However, the greater variability among Enabling and Predisposing factors suggests that we should consider the heterogeneity among both the Mexican and Mexican-American elderly when designing mental health programs. More important, because of the multidimensional nature of the criterion variable, the establishment of an interactive and cooperative formal mental health network is imperative.