Mexican- and Anglo-American differences on the psychological screening inventory

This study investigated differences between Mexican- and Anglo-American college students on the Psychological Screening Inventory (PSI; Lanyon, 1970, 1973)-a brief personality instrument designed to detect persons who might benefit from more extensive evaluations in mental health settings. Further, this study controlled for the Mexican Americans' acculturation level, age, and socioeconomic status (SES), as these variables have routinely been shown to covary with other psychosocial variables. From data on 107 Mexican-American and 105 Anglo-American college students, we found that Mexican-American subjects had higher PSI scores on the Alienation and Defensiveness subscales and lower scores on the Social Nonconformity and Expression subscales than did Anglo-American subjects. With acculturation covaried, however, these differences were no longer statistically significant. With age and SES covaried, the two ethnic groups differed on Alienation, Expression, and Defensiveness, suggesting that Mexican Americans' performance on the PSI varies as a function of acculturation, age, and SES. Implications of these findings are discussed.