Latina mothers' stances on stimulant medication: complexity, conflict, and compromise.

This study was undertaken to understand and describe Latina mothers' cognitions and attitudes toward the use of medication for their young children's behavior problems under the premise that these factors are determinants of noncompliance and inadequate adherence to medication treatments. Quantitative and qualitative data were extracted from a multimethod study of professional help seeking. Participants were 62 mothers from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

Modes of entry into services for young children with disruptive behaviors.

The authors undertook this study to describe Latina mothers' professional help seeking for their young children's disruptive behaviors. They interviewed 62 Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican first-time help seekers and found four modes of entry: (a) coercion, (b) acceptance of offered referral, (c) responsive and resourceful help seeking subsequent to school reports of behavior problems, and (d) a laborious and convoluted path that was characteristic of 52% of the sample. Schools, maternal and child characteristics, and social network forces played significant roles for all mothers, but the final determinants of service entry varied by the mode of entry followed.