This article examines assessment and counseling techniques that correspond to the sociocultural framework of Mexican American seniors. Acculturation. familial, and adaptation themes are delineated for ensuring appropriate interventions. Case vignettes elucidate these perspectives.
The application of counseling interventions to Mexican American seniors or anciunos is challenging and complex, demanding keen developmental views on the aging process with insights on the impact of the elder's environment or context on their mental health, (Zuniga, in press). The role of ethnicity is an extremely salient theme that must be considered when assessing the elder's identity, selfesteem, worldview, and adaptation schema. Intragroup diversity, such as differences related to immigration and acculturation, must be assessed. Poverty levels and educational differences are simi- larly important to recognize. Senior Latinos as a group have less income, poorer health, and more difficulty maintaining their independence than Anglo Americans age 65 and older, according to the Commonwealth Commission on Elderly People Living Alone (American Association of Retired People, 1989). Twenty-two percent of Latino seniors live in poverty, compared to 12% of seniors as a whole. This high poverty rate is linked to disadvantages in education as well as English language proficiency. For example. the Commission reported that nearly three quarters of Latino elderly have only an eighthgrade education, which is twice the proportion of all other elderly. One in four do not speak English. Twice as many senior Latinos as compared to other seniors have difficulty with activities of daily living, such as preparing a meal or managing money. About a third of Latino seniors, almost twice as many as non-Latino seniors, live with children, relatives, or someone other than a spouse.