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Copyright of Revista Electrónica de Psicología Iztacala is the property of Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this paper is to describe the most common forms and expressions of structural stigma from the perspective of a group of people who attended four treatment centers as a result of having received a psychiatric or neuropsychiatric diagnosis (n=68) and a group of health service providers engaged in these services in Mexico City (n=95). We adopted an approach, based on the intersectionality approach, which involves the interplay between social determinants, including gender, in the processes of social exclusion in mental health. In this qualitative study, the in-depth interview technique was used, for which specific guidelines were designed for providers and users of psychiatric services. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and subsequently encoded through a specialized program (Atlas ti, version 7.0). This paper examines the perceptions and experiences of stigma and discrimination related to psychiatric disorders, and other specific aspects related to the care process. Among the findings are the structural nature of discrimination not only directed at people affected by severe mental illness, but also at health personnel. Moreover, the respondents' accounts reveal certain structural barriers that impact the quality of care, particularly for users who have multiple conditions of social vulnerability that go beyond the scope of these service providers, constituting dilemmas for the provider. Lastly, on the basis of the analysis of the various difficulties expressed by the study population in relation to the care services, the main challenges to improving the quality of services in the field of mental health are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico, addictions among the middle- and high-school student population have been widely studied, which has shed light on certain risks associated with alcohol abuse, including a higher probability of experiencing with other drugs particularly in the case of males-, engaging in risky sexual practices and attempting suicide, a situation that is twice as common among those who drink and drive. Nevertheless, research on alcohol abuse among the university population has been less explored, particularly as regards the identification of the variables that predict excessive alcohol consumption. A review of the international literature on factors associated with alcohol abuse in this type of population indicates that it is among university students that high or explosive consumption tends to be largest, even among young people who do not attend school, and that the period of higher consumption is between 17 and 21 years of age. Other factors that have been identified include exposure to negative life events, inappropriate coping styles, personality variables, resorting to alcohol to reduce tension, and environmental and socio—cognitive variables, foremost among which arc expectations of the positive effects of alcohol. These expectations not only predict alcohol consumption but also differentiate between problem and non-problem drinking. For example, while social drinkers tend to harbor more social expectations when drinking alcohol, excessive drinkers expect alcohol to increase their aggressive and social behavior, while reducing stress or tension. This paper seeks to evaluate the impact of expectations regarding alcohol, in predicting alcohol abuse among students at public and private universities in Mexico City. Indicators of alcohol abuse include consumption of five or more drinks on each occasion, drunkenness during the past month and year as well as associated problems. The study also seeks to determine the way in which sub-scales of expectations interact with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]