Familistic Orientation and Inclination toward Adopting the Sick Role

A significant number of the population with health problems fail to seek professional medical assistance. With respect to this problem, familism and other possible intervening variables were examined as factors in a mother's inclination to adopt the sick role when faced with symptoms of illness. In terms of scale indicators of these variables, the data indicate that: (1) mothers characterized by high familism have a higher inclination to adopt the sick role than do other mothers, (2) mothers of two or more preschool children or with large families have a lower inclination to adopt the sick role than do other mothers, and (3) a 'strong relationship between familism and inclination to adopt the sick role persists when controlling for the effects of preschool children and family size.