This monograph provides current data on Hispanic stress and its impact on mental health and identifies areas where further research is needed. It consists of 11 chapters by a variety of authors. Chapter 1 presents a critical overview of major issues and concepts in stress modeling and cross-cultural research with Hispanic populations. Chapter 2 summarizes findings on the prevalence of symptomatology among Hispanics and scrutinizes trends. Chapter 3 discusses the determination of the relative usefulness of the stress buffering and direct effect hypotheses of social support using stress theory to guide analysis. Chapter 4 illustrates the use of multifactorial modeling in identifying factors which predict discrete symptoms and syndromes among immigrant and native-born Mexican-Americans. Chapter 5 examines the differential impact of life events on Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Anglos using psychological distress as the outcome measure. Chapter 6 reviews social support theory and methodological issues as they pertain to Hispanic mental health research. Chapter 7 presents a conceptual model for systematically developing studies of Hispanic mental health. Chapter 8 examines the effectiveness of a specific coping style used by Hispanic immigrants in adjusting to a new culture. Chapter 9 examines differences among Mexican-Americans and Anglos in relation to knowledge of and attitudes toward stress. Chapter 10 provides data on child abuse within a Mexican-American population. Chapter 11 presents findings from a comprehensive survey of the life experiences of a group of pregnant Hispanic adolescents. (KH)