Hispanic paradox
Low socioeconomic status is almost universally associated with worse population health and higher death rates everywhere in the world.
[1] The paradox usually refers in particular to low mortality among Hispanics in the United States relative to non-Hispanic Whites.
[10] Some health researchers attribute the Hispanic paradox to different eating habits, especially the relatively high intake of legumes such as beans and lentils.
[17] According to Markides, a professor of sociomedical sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, this paradox was ignored by past generations, but is now "the leading theme in the health of the Hispanic population in the United States.
Historical differences in smoking habits by ethnicity and place of birth may explain much of the paradox, at least at adult ages.
When controlling for socioeconomic factors, the health advantage gap for Mexican Americans, the largest Hispanic population in the US, increases noticeably.
In 1999, they had higher rates for mortality from liver disease, cervical cancer, AIDS, homicide (males), and diabetes.
[2] Another important indicator of health is the infant mortality rate, which is also either equal to or lower than that of non-Hispanic Americans.
[30] Important to the understanding of migrant community health is the increasingly stratified American society, manifested in residential segregation.
Though lead-based paint was deemed illegal in 1978, it remains on the walls of older apartments and houses, posing a serious neurological risk to children.
[32] Speculation of a sociocultural advantage stems from the idea that many traditional Hispanic cultural values are protective in health.
Upward comparisons often result in negative psychological effects due to feelings of disadvantage when being compared to those higher in the hierarchy.
[3][7] It has been found that the magnitude of the effect of social integration on mortality is greater than smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.
[33] One hypothesis for the Hispanic paradox proposes that living in the same neighborhood as people with similar ethnic backgrounds confers significant advantages to one's health.
[34] These social network support structures are especially important to the health of the elderly population as they deal with declining physical function.
[6] Acculturation, a phenomenon whereby individuals internalize habits and beliefs of a new culture upon being immersed in its social institutions, is also believed to influence the health of Latinos in the United States.
Research has given mixed results regarding the idea that the health of Latino immigrants worsen as length of stay in the United States increases.
[3] On the other hand, greater acculturation to the United States has been associated with worsening in some health behaviors, including higher rates of smoking and alcohol use, but improvement in others, such as physical activity.
[4][1] It is possible that confounding factors such as socioeconomic status influence the mixed effects of acculturation seen in health outcomes and behaviors.
[36] Foreign-born Mexican Americans are at significantly lower risk of suicide and depression than those born in the United States.
[2] This hypothesis purports that many Hispanic people return home after temporary employment, retirement, or severe illness, meaning that their deaths occur in their native land and are not taken into account by mortality reports in the United States.
This hypothesis considers those people as "statistically immortal" because they artificially lower the Hispanic mortality rate.
[32] Dr. Hector Flores explains that "You can predict in the African–American population, for example, a high infant-mortality rate, so we would think a [similar] poor minority would have the same health outcomes."
[13] Other researchers have predicted that the paradox will disappear as obesity rates rise rapidly among Hispanic males, in particular.
[21] In 2007, Turra and Goldman argued that the paradox is concentrated among the foreign born from specific national origins, and is only present in those of middle to older ages.
[40] These errors could also be related to mistakes in matching death records to the National Health Interview Survey, missing security numbers, or complex surnames.
The low unemployment rates have enabled families to have multiple streams of income by individuals working more than one job.
