Search Results
Title: The Latino Health Paradox: A Cross-Generational Comparison
Resulting in 1 citation.
| 1. |
Alvarado, Steven Elias |
|
The Latino Health Paradox: A Cross-Generational Comparison Presented: New York NY, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 2007 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Population Association of America Keyword(s): Birthweight; Child Health; Hispanics; Immigrants; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Research into the ‘Latino epidemiological paradox’ has found that compared to similar socioeconomic native groups, first generation Latino immigrants exhibit advantages in health status measured in a variety of ways. These researchers focus on cross-sectional data to paint a picture of immigrants’ health status at one point in time – either early or very late in life. Other researchers have begun to look at the evolution of health status among the first generation and have found that the initial health advantages of this bourgeoning group erode fairly quickly upon entry to the U.S. Following such a trajectory in the literature on immigrant health, this paper measures the effect of generational status (first/second generation versus third generation) on the odds of having a child of low birth weight among the children and grandchildren of immigrants. The main hypothesis I test is that the children and grandchildren of immigrants will have increasingly higher odds of having a low birth weight child compared to their parents across racial/ethnic groups. I use 25 years worth of data from the NLSY to run logistic regression analysis and find that generational status indeed does increase the odds that later generations of Latinas living in the U.S. will have a child of low birth weight compared to earlier generations. The finding that low birth weight risk increases over generations is paradoxical in that Latinos migrate to the U.S. in order to better their lives–yet, living in the U.S. results in declines in health. |
|
|
Bibliography Citation
Alvarado, Steven Elias. "The Latino Health Paradox: A Cross-Generational Comparison." Presented: New York NY, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 2007. |