Interpreting the Paradoxical in the Hispanic Paradox
Demographic and Epidemiologic Approaches
ALBERTO PALLONI,
JEFFREY D. MORENOFF,
Corresponding Author
ALBERTO PALLONI
Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Address for correspondence: Alberto Palloni, Ph.D., Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. Voice: 608-262-3131; fax: 608-262-8400; [email protected].Search for more papers by this authorJEFFREY D. MORENOFF
Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Search for more papers by this authorALBERTO PALLONI,
JEFFREY D. MORENOFF,
Corresponding Author
ALBERTO PALLONI
Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Address for correspondence: Alberto Palloni, Ph.D., Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. Voice: 608-262-3131; fax: 608-262-8400; [email protected].Search for more papers by this authorJEFFREY D. MORENOFF
Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Abstract: This paper discusses problems that are common to both the epidemiologic risk-factor approach and the demographic variable-based approach to studying population health. We argue that there is a shared reluctance to move away from a narrow variable-based thinking that pervades both disciplines, and a tendency to reify the multivariate linear procedures employed in both disciplines. In particular, we concentrate on the difficulties generated by classical variable-based approaches that are especially striking when one neglects selection processes and the use of strategies to minimize its effects. We illustrate these difficulties in terms of the so-called “Hispanic Paradox”, which refers to comparative health advantages that some Hispanic groups appear to have. We find that much of what is conceived by demographers and epidemiologists as a paradox may not be paradoxical at all.
REFERENCES
- 1 Krieger, N. 1994. Epidemiology and the web of causation: has anyone seen the spider? Soc. Sci. Med. 39(7): 887–903.
- 2 Susser, M. & E. Susser. 1996. Choosing a future for epidemiology. Am. J. Public Health 86(5): 668–677.
- 3 Shy, C.M. 1997. The failure of academic epidemiology: witness for the prosecution. Am. J. Epidemiol. 145(8): 479–484.
- 4 Susser, M. 1998. Does risk factor epidemiology put epidemiology at risk? Peering into the future. Epidem. Comm. Health 52: 608–611.
- 5 Schwartz, S. & E. Susser. 1999. A future for epidemiology? Annu. Rev. Public Health 20: 15–33.
- 6 Palloni, A., S. Kanaiaupuni & M. Ceballos. 2001. The Hispanic paradox of low birth weight: an exegesis and metaanalysis. Forthcoming.
- 7 Casterline, J. & B. Cohen. 2001. Diffusion Processes and Fertility Transition, Selected Perspectives. National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
- 8
Abbott, A.
1988. Transcending general linear reality.
Sociol. Theory
6: 169–186.
10.2307/202114 Google Scholar
- 9 Abbott, A. 1997. Of time and space: the contemporary relevance of the Chicago school. Social Forces 75(4): 1149–1182.
- 10 Ragin, C. 1987. The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. University of California Press, Berkeley.
- 11 Lieberson, S. 1985. Making It Count. University of California Press, Berkeley.
- 12 Ryder, N. 1964. The process of demographic translation. Demography 1(2): 74–82.
- 13 Ni, B.M. 1992. A critique of the cohort approach to fertility. Pop. Devel. Rev. 18(4): 599–630.
- 14 Abbott, A. & A. Tsay. 2000. Sequence analysis and optimal matching methods in sociology: review and prospect. Sociol. Meth. Res. 29(1): 3–33.
- 15 Abbott, A. & E. Barman. 1997. Sequence comparison via alignment and Gibbs sampling. Sociol. Meth. 27: 47–87.
- 16 Blume, L. & S.N. Durlauf. 2001. The interactions-based approach to socioeconomic behavior. In Social Dynamics, S. & H.P. Young Durlauf, Eds. MIT and Brookings Institutions.
- 17 Manski, C.F. 2000. Economic analysis of social interactions. National Bureau of Economic Research, March. Working Paper 7580.
- 18 Palloni, A. 2001. Diffusion in sociological analysis: how useful is it for the study of fertility and mortality?In Diffusion Processes and Fertility Transition, Selected Perspectives. J. Casterline & B. Cohen, Eds. National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
- 19 Landale, N., R.S. Oropesa & B.K. Gorman. 2000. Migration and infant death: assimilation or selective migration among Puerto Ricans? Am. Sociol. Rev.
- 20 Teller, C. & S. Clyburn. 1974. Trends in infant mortality. Texas Bus. Rev. 48(10): 240–246.
- 21 Gutmann, M.P., W. Parker Frisibie, P. DeTurk & K.S. Blanchard. 1998. Dating the origins of the epidemiologic paradox among Mexican Americans. The University of Texas at Austin.
- 22 Frisbie, W.P. 1993. Infant mortality among Mexican Americans: 1935-1985. Final Report. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
- 23 Frisbie, P. 1996. The enigma of Mexican-origin pregnancy outcomes. Hispanic Maternal Child Health. NICHD and MCHB, Washington D.C.
- 24 Becerra, J.E., et al. 1991. Infant mortality among Hispanics: a portrait of heterogeneity. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 265: 217–221.
- 25 Cramer, J.C. 1987. Social factors and infant mortality: identifying high-risk groups and proximate cases. Demography 24: 299–322.
- 26 Moss, N. & K. Carver. 1992. Explaining racial and ethnic differences in birth outcomes: the effect of household structure and resources. Pop. Assoc. Am. Denver.
- 27 Rogers, R.G. 1989. Ethnic differences in infant mortality: fact or artifact? Soc. Sci. Quart. 70: 642–649.
- 28 Williams, R.L., N.J. Binkin & E.J. Clingman. 1986. Pregnancy outcomes among Spanish surname women in California. Am. J. Public Health 76: 387–391.
- 29 Forbes, D. & W.P. Frisbie. 1991. Spanish surname and anglo infant mortality: differentials over a half-century. Demography 28: 639–660.
- 30 Hummer, R.A., I.W. Eberstein & C.B. Nam. 1992. Infant mortality differentials among Hispanic groups in Florida. Social Forces 70: 1055–1075.
- 31 Rumbaut, R.G. & J.R. Weeks. 1991. Perinatal risks and outcomes among low-income immirgrants. Final report for the Maternal and Child Health Research Program. Rockville: Department of Health and Human Services.
- 32 Ventura, S.J. 1985. Births of Hispanic parentage, 1982. Monthly Vital Stat. Report 34: 4.
- 33 Collins, J.W. & D.K. Shay. 1994. Prevalence of low birth weight among Hispanic infants with U.S.-born and foreign-born mothers: the effect of urban poverty. Am. J. Epidemiol. 139: 184–192.
- 34 Scribner, R.A & J.H. Dwyer. 1989. Acculturation and low birth weight among Latinos in the Hispanic HANES. Am. J. Public Health 79: 1263–1267.
- 35 Scribner, R.A. 1991. Infant mortality among Hispanics: the epidemiological paradox. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 265: 2066.
- 36 Cobas, J.A., et al. 1996. Acculturation and low birthweight infants among Latino women: a reanalysis of HHANES data with structural equation models. J. Public Health 86: 394–396.
- 37 James, S. 1993. Racial and ethnic differences in infant mortality and low birth weight: a psychosocial critique. Ann. Epidemiol. 3: 130–136.
- 38 Shino, P.H., et al. 1986. Birth weight among women of different ethnic groups. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 255: 48–52.
- 39 Bean, F.D. & M. Tienda. 1987. The Hispanic population of the United States. Russel Sage Foundation, New York.
- 40 Hauser, R.M., S. Solomon & D. Pager. 2001. High school dropout, race-ethnicity, and social background from the 1970s to the 1990s. University of Wisconsin—Madison, Working Paper.
- 41 Morenoff, J.D. 2000. Unraveling Paradoxes of Public Health: Neighborhood Environments and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Birth Outcomes. Ph.D. Diss., University of Chicago, Chicago.
- 42 Preston, S.H., et al. 1996. African-American mortality at older ages: results of a matching study. Demography 33(2): 193–209.
- 43 Sherraden, M. & R.E. Barrera. 1994. Mexican immirgrant women and childbearing: poverty, family support, and birth weight. Midwest Sociological Society, St. Louis.
- 44 Guendelman, S. & B. Abrams. 1995. Dietary intake among Mexican American women: generational differences and a comparison with white non-Hispanic women. Am. J. Public Health 85: 20–25.
- 45 Pletsch, P.K. 1988. Hispanics: at risk for adolescent pregnancy Public Health Nursing 7: 105–110.
- 46 Swallen, K.C. 1997. Do health selection effects last? A comparison of morbidity rates for elderly adult immigrants and US-born elderly persons. J. Cross-Cultural Geronotol. 12(4): 317–339.
- 47 Swallen, K.C. 1998. Mortality and nativity: a consideration of race, ethnicity and age at time of immigration. Unpublished Manuscript.
- 48 Maddala, G.S. 1983. Limited Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics. Cambridge University Press, New York.
- 49 Marmot, M.G., A.M. Adelstein & L. Bulusu. 1984. Lessons from the study of immigrant mortality. Lancet 1: 1455–1457.
- 50 Rogot, E., P.D. Sorlie, N.J Johnson & C. Schmitt. 1992. A study of 1.3 million persons by demographic, social and economic factors: 1979-1985 follow-up. National Institute of Health Publication No. 92-3297.
- 51 Rosenwaike, I. 1987. Mortality differentials among persons born in Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico residing in the United States, 1979-1981. Am. J. Public Health 77(5): 603–606.
- 52 Rosenwaike, I., Ed. 1991. Mortality of Hispanic Populations. Greenwood Press, New York.
- 53 Markides, K.S., L. Rudkin, R.J. Angel & D.V. Espino. 1997. Health status of Hispanic elderly. In Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Health of Older Americans. L.G. Martin & B.J. Soldo, Eds.: 285-300. National Academy Press, Washington D.C.
- 54 Smith, J.P. & R.S. Kington. 1997. Demographic and economic correlates of health in old age. Demography 34(1): 159–170.
- 55 Smith, J.P. & R.S. Kington. 1997. Race, socioeconomic status, and health in late life. In Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Health of Older Americans. L.G. Martin & B.J. Soldo, Eds.: 105-162. National Academy Press, Washington D.C.
- 56 Dechter, A. & S.H. Preston. 1991. Age misreporting and its effects on adult mortality estimates in Latin America. Pop. Bull. United Nations 31-32: 1-16.
- 57 Markides, K.S. & J. Coreil. 1986. The health of Hispanics in the Southwestern United States: an epidemiologic paradox. Public Health Rep. 101(3): 253–265.
- 58 Abraido-Lanza, A.F., D.P Dohrenwend, D.S Ng-Mak & J.B. Turner. 1999 The Latino mortality paradox: a test of the “salmon bias” and healthy migrant hypotheses. Am. J. Public Health (October) 1543-1548.
- 59 Sorlie, P.D., E. Backlund, N.J. Johnson & E. Rogot. 1993. Mortality by Hispanic status in the United States. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 270(20): 2464–2468.
- 60 Vaupel, J., K.G. Manton & E. Stallard. 1979. The impact of heterogeneity in individual frailty of the dynamics of mortality. Demography 16: 439–454.
