Socioeconomic Gradients in Health for White and Mexican-Origin Populations
Noreen Goldman, DSc,
Rachel T. Kimbro, PhD,
Cassio M. Turra, PhD and
Anne R. Pebley, PhD
Noreen Goldman is with the Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. Rachel T. Kimbro is a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar, the Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Cassio M. Turra is with Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. Anne R. Pebley is with the School of Public Health and Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Noreen Goldman, DSc, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, 243 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 (e-mail: ngoldman{at}princeton.edu).
Objectives. We assessed whether the few findings to date suggestingweak relationships between education and health-related variablesamong Hispanics are indicative of a more widespread pattern.
Methods. We used logistic regression models to examine educationdifferentials (i.e., education gradients) in health behaviorsand outcomes among White and Mexican-origin adults, adolescents,and infants. We gathered information from 3 data sets: the LosAngeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, the Fragile Familiesand Child Wellbeing Study, and the National Health InterviewSurvey.
Results. In contrast with patterns for Whites, education wasweakly associated or not associated with numerous health-relatedvariables among the US Mexican-origin population. Among adults,Mexican immigrants were especially likely to have weaker educationgradients than Whites.
Conclusions. The weak relationships between education and healthobserved among individuals of Mexican origin may have been theresult of several complex mechanisms: social gradients in healthin Mexico that differ from those in the United States, selectiveimmigration according to health and socioeconomic status, andparticular patterns of integration of Mexican immigrants intoUS society.
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