Intergenerational Health Transmission among Mexican Americans: Further Evidence of the Protective Effect of Spanish-language Utilization

Abstract

The fact that Mexican immigrants are healthier than their US-born co-ethnics has been well established. The subsequent observation that this health advantage diminishes over time and with increased acculturation is confirmed by only limited research and is severely compromised by several methodological shortcomings. Our analysis directly tests the acculturation hypothesis by investigating childhood health at an early age; specifically, we explore the relationships between birth-weight, primary language spoken, maternal nativity, and stature for age (SFA) among a sample of respondents to the NHANES III Youth survey data. Results indicate that a substantially large portion of the health advantages transferred from mother to child among the Mexican-born are due to birth-weight advantages. After controlling for health advantages conferred at birth among the foreign-born, language differences fully account for nativity differences between Mexican- and US-born mothers, suggesting an additional protective effect of Spanish-language maintenance and lending evidence to the hypothesis that language-based acculturation erodes health among Mexican Americans.

Citation

Finch, B.K. (2019), "Intergenerational Health Transmission among Mexican Americans: Further Evidence of the Protective Effect of Spanish-language Utilization", Immigration and Health (Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 19), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 97-103. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-629020190000019005