Interpreting the paradoxical in the hispanic paradox: demographic and epidemiologic approaches.
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.
Palloni
A
A
Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706, USA. palloni@ssc.wisc.edu
Morenoff
J D
JD
D000328:Adult; D015984:Causality; D003710:Demography; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D004813:Epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009026:Mortality; D012307:Risk Factors