Ability of ethnic self-identification to partition modifiable health risk among US residents of Mexican ancestry.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the relationship between ethnic self-identification and the partitioning of health risk within a Mexican American population.


METHODS
We combined data from the 2000 to 2002 National Health Interview Surveys to obtain a large (N = 10 044) sample of US residents of Mexican ancestry. We evaluated health risk, defined as self-reported current smoking, overweight, and obesity, and compared the predictive strength of health risk correlates across self-identified Mexican and Mexican American participants.


RESULTS
Self-identified Mexican participants were less likely to smoke (odds ratio [OR] = 0.70; 95% confidence interval[CI] = 0.60, 0.83; P < .001) and to be obese (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.56, 0.77; P < .001) than were self-identified Mexican American participants. Within-group analyses found that sociodemographic predictors had inconsistent and even contradictory patterns of association with health risk across the 2 subgroups. Health risk was consistently lower among immigrants relative to US-born participants. Ethnic self-identification effects were independent of socioeconomic status.


CONCLUSIONS
US residents of Mexican ancestry showed substantial within-group differences in health risk and risk correlates. Ethnic self-identification is a promising strategy to clarify differential risk and may help resolve apparent discrepancies in health risk correlates in this literature.
Barger
Steven D
SD
Department of Psychology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. steven.barger@nau.edu
Gallo
Linda C
LC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D012923:Social Class; D012933:Social Identification; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
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