A Re-Examination of the Hispanic Mortality Paradox

Elizabeth Arias, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

This paper reviews, critically evaluates, and empirically tests two mechanisms, "buffering effects" and "migration selection," associated with the so-called Hispanic paradox of better adult health and mortality among Hispanics living in the United States. We employ two data sets; the National Health Interview Survey-Multiple Cause of Death linked data file spanning the period 1989-1997, and the Mexican Health and Aging Study. We estimate parametric mortality hazard models incorporating individual heterogeneity to address the effects of ethnicity. We estimate increasingly complex models to verify that indeed, once strategic socioeconomic conditions are controlled for, Hispanics experience, by and large, a survival advantage. We conclude with a strong statement about the importance of migration based selection and suggest that a large part of what appears to be a Hispanic advantage is indeed an advantage and, in some cases, the result of mechanisms that bolster social support that somehow confer better health and lower mortality risks.