Paper Topic:

Ethnic Groups

p 5 ETHNIC GROUP : LATIN AMERICANS The growth of the Latino population in the United States has resulted in the significant observation of social and economic risk factors . The Latino population comprises the largest group of immigrants in the United States . Studies have revealed that the concept of having Latin American origins was an independent risk factor that influences their living conditions in the United States . Even though the word Latino is an acceptable descriptor for this specific population , other groups categorized this ethnic group as Hispanic ' Several studies have attempted

to describe and evaluate the socio-demographic features of Latin Americans (NIH , 2006

The Latin American population is considered an immigrant population hence it should also be noted that it takes time for this population to show that first-generation Latin American families experienced a more difficult living condition than subsequent generation . These include family income level , educational attainment and language . It has been generally observed that approximately 65 of the first-generation Latin Americans lived in poverty , and 75 of the heads of Latin American households possessed less than 9th grade education . It is also interesting to know that less that 10 of the Latin American households had a good command of English . First-generation Latin American children had the highest rate of being uninsured (64 .2 , which was significantly higher than the percentage reported for Hispanics as a whole Significant differences persisted for the second- and third generation groups . In fact , each generational group of Latin American children was more likely to be uninsured than either non-Hispanic white children or black children . It is also interesting to note that , among first-generation Latin American children , there were almost equal proportions of children with private and public health insurance . This is not surprising , because 70 of the heads of household were employed A significantly greater proportion of first-generation children could be insured if their parents worked for employers who provided health insurance . Even when insurance is offered , however , many employed Hispanics in poor and low-income households decline coverage due to lack of affordability

Previous reports that immigrant children as a whole are less likely to have health insurance , less likely to have a usual source of care , and less likely to have had a doctor 's visit in the past year were limited in that they did not differentiate Hispanic subgroups

or generations . First-generation Latin American children had much worse health care access than previously described for Hispanic children as a whole . Previous studies

indicate that majority of Hispanic children had a usual source of care With regard to immigrant children , 51 of all foreign-born children (including Latino , white , black , and

Asian children ) in working-poor families were uninsured and that 65 had a usual source of care , suggesting that first-generation Mexican American children may also fare worse than immigrant children considered as a whole . Even when first-generation Mexican

American children were insured , they had the lowest likelihood of having a regular source of care or a specific provider

First-generation Latin American children also demonstrated...

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