Racial Stratification in Health Among White, Black and Other Mexicans

Abstract

I analyzed eight health outcomes among NH Whites, NH Blacks, White Mexicans, Black Mexicans and Other Mexicans taking into consideration acculturation-related and sociodemographic covariates. I developed my hypotheses on the basis of research based on the Latino Paradox and on the literature dealing with racial health disparities using the Latin Americanization thesis as theoretical framework. In the empirical analyses, using Integrated Health Interview Survey Data and binary logistic regression, both White Mexicans and Other Mexicans were reported to have a health advantage consistent with the Latino Paradox but Black Mexicans were not shown to have this advantage. I argued that this instance of health stratification based on a pigmentocracy is consistent with Bonilla-Silva’s theory. One of the main contributions of this research is the disaggregation of Mexicans into distinct racial categories in order to determine how race affects their health independently of ethnic status. Mexican ethnoracial groups are not homogeneous in terms of their health outcomes. I concluded from this empirical exercise that not all Mexicans are equally advantaged in terms of health as we have come to expect based on the Latino Paradox literature. Black Mexicans seem to be particularly disadvantaged compared to NH Whites and to a lesser extent vis-à-vis White Mexicans and NH Blacks. Thus, the micro and macro mechanisms of race (and racism) that produce health inequalities are apparently having an effect on this population.