Is Hispanicity too heterogeneous to be one group?

Most epidemiological studies aggregate Hispanic Americans as one category. This approach may ignore important cultural variation between Hispanic cultures that might contribute to health status. Although many endorse the disaggregation of Hispanicity into country of origin, there is no empirical demonstration of how these two methodological approaches impact data analysis and interpretation. This study examines how aggregating Hispanics into one group might impact identification of vulnerable populations. Secondary data analysis was conducted on the NLAAS dataset (2002-2003). This included 2,554 Hispanic Americans and 4,180 Non-Hispanic Whites. Race/ethnicity was recoded two ways: 1) Hispanics were aggregated into one group; 2) Hispanics were disaggregated into country of origin (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Other Hispanic Country). ANOVA was used to compare self-report status of mental and physical health between Hispanics and Whites, and alternatively, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Other Hispanic and White. Identification of vulnerable groups varied between the two strategies. When Hispanics were aggregated into one group they reported worse ratings of mental health, F(1, 52787755)=371002.346, p<.001, and physical health, F(1, 52812166)=7016.459, p<.001, compared to Whites. When Hispanics were disaggregated, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Other Hispanics reported better mental health than Whites, while Mexicans reported worse ratings than all other ethnic groups. Moreover, Cuban Americans reported significantly better physical health than all groups. This study emphasizes the importance of including country of origin when examining health disparities. Hispanic Americans report worse mental and physical health when analyzed heterogeneously, but disaggregating Hispanic groups reveals that not all Hispanic groups are vulnerable to worse health outcomes.