141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

285673
Social ties, ethnic enclaves and Latina/o health

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 1:10 PM - 1:30 PM

Edna A. Viruell-Fuentes, PhD, MPH , Department of Latina/Latino Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Jeffrey Morenoff, Ph.D. , Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
David R. Williams, PhD, MPH , Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, African and African American Studies, and Sociology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
James House, Ph.D. , Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Researchers have posited that one potential explanation for nativity differences in Latino health may be the strength of social ties among immigrants. We examined the association between nativity status and social ties using data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study. We employed OLS regressions to model the effect of nativity status on five outcomes: informal social integration; social network diversity; network size; instrumental support; and informational support. Using multilevel mixed effects regressions, we estimated the association between Latino/immigrant neighborhood composition on our outcomes, and whether these relationships varied by nativity status. Lastly, we examined the relationship between social ties and immigrants' length of time in the U.S. After controlling for individual-level characteristics, immigrant Latinos had significantly lower levels of social ties than their U.S.-born counterparts for all our outcomes, except informational support. Latino/immigrant neighborhood composition was positively associated with being socially integrated and having larger and more diverse social networks. The associations between two of our outcomes (informal social integration and network size) and living in a neighborhood with greater concentrations of Latinos and immigrants were stronger for U.S.-born Latinos than immigrant Latinos. U.S.-born Latinos maintained a significant social ties advantage compared to immigrants—regardless of length of time in the U.S.—for informal social integration, network diversity, and network size. At the individual level, our findings challenge the expectation that Latino immigrants would have higher levels of social ties than their U.S.-born counterparts. Our study underscores the importance of contexts that promote the development of social ties.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the social networks explanation for nativity differences in health among Latinos. Differentiate between individual versus neighborhood-level social networks explanations for Latino health outcomes. Explain the extent to which empirical findings support the above social networks explanations at the individual and neighborhood levels.

Keywords: Immigration, Latino Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have extensive training and experience conducting research on the social determinants of immigrant and Latino health. My work has been published in top-tiered journals, such as the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, and the DuBois Review, among others.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.