Hispanic Trends

Leaders: David Grusky, Tomás Jiménez, Doug Massey, Beth Mattingly

This RG was created after the CPI received a sub-award to study Hispanic poverty, inequality, and mobility. The objective is to document key poverty and inequality trends, to begin the task of explaining what underlies them, and to then populate a new website, with the results coming out of this research.

We are taking on five lines of research under the leadership of both young and more distinguished scholars. The “basic trends” group is documenting key developments in Hispanic population distribution, income, education, poverty, employment, and “safety net” use; the “new generations” group is examining whether second and third generation immigrants are successfully incorporating into the labor market; the “social mobility” group is assessing whether Hispanics continue to have ample opportunities to improve their economic situation during their lifetime; the “social policy” group is examining how recent legal and policy changes have affected Hispanic natives and immigrants; and the “health” group is exploring the sources of deteriorating health among Hispanic immigrants and natives. The work of this RG was featured in a Pathways Magazine special report on poverty, inequality, and mobility among Hispanics.

 

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Hispanic Poverty & Inequality
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Doug Massey
David Grusky
Tomás Jiménez
Beth Mattingly
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Contribution of Socioeconomic Factors and Health Care Access to the Awareness and Treatment of Diabetes and Hypertension Among Older Mexican Adults

To estimate changes in self-report and treatment of diabetes and hypertension between 2001 and 2012 among Mexican aged 50-80, assessing the contribution of education and health insurance coverage.

"Caught Up:” How Urban Violence and Peer Ties Contribute to High School Non-Completion

While research shows growing up in urban neighborhoods increases the likelihood of not completing high school, it remains unclear what mechanism facilitates this process and why some youth are more vulnerable than others. This study addresses this gap by drawing on interviews with male, Latino high school graduates and noncompleters in Los Angeles. Interviews reveal urban violence is the most salient feature of urban neighborhoods and consequential for school completion. In an effort to avoid victimization male youth exposed to urban violence draw on male peer ties for protection.

The Two-Way Street of Acculturation, Discrimination, and Latino Immigration Restrictionism

Existing research concludes that acculturation converges Latino immigration policy views with those of Anglo-Americans. Yet, polls show few Latinos support restricting immigration. This article reconciles these statements with theory and evidence. I argue acculturation is part of a broader give-and-take process, the two-way street in which the contrast between expected and perceived treatment by the receiving community shapes whether or not Latino acculturation leads to restrictionism and “convergence” with Anglos.

Not Enough Work: Access to Full-Time Jobs with Decent Pay and Benefits Varies by Race/Ethnicity and Place of Residence

In this brief, we consider differences across rural and urban America in each of these measures, given the very different economic conditions that prevail in rural America, where higher paying jobs and those with employer-provided health insurance areless common (McLaughlin and Coleman-Jensen 2008), nonstandard work is more ubiquitous (McCrate 2011), and the best-educated and young often move away (Carr and Kefalas 2010: Hollowing Out the Middle).

Fear of Deportation is not Associated with Medical or Dental Care Use Among Mexican-Origin Farmworkers Served by a Federally-Qualified Health Center—Faith-Based Partnership: An Exploratory Study

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers face many health risks with limited access to health care and promotion services. This study explored whether fear of deportation (as a barrier), and church attendance (as an enabling factor), were associated with medical and dental care use among Mexican-origin farmworkers. Interviews were conducted with 179 farmworkers who attended mobile services provided by a local federally-qualified health center (FQHC) in partnership with area churches, during the 2007 agricultural season.

Medical Mistrust, Perceived Discrimination, and Satisfaction With Health Care Among Young-Adult Rural Latinos

Little research has analyzed mistrust and discrimination influencing receipt of health care services among Latinos, particularly those living in rural areas. This study examined the associations between medical mistrust, perceived discrimination, and satisfaction with health care among young-adult rural Latinos.

Are Latino Immigrants a Burden to Safety Net Services in Non-Traditional Immigrant States? Lessons from Oregon

The significant growth of the Latino population in the midst of an economic recession has invigorated anti-Latino, anti-immigrant sentiments in many US states. One common misconception is that Latino immigrants are a burden to safety net services. This may be particularly true in nontraditional immigrant states that have not historically served Latino immigrants. Oregon data suggest that despite a higher prevalence of poverty, use of safety net services among Latino immigrants in Oregon is lower than that among non-Latino Whites.

When the Border Is “Everywhere”: State-level Variation in Migration Control and Changing Settlement Patterns of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population in the United States

Governments increasingly exclude unauthorized migrants from labor markets and public provisions and apprehend those who have settled in the territory. In the U.S., recent increases in interior control coincided with a reduction in (the growth of) the estimated unauthorized population. This study describes the mechanisms through which interior control may impact migration patterns and analyzes whether interior control has been responsible for the changing settlement patterns.

See No Spanish: Language, Local Context, and Attitudes Toward Immigration

Explanations of Americans’ attitudes toward immigration emphasize threats to national identity and culture. However, we do not know the specific sources of cultural threat or whether theyoperate locally. Native-born residents commonly voice concerns about the prevalence of Spanish, suggesting that foreign languages might be one such source of threat. This articleuses survey experiments to provide one of the first causal tests of the impact of written Spanish on Americans’ immigration attitudes.

Can We Measure Immigrants' Legal Status? Lessons from Two U.S. Surveys

This research note examines response and allocation rates for legal status questions asked in publicly available U.S. surveys to address worries that the legal status of immigrants cannot be reliably measured. Contrary to such notions, we find that immigrants' non-response rates to questions about legal status are typically not higher than non-response rates to other immigration-related questions, such as country of birth and year of immigration.

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