Negative Acculturation and Nothing More? Cumulative Disadvantage and Mortality during the Immigrant Adaptation Process among Latinos in the United States 1
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online June, 2015
Negative Acculturation and Nothing More? Cumulative Disadvantage and Mortality during the Immigrant Adaptation Process among Latinos in the United States 1
Foreign- and U.S.-born Hispanic health deteriorates with increasing exposure and
acculturation to mainstream U.S. society. Because these associations are robust
to (static) socioeconomic controls, negative acculturation has become their
primary explanation. This overemphasis, however, has neglected important
alternative structural explanations. Examining Hispanic mortality using the
1998–2006 U.S. National Health Interview Survey-Linked Mortality File according
to nativity, immigrant adaptation measures, and health behaviors, this study
presents indirect but compelling evidence that suggests negative acculturation
is not the only or main explanation for this deterioration.
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