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Interpreting the Paradoxical in the Hispanic Paradox
Author(s) -
PALLONI ALBERTO,
MORENOFF JEFFREY D.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb02751.x
Subject(s) - variable (mathematics) , epistemology , selection (genetic algorithm) , multivariate statistics , population , positive economics , psychology , sociology , computer science , mathematics , demography , economics , philosophy , artificial intelligence , statistics , mathematical analysis
A bstract : This paper discusses problems that are common to both the epidemiologic risk‐factor approach and the demographic variable‐based approach to studying population health. We argue that there is a shared reluctance to move away from a narrow variable‐based thinking that pervades both disciplines, and a tendency to reify the multivariate linear procedures employed in both disciplines. In particular, we concentrate on the difficulties generated by classical variable‐based approaches that are especially striking when one neglects selection processes and the use of strategies to minimize its effects. We illustrate these difficulties in terms of the so‐called “Hispanic Paradox”, which refers to comparative health advantages that some Hispanic groups appear to have. We find that much of what is conceived by demographers and epidemiologists as a paradox may not be paradoxical at all.