Assimilation - Better for Latinos re their health?

The article "Acculturation and Latino Health in the U.S." addresses health care of U.S. Latinos in association with their level of acculturation or assimiliation into society. In our society, we know that WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) in general expect that other cultures and groups assimilate into their society. This is simply a historical fact of the United States. It appears that this article is clearly written by Conflict Theorists.

Essentially, the majority group believes that other cultures must adapt their tastes, expecations, belief systems, values, etc. to their own in order to thrive in society. Minority groups who choose not to assimilate fully are not expected to thrive according in the existing societal structure.

The research results found that Lainos who had acculturated the most in U.S. society had a mixed bag of health issues: some positive and MOST negative. The negative effects of health behaviors included substance abuse, diet, low birthweith and premature births. Of course, the birth problems could be correlated with substance abuse and poor diet.

The positive health outcomes for Latinos who were most acculturated into U.S. society were that they had access to insurance coverage, had access to health care, and used more preventive health services.

Of course, as with most studies, the results are not clear and the subject matter is complex. One could assume from reading the study & conclusions that because there are more negative health effects from acculturation by Latinos, that the group may want to reconsider assimilation. I thought that the overall message of this research article was that "Assimilation by Latinos into U.S. society is bad for their health". We have to remember to appreciate research, but also understand that one factor may not necessarily lead to the result of the measured factor. They may not really be correlated.

Anyhow, I still believe in conflict theory at play here simply by nature of the research measuring levels of assimilation and expecting varying levels of healt effects. I think the researchers expected to find more positive health effects with higher levels of assimilation.