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Stress and Allostatic Load Among Latina/os: Evidence from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latina/os

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Abstract

We investigated associations between measures of environmental and psychological stress (i.e., chronic stress and perceived stress) and allostatic load across gender. We also tested whether other important intersectional factors, such as ethnic background and nativity, moderated stress–allostatic load relationships. Data were drawn from the Hispanic Community Health Study/ Study of Latina/os, a representative, multi-ethnic sample of Latina/os living in four urban communities. The final analytic sample consisted of 3848 Latina/os from five ethnic groups: Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, and South/ Central American. Findings indicate greater chronic and perceived stress were significantly associated with allostatic load for males but not for females. We also find, in some cases, ethnic background and nativity moderated relationships between types of stress and allostatic load for males. Findings suggest that environmental and psychological stressors can potentially shape health profiles of Latino males, with important differences across ethnic background and nativity.

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Notes

  1. Healthy diet was measured using the Alternative Healthy Eating (AHE) Index, which includes eleven items that capture food and alcohol intake. AHE scores were the sum of the 11 individual components, each with a range from 0 (worst) and 10 (best) Higher scores represent healthy eating habits, and lower scores represent unhealth eating habits.

  2. Given gender-specific allostatic load and health diet scores were constructed, tests of differences were unable to be included for these measures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminology, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Michael D. Niño & Yolanda Z. Chavez

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  1. Michael D. Niño
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  2. Yolanda Z. Chavez
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Correspondence to Michael D. Niño.

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Niño, M.D., Chavez, Y.Z. Stress and Allostatic Load Among Latina/os: Evidence from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latina/os. J Immigrant Minority Health 23, 895–903 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01175-x

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