The Hispanic paradox in child maltreatment: Does it fade over time?

Background: The "Hispanic Paradox" refers to a commonly noted tendency for Hispanic immigrants to have good health outcomes relative to risks faced. This paper demonstrates the presence of the Hispanic Paradox relative to child maltreatment, with a focus on how it appears to "fade" generationally.

Objectives: To use national child maltreatment and census data to determine if the protective effects of the Hispanic Paradox are weaker ("fade") for counties with fewer foreign-born Hispanics.

Design: Census data, including the percentage of Hispanics in a county who were foreign-born, was used to predict child maltreatment rates as observed in the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. The analysis was done at a county level and included a number of covariates (e.g. Hispanic Median Income, Rural/Urban status…).

Participants And Setting: We included national child maltreatment data at the county level.

Results: A negative binomial mixed effects model showed that for each point of increase in the percentage of the Hispanic foreign-born population of a county, the county Hispanic child maltreatment rate was expected to drop by 1 %. Variation in Hispanic national origin (i.e. Puerto Rico) was found to significantly moderate this relationship.

Conclusion: Counties with higher percentages of foreign-born Hispanics have lower child maltreatment rates after controlling for other factors. This is consistent with emerging findings in the child mortality data and suggests that for child maltreatment, the Hispanic Paradox may fade generationally.