Health and development among Mexican, black and white preschool children: An integrative approach using latent class analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND Building on an emerging scientific consensus that the concept of child health should encompass chronic conditions, functional abilities, and developmental domains, we delineate the multidimensional health statuses of Mexican, non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic white preschool children in the United States. This integrative approach provides the foundation for an in-depth analysis of health disparities. OBJECTIVE The research objectives are: (1) to demonstrate a new methodological approach to identifying the major child health statuses; (2) to document differences in the prevalence of those health statuses among children in the largest ethnoracial groups in the U.S.; and (3) to assess whether key sources of disadvantage account for ethnoracial disparities in children’s health. METHODS With data from a nationally representative sample, we use latent class analysis to estimate a set of latent health statuses that capture the nature of health at age four. The latent class membership of children is predicted using multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS Mexican and non-Hispanic black children are more likely than non-Hispanic white children to fall into health statuses distinguished by low cognitive achievement and multiple developmental problems. Mexican children are the most likely to be classified into these problematic health statuses. This pattern persists in multivariate models that incorporate potential explanatory factors, including health at birth, socio-demographic characteristics, home environment, well-child care and center-based child care. CONCLUSIONS Latent class analysis is a useful method for incorporating measures of physical conditions, functional problems, and development into a single analysis in order to identify key dimensions of childhood health and locate ethnoracial health disparities.

Epidemiological Paradox or Immigrant Vulnerability? Obesity Among Young Children of Immigrants

“…English language use has long been identified as a key indicator of immigrant social integration or isolation (Gordon 1964) and has been previously associated, both positively and negatively, with child health and access to health care (Ayala et al 2008; Sussner et al 2009; Taverno et al 2010; Yin et al 2009). We follow previous studies (Crosnoe 2006; Han et al 2012; Landale et al 2013; Van Hook and Baker 2010) in using the mother's English proficiency in preference to whether English is the primary language spoken in the household (e.g., Liu et al 2009; Taverno et al 2010). Thus our “HEP” category applies to children either living in a household in which English is primarily spoken or whose mother has HEP.…”

Latent Class Analysis for Developmental Research

“…LCA also informs our understanding of profiles and patterns in other developmentally relevant, multidimensional constructs like personality and temperament , racial identity , and parenting styles . For example, one study used national data to identify six LCs of preschool children in terms of their broad profiles of health and development . Most Mexican children belonged to one of the four classes: 39% in the low cognitive achievement class, 29% in the healthy class, 15% in the developmental problems class, and 12% in the low social skills class.…”

Simultaneous assessement of social skills and behavior problems: Education and gender

“…In general, externalizing behavior problems motivate the search for psychological care because complain parents more frequently that they cause greater discomfort in social interactions, as well as other complaints such as behavior and learning problems, particularly in preschool children (Lambert, Wahler, Andrade, & Bickman, 2001;Melo & Perfeito, 2006;Scortegagno & Levandowski, 2004;Wielewicki, 2011) and boys (Landale, Lanza, Hillemeier, & Oropesa, 2013;Massola & Silvares, 2005;Olson & Hoza, 1993;Samarakkody, Fernando, McClure, Perera, & De Silva, 2012). Two variables, education and gender of children, have been the subject of several studies, but the results have not always been in agreement.…”