Latino and Native American Populations

Overall, racism has a very negative effect on one's mental health. Because of this it can also have reprocussions on physical health as well. We see evidence of this in studies where cortisol levels for Latino's is significantly higher than other races/ethnicities. This can lead to more heart diseases, high blood pressure, etc. In Native Americans many will attempt to pick up alcohol in order to subdue the pain temporarily. This is seen especially if their family does not warn them and openly speak out against alcohol use. Studies then show a high rate of cirrhosis in Native Americans due to this abnormal consumption of alcohol. For Latino youth there are many different influences that can weigh heavily on Latino development. This can range from all sorts of things like family immigration status, language barriers, education,etc. These influences affect almost every aspect of a young adolecenses life and can have drastic effects on mental health if they are constantly reminded that they are different and that these differences is what is causing them such harship in life. For the article that I chose there was a slight historical background, but it was very broad and didn't pertain to a specific race but to the entirety of health insurance. I would say that historical background may shed light on certain trends in data that wouldn't make much sense otherwise. For example, my article demonstrated that even with a large expansion in affordable health care many Latino people didn't take advantage of the opportunity like many across other races. However, if you are aware of the tactics that the government would use to take illegal immigrants back to Mexico it would make sense that many saw this as a trap or too risky of a move to make since the chances of them being deported were high. Knowing this information would make some of the inexplicable differences in the data make sense and bring to light what the root of the issue migh be when it comes to obtaining better health insurance. For Latinos, making sure to have ties to both cultures that you can identify with has been statistically proven to provide benefits to one's mental health. The argument being made that each may have its own methods of managing stressors in life and that with knowledge from both cultures there is a better chance that you can adapt to a gievn scenario and handle it as efficiently as possible. For Native Americans it is shown that parents have a great influence on the behavior and actions of their children. This becomes more apparent after reading the studies pertaining to alcoholism in the young Native American population and how many of the subjects said that their parents were the majr influence in their opinion and consumption of alcohol.

Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (2020). Hispanic populations. Hispanic Populations | Suicide Prevention Resource Center. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.sprc.org/scope/racial-ethnic-disparities/hispanic-populations

Beauvais, F. (1998). American Indians and Alcohol. Alcohol health and research world. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761887/

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