Reported Child Health Status, Hispanic Ethnicity, and Language of Interview: United States, 2011-2012

This report has three objectives: a) to describe the reported health status of four subgroups of school-age children: Hispanic children with a Spanish interview (Hispanic–Spanish interview), Hispanic children with an English interview (Hispanic–English interview), non-Hispanic black children, and non-Hispanic white children; b) to describe selected characteristics of children in the four subgroups; and c) to consider whether the characteristics of children account for subgroup variations in reported health status.

Data from the 2011–2012 National Survey of Children’s Health were used to describe the health status of children aged 5–17 years using three categories: a) poor or fair, b) good, and c) very good or excellent health. The reported health status of children in the four subgroups was examined using multinomial logistic regression, controlling for the effects of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and a measure of acculturation.

Compared with children in the other subgroups, Hispanic–Spanish interview children were more likely to have reports of poor or fair health (10.6% compared with 1.8%–4.4%) and good health (39.7% compared with 7.7%– 14.4%). Controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and a measure of acculturation eliminated the subgroup differences in poor or fair health, but not good health. Even after adjustment for confounders, Hispanic–Spanish interview children more often were reported to have good health rather than very good or excellent health compared with children in the other subgroups.

Worse reported health status of Hispanic–Spanish interview children, compared with children in other subgroups, could not be explained completely by the confounders in the analysis. Additional research is needed to determine whether the worse reported health status of Hispanic children with Spanish interviews reflects the actual health conditions of these children or difficulties in translating the health status question.