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Latinos and the Changing Demographic Landscape: Key Dimensions for Infrastructure Building

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Creating Infrastructures for Latino Mental Health

Abstract

By 2050, close to one in four US residents will be of Latino origin. Given this fact, the welfare of the nation as a whole will largely depend on the economic and social well-being of this population. This chapter presents the demographic and social trends that are driving this transformation. It first discusses the creation of pan-ethnic labels, which mask the diversity of the Latino population and provides brief overview of the historical origins of the major Latino groups in the United States. The chapter, then, examines the demographic and socioeconomic profiles of this heterogeneous population and shows that, despite the prominent role that Latinos play in the economy and demographics of the US economy, troubling socio-economic trends indicate an urgent need to reexamine current service infrastructures. For instance, the social and economic disparities Latinos experience are reflected in their limited access to health care, and overall physical and mental health status disadvantages. In the mental health service sector, access to quality care remains a persistent problem. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of the major Latino demographic trends for building infrastructures capable of meeting their physical and mental health care needs. The heterogeneity and the growing geographic dispersion of the Latino population also call for the development of infrastructures attuned to the needs and characteristics of the specific Latino communities to be served. We suggest that the development of viable infrastructures and programs aimed at improving the health, and mental health outcomes of Latinos should include addressing structural inequalities, such as those related to education, income, access to health insurance, and citizenship status.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The terms Latino and Hispanic are used interchangeably in this chapter, as are the terms foreign-born and immigrant.

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Acknowledgments

Short excerpts from Cacari-Stone, Viruell-Fuentes, and Acevedo-García (2007) are republished here with copyright permission from the Californian Journal of Health. This project was partially supported by the Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare, Dept. of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, U.C.L.A., funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation [to EAVF]. The authors are listed alphabetically. Both authors contributed equally to this chapter.

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  1. Department of Latina/Latino Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    Flavia C. D. Andrade & Edna A. Viruell-Fuentes

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  1. Flavia C. D. Andrade
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Correspondence to Flavia C. D. Andrade .

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  1. Dept. Kinesiology & Community Health, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, S. Fourth St. 1206, Champaign, 61820, Illinois, USA

    Lydia P. Buki

  2. School of Social Work, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, W. Nevada St. 1010, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Lissette M. Piedra

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Andrade, F.C., Viruell-Fuentes, E.A. (2011). Latinos and the Changing Demographic Landscape: Key Dimensions for Infrastructure Building. In: Buki, L., Piedra, L. (eds) Creating Infrastructures for Latino Mental Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9452-3_1

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