Inequalities in Children’s Health: Untangling Ethnicity, Social Class, and Lifestyle Effects on the Vietnamese, Other Asians, Hispanics, and Whites

Berna M. Torr, California State University, Fullerton
Eileen Walsh, California State University, Fullerton

While much is known about ethnic disparities in health, little is known about the health of the Vietnamese population in America and even less about Vietnamese-American children. This study compares parent-rated health for Vietnamese, Other Asian, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White children controlling for demographics, social class, and lifestyle variables. We use data from the 2007 Orange County Health Needs Assessment (OCHNA) Survey, which includes an oversample of Vietnamese children. Our previous research suggests that Vietnamese adults and elderly report poorer self-rated health. Differences in socioeconomic status explain much of Vietnamese adults’ greater likelihood of reporting poor health, but not their lower likelihood of reporting excellent health. A preliminary analysis of OCHNA 2007 data suggests that parents of Vietnamese American children are substantially less likely to report that their child is in excellent or very good health. We examine whether this difference is explained by demographics, socioeconomic status or lifestyle characteristics.