Language is a fundamental aspect of human culture that influences cognitive and perceptual processes. Prior evidence demonstrates personality self-report can vary across multilingual persons' language contexts. We assessed how cultural identification, language dominance, or both dynamically influence bilingual respondents' self-conception, via self-reported personality, across English and Spanish contexts. During separate English and Spanish conditions, 133 Hispanic/Latino bilingual participants (70 female) completed the Big Five Inventory of personality. We used language use and acculturation surveys completed in both languages to calculate participants' relative language dominance and identification with U.S.-American and Hispanic culture. Participants reported higher levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism in English relative to Spanish. Language dominance predicted cross-language differences in personality report, with higher extraversion reported in participants' dominant language. Within each language, greater endorsement of U.S.-American identity was associated with higher extraversion and conscientiousness and lower reported neuroticism. Agreeableness report in both languages was positively predicted by Hispanic identification. Our results clarify existing literature related to language and cultural effects on personality report among U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. These findings could inform assessments of self-relevant cognitions across languages among bilingual populations and hold relevance for health outcomes affected by cultural processes.

Background and purpose

Accurate identification of risk factors for stroke is important for public health promotion and disease prevention. HDL cholesterol is a potential risk factor, yet its role in stroke risk is unclear, as is whether HDL cholesterol content or particle number might be a better indicator of stroke risk. Furthermore, the degree to which ethnicity moderates the risk is unknown. As such, the current study examines the associations between incident stroke and both HDL cholesterol concentration and particle number, and assesses the moderating role of race and ethnicity.

Methods

The sample is a racially diverse cohort of US adults between the ages of 45-84 years enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis between 2000 and 2002 and followed until December 2011. The associations among cholesterol content and stroke risk, particle number and stroke risk, and the interaction with race were explored.

Results

The incidence of stroke was 2.6%. HDL cholesterol concentration (mmol/L) (Hazard Ratio (HR) = .56; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): .312-.988) and number of large HDL particles (μmol/L) (HR = .52, CI: .278-.956) were associated with lower stroke risk. When interactions with race were evaluated, the relationship between both HDL variables and stroke were significant in Blacks, but not other races.

Conclusions

Higher HDL cholesterol and a higher concentration of large particles are associated with lower risk of stroke in Blacks. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms by which HDL subfractions may differentially affect stroke outcome in different races/ethnicities.

Chronic stress has a deleterious effect on prefrontal lobe functioning. Empirical evidence suggests elevated vagal tone, indexed by elevated heart rate variability (HRV), mitigates the effect of mental stress on frontal lobe function. Here, the mitigating effect of HRV on stress-related decrements in cognitive performance is assessed based on information processing speed (DSST), word fluency and verbal learning task performance. Artifact free electrocardiogram (ECG) data was analyzed from 1420 Hispanic/Latino adults from the Sociocultural Ancillary of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). A 12-lead ECG was used to collect short-term recordings of the root mean square of successive differences in all normal R-peak to R-peak intervals (RMSSD) and the change between adjacent beats and the standard deviation of those intervals (SDNN) as indices of total HRV. As predicted, an interaction emerged for HRV and stress on the task presumed to require the greatest prefrontal lobe involvement, i.e., the DSST. After accounting for sociodemographic factors, chronic stress was associated with better DSST performance amongst individuals at higher quartile of SDNN, but not RMSSD. The paradoxical effect for greater stress exposure on DSST performance may in part be explained by increased speed of information processing and decision making often reported in high-stress cohorts. The nature of this interaction highlights the importance of examining the relationship between stress and cognition across a spectrum of vagal tone.

Background

Prior studies indicate that chronic stress is associated with obesity in adults. However, whether parental/caregiver stress is associated with obesity in their offspring has not been widely examined in Hispanic/Latino populations. In this study, we evaluated the role of caregiver chronic stress on child obesity and whether home food environment or child lifestyle behaviors explained the association.

Methods

The study included a sample of Hispanic/Latino youth and their caregivers (n = 473) from the Study of Latinos (SOL) Youth study and the Hispanic Community Health Study/SOL Sociocultural Study, which enrolled children aged 8-16 years from four cities (Bronx, Chicago, Miami, and San Diego), and provided assessments of adult chronic stress. Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between parental/caregiver stress and child obesity, adjusting for potential confounders.

Results

Twenty-two percent of caregivers did not report any chronic stressors, 48% reported 1-2, and 29% reported ≥3 stressors. The prevalence of obesity in youth increased with number of caregiver stressors from 23% among those without caregiver stressors to 35% among those with ≥3 stressors (p for trend 0.03). After model adjustment, youths whose caregivers reported ≥3 stressors were more likely to be obese than youths whose caregivers reported no stressors (prevalence ratio = 1.53; 95% confidence interval 1.01-2.32). This association was independent of food home environment, child diet quality, and child physical activity, but it was not independent of caregiver obesity.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that parental/caregiver chronic stress is related to obesity in their children. Future research is needed to confirm this association in longitudinal studies and in other population groups.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that chronic and acculturative stress would be negatively associated with neurocognitive function among middle aged to older Hispanics/Latinos.

Method

Our analytic sample consisted of 3,265 participants (mean age = 56.7 (±0.24)) from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos who participated in its Sociocultural Ancillary Study. During the baseline phase of this project, participants were assessed on multiple domains of neurocognitive function, and completed self-report measures of chronic and acculturative stress.

Results

Each standard deviation increase in chronic stress was associated with lower performance in a verbal learning task (B = -.17, 95% CI [-.32, -.01]); this association was no longer significant after adjusting for mental and physical health symptoms, including depression and anxiety symptoms, and cardiovascular health. A standard deviation increase in acculturative stress was associated with poorer performance in all cognitive measures (Bs range = -.13 to -1.03). Associations of acculturation stress with psychomotor speed, verbal learning, and word fluency remained significant after adjusting for mental and physical health symptoms.

Discussion

Our results suggest that mental and physical health may help explain some cross-sectional associations between stress and cognition and highlight the need to examine culture-specific psychosocial stressors to better understand the context of psychosocial risk factors for neurocognitive performance.

Sixty percent of Hispanics/Latinos are bilingual which research suggests may confer certain cognitive advantages. Female sex confers cognitive advantages in verbal learning and memory compared to male sex, regardless of race or ethnicity. Understanding the independent and interactive associations of bilingualism and sex with cognition may aid in predicting cognitive aging in Hispanics/Latinos. We examined baseline (2008-2011) data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, a multicenter, prospective community-based study. Our analyses included 6,110 males and females ≥45 years old who self-reported birth and parents' origin outside of the continental US, Spanish as their first language, and were evaluated in Spanish. Bilingualism was assessed along a Likert scale (1 = only Spanish to 4 = English>Spanish) for language proficiency (reading/spoken) and patterns of use (thinking/socializing). Cognitive testing included verbal learning, memory, fluency, and Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS). Linear regression models adjusted for relevant confounders, the complex survey design, and sampling weights. Participants' self-reported language proficiency was Spanish better than English, while patterns of use suggested more Spanish than English. Higher language proficiency was associated with higher performance on all cognitive indices while higher patterns of use associated with higher fluency and DSS scores (p-values < 0.01). Female sex was associated with higher performance on all cognitive indices (p-values < 0.05). There were no significant interactions with bilingualism (regardless of metric) by sex on cognition. For Hispanics/Latinos residing in the continental US and reporting birth and parents' origin elsewhere, bilingualism and female sex have independent cognitive benefits that are important to consider when evaluating cognitive performance.

Objective

Neuropsychological instruments are often developed in English and translated to other languages to facilitate the clinical evaluation of diverse populations or to utilize in research environments. However, the psychometric equivalence of these assessments across language must be demonstrated before populations can validly be compared.

Method

To test this equivalence, we applied measurement invariance procedures to a subsample (N = 1,708) of the Hispanic Community Health Survey/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) across English and Spanish versions of a neurocognitive battery. Using cardinality matching, 854 English-speaking and 854 Spanish-speaking subsamples were matched on age, education, sex, immigration status (U.S. born, including territories, or foreign-born), and Hispanic/Latino heritage background. Neurocognitive measures included the Six-Item Screener (SIS), Brief-Spanish English Verbal Learning Test (B-SEVLT), Word Fluency (WF), and Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS). Confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to test item-level invariance of the SIS, B-SEVLT, and WF, as well as factor-level invariance of a higher-order neurocognitive functioning latent variable.

Results

One item of both the SIS and WF were more difficult in Spanish than English, as was the DSS test. After accounting for partial invariance, Spanish-speakers performed worse on each of the subtests and the second-order neurocognitive functioning latent variable.

Conclusions

We found some evidence of bias at both item and factor levels, contributing to the poorer neurocognitive performance of Spanish test-takers. While these results explain the underperformance of Spanish-speakers to some extent, more work is needed to determine whether such bias is reflective of true cognitive differences or additional variables unaccounted for in this study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose

To examine cross-sectional associations between perceived neighborhood environment and cognitive function among middle-aged and older Hispanic/Latino women and men.

Methods

Data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (2008-2011) and its Sociocultural Ancillary Study (2009-2010) were used. Participants were Hispanic/Latino women (n = 1812) and men (n = 1034) aged 45-74 years. Survey-weighted linear regression models were used to examine associations between self-reported perceived neighborhood environment (i.e., neighborhood social cohesion and problems categorized as quintiles, and neighborhood safety from crime categorized as low, medium, or high) with cognitive function (i.e., global cognition, verbal learning, memory, verbal fluency, and processing speed scores) in women and men. Final model adjusted for age, Hispanic/Latino background, language, field site, household income, education, years lived in neighborhood, and depressive symptoms.

Results

Women in the lowest quintile of perceived neighborhood problems (vs. highest quintile) had higher global cognition (β 0.48, 95% CI 0.03, 0.94, p trend 0.229) and memory scores (0.60, 95% CI 0.11, 1.09, p trend: 0.060). Women in the highest quintile of perceived neighborhood social cohesion (vs. lowest quintile) had lower global cognition (β - 0.56, 95% CI - 1.02, - 0.09, p trend 0.004), verbal learning (B - 1.01, 95% CI - 2.00, - 0.03, p trend 0.015), verbal fluency (B - 2.00, 95% CI - 3.83, - 0.16, p trend 0.006), and processing speed (B - 2.11, 95% CI - 3.87, - 0.36, p trend 0.009). There was no association between perceived neighborhood safety from crime and cognition among women, or between any perceived neighborhood environment measure and cognition among men.

Conclusions

Middle-aged and older Hispanic/Latina women living in neighborhoods with the lowest perceived problems had higher global cognition and memory. Women living in neighborhoods with the highest perceived social cohesion had lower global cognition, verbal learning, verbal fluency, and processing speed.

Neighborhood-level socioeconomic deprivation can increase risk for higher blood pressure or hypertension, while greater neighborhood safety and walkability may protect against hypertension. Large-scale prospective research, particularly among Hispanics/Latinos, is lacking. We examined cross-sectional and prospective associations between neighborhood environments and blood pressure and hypertension among 3851 Hispanic/Latinos enrolled in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos San Diego, CA cohort. Addresses from Visit 1 (2008-2011) were geocoded and neighborhood characteristics were determined as part of the SOL CASAS ancillary study. Home addresses were geocoded and home areas created using 800 m circular radial buffers. Neighborhood indices socioeconomic deprivation, residential stability, and social disorder were created using Census and other publicly available data. Walkability was computed as density of intersections, retail spaces, and residences. Greenness was measured via satellite imagery using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Visit 1 and Visit 2 (2014-2017) clinical outcomes included systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, as well as prevalent and 6-year incident hypertension, defined as SBP/DBP ≥140/90 mmHg or antihypertensive medication use. Complex survey regression models adjusted for covariates revealed cross-sectional associations between greater walkability and lower SBP (B = -0.05; 95% CI: -0.09, -0.003). In prospective analyses, greater neighborhood social disorder was related to increasing SBP (B = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.09) and DBP (B = 0.07; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.12) over time. Greater socioeconomic deprivation (OR = 1.47; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.04) and greater social disorder (OR = 1.25; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.54) were associated with higher odds of incident hypertension. All other associations were not significant. Beyond individual-level characteristics, greater neighborhood social disorder and socioeconomic deprivation were related to adverse changes in blood pressure over 6 years among Hispanics/Latinos. Neighborhood social environment may help identify, or be an area for future intervention for, cardiovascular risk among Hispanics/Latinos.

Introduction

This study examines the associations of neighborhood environments with BMI, HbA1c, and diabetes across 6 years in Hispanic/Latino adults.

Methods

Participants from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos San Diego site (n=3,851, mean age=39.4 years, 53.3% women, 94.0% Mexican heritage) underwent assessment of metabolic risk factors and diabetes status (categorized as normoglycemia, prediabetes, and diabetes) at baseline (2008-2011) and approximately 6 years later (2014-2017). In the Study of Latinos Community and Surrounding Areas Study ancillary study (2015-2020), participant baseline addresses were geocoded, and neighborhoods were defined using 800-meter circular buffers. Neighborhood variables representing socioeconomic deprivation, residential stability, social disorder, walkability, and greenness were created using Census and other public databases. Analyses were conducted in 2020-2021.

Results

Complex survey regression analyses revealed that greater neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation was associated with higher BMI (β=0.14, p<0.001) and HbA1c (β=0.08, p<0.01) levels and a higher odds of worse diabetes status (i.e., having prediabetes versus normoglycemia and having diabetes versus prediabetes; OR=1.25, 95% CI=1.06, 1.47) at baseline. Greater baseline neighborhood deprivation also was related to increasing BMI (β=0.05, p<0.01) and worsening diabetes (OR=1.27, 95% CI=1.10, 1.46) statuses, whereas social disorder was related to increasing BMI levels (β=0.05, p<0.05) at Visit 2. There were no associations of expected protective factors of walkability, greenness, or residential stability.

Conclusions

Neighborhood deprivation and disorder were related to worse metabolic health in San Diego Hispanic/Latino adults of mostly Mexican heritage. Multilevel interventions emphasizing individual and structural determinants may be most effective in improving metabolic health among Hispanic/Latino individuals.