When Being Hispanic Isn't Enough: Intersectional Race-Sex Inequalities in Functional Limitations Among Immigrants.

The term "Hispanic Paradox" refers to research findings that Hispanic immigrants often exhibit better health than more socioeconomically advantaged U.S.-born populations. However, much of this research attributes this epidemiological phenomenon to immigration selectivity and rarely examines (1) whether a Hispanic-specific health advantage persists within immigrant-only populations and (2) how any such advantage is structured by race and sex inequalities across highly heterogeneous immigrant groups. Using data from the IPUMS National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 2006-2018 (N = 166,700), this study applies an intersectional approach to evaluate a Hispanic health effect in health-related functional limitations - a measure strongly linked to mortality and health care needs - across race-sex immigrant groups. Logistic regression and post-estimation results show that a health advantage associated with Hispanic identity appears only among female and male immigrants who identify as White, with no comparable benefit for other race-sex intersections. These findings indicate that a Hispanic health advantage among immigrants is not universal but shaped by structural inequality, underscoring the need for intersectionality-informed research that uncovers masked vulnerabilities across ethnoracially diverse immigrant populations.