Why is Stress Level Higher for Latinos in America during the Pandemic?

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(Photo : Why is Stress Level Higher for Latinos in America during the Pandemic?)

It has become clear that Latinos are more at risk of catching the coronavirus, as they are being infected at a higher rate than the rest of the population. There are practical reasons, since most of them work jobs that cannot be handled from home but there is also a more insidious factor, which is that some also have to face discrimination and insecurity due to their immigration status.

1. Getting Help Online

One of the problems that the Latinos face is that they cannot get the help they need to face their worries. There aren't as many Spanish speaking psychiatrists and psychologists than English ones, and describing your problems using a second-language can be very difficult. Most of them have to resort to community support groups, but with the COVID-19 crisis, gatherings are not suggested.

But there is help online that everyone can use for stress management training. The most important thing to do when facing stress is to learn how to manage it. Stress and the anxiety it creates can never go away, since most of the stressors cannot be removed from our lives. Therefore, the only way to deal with stress is to learn techniques which will enable us to cope with it and keep us in a better mental state.

2. Common Stressors for Latinos (the California example)

As individuals, we all have different elements in our lives that create tensions inside us. However, there are common stressors that Latinos in America have to face regularly. The coronavirus has also increased the level of anxiety and has created even more insecurity into this population.

To understand the stress factors Latinos have to deal with, we must understand the situation they are living. Today, Latinos make-up for almost 40% of the State population in California and when you look at the numbers of people infected with the coronavirus, their percentage rise up to almost 55%. In comparison, white people only account for 17.5% of the cases while they represent 37% of the population.

Naturally, these numbers reflect themselves on the level of stress being felt by the Latinos. When asked in a survey if they were worried about the situation created by COVID-19, three-quarter of them said "yes" while only a little more than 50% of the whites agreed. And when you compare the level of anxiety and tension that both group feel, you find that 40% of Latinos said that feeling nervous, anxious or on edge during the pandemic was a very serious problem compared to only 23% of whites.