Hispanics are accorded four subgroups: Black, White,
Indian, and Asian. As with Asians, poverty appears to
be the primary driver of visits by all Hispanic groups
to school nurses, and distinct differences in visit rates
among subethnic groups are apparent (see Table 6).
The most striking finding in Table 6 is the comparatively
high visit rate for poor Black Hispanics, with
each child visiting the school nurse 5.41 times. Poor
Black Hispanics made more than three times the
number of visits to school nurses than did their nonpoor
peers, a considerably high ratio in comparison
with other Hispanic groups. Poor Hispanic Whites
and Indians had approximately the same numbers of
visits, but the rates of visits for nonpoor Hispanic
Indians were slightly higher than those of Hispanic
Whites. Hispanic Asians had the lowest numbers of
visits by both poor and nonpoor students, and also
have the lowest enrollment population.
Discussion
Poverty, ethnicity, and usage rates
The findings of this study strengthen the work of
previous research that identifies poverty and race as
variables associated with increased student visits to