How the Spanish language might protect against cardiovascular diseases
In this article, I discuss key points in a theoretical paper by Llabre (2021) about the protective role of the Spanish language with respect to cardiovascular diseases. Along the way I have added some examples and relevant contextual information.
This article is divided into the following sections:
- Too long, didn’t read (TLDR) summary
- Who is this article for?
- The Hispanic Paradox
- The link between cardiovascular diseases and language (via stress and emotional processing)
- The language hypothesis of the Hispanic Paradox
- Unique protective features of the Spanish language.
TLDR
The Hispanic/Latino population in the US, relative to the non-Hispanic White population, has lower mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases. This is surprising because the Hispanic/Latino population tends to score higher on measures of factors predictive of cardiovascular diseases. Unique features of the Spanish language, shared across Hispanic/Latino communities, may help to explain this ‘Hispanic Paradox’.
Cardiovascular diseases are linked to stress, stress to the cognitive processes underpinning emotional experiences, and finally, language plays a role in shaping emotional experiences. The Spanish language, through use of unique protective features (outlined in the last section of this article):
promotes the processing of emotion in a way that dampens the effect of stressful stimuli on cardiovascular reactivity and thereby promotes cardiovascular health
may contribute to a culture that facilitates and promotes easy expression of emotion and a means of managing stressors by building social connections and promoting the exploration of hypotheticals
Who is this article for?
General audience: this article is generally relevant to all humans, given (1) that cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality and (2) the shared human experience of psychological stress.
Psychology students and teachers: this topic is an interesting cross cultural case study for people learning or teaching emotion or language in undergraduate psychology courses.
Practitioners supporting children and families: this article highlights that clients of different language groups may process, experience, and express stress and emotions differently.
People learning to speak Spanish: in my experience learning to comprehend and speak Spanish, I have met so many people that say they are learning Spanish to broaden the way they think about the world. This article provides some concrete examples of how Spanish can help you experience and create your world differently compared to English.
The Hispanic Paradox
Epidemiological research consistently indicates that the Hispanic/Latino population in the US, relative to the non-Hispanic White population, has lower mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases (e.g., coronary heart disease and stroke). Hypertension is also less common in Hispanic/Latino communities. This is surprising because the Hispanic/Latino population tends to have higher levels of obesity and diabetes, among other risk factors for developing cardiovascular diseases like socioeconomic and psychological stress.
Explaining the Hispanic Paradox is difficult because the Hispanic/Latino population is not homogenous; like all ethnic sub-populations, there is a wide variety of cultural practices within and across Hispanic/Latino communities. The most homogenous cultural factor across Hispanic/Latino communities is the Spanish language. Unique features of the Spanish language, shared across Hispanic/Latino communities, may help to explain the Hispanic Paradox.
The link between cardiovascular diseases and language (via stress and emotional processing)
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality globally, according to the World Health Organization. Because of this, cardiovascular diseases and associated risk factors have been extensively studied. Psychological stress is a contributing factor to the development of cardiovascular disease. Persistent experiences of psychological stress impacts the immune system, leads to unhealthy behaviours, and is associated with inflammation and chronic illness.
In their paper, Llabre details the various steps in the logic and supporting research connecting cardiovascular diseases to stress, stress to the cognitive processes underpinning emotional experiences, and finally, the role of language in shaping emotional experiences. I especially appreciated the description of positive and negative affect leading to various health outcomes. It is a really interesting deep-dive, but definitely more detail than needed in this article to appreciate the unique protective factors of the Spanish language. Check in out if you are keen – the reference and link are below.
The language hypothesis of the Hispanic Paradox
The key theoretical contribution of Llabre’s paper is describing the language hypothesis for explaining the Hispanic Paradox. In short, the language hypothesis suggests that the Spanish language, through use of unique protective features (outlined in the next section):
promotes the processing of emotion in a way that dampens the effect of stressful stimuli on cardiovascular reactivity and thereby promotes cardiovascular health
may contribute to a culture that facilitates and promotes easy expression of emotion and a means of managing stressors by building social connections and promoting the exploration of hypotheticals
The possible pathways underpinning the language hypothesis are outlined in the paper (happy reading).
Unique protective features of the Spanish language
Linguistic research highlights some key differences between the English and Spanish languages. Llabre touches on the development of the English language through science and technology, and the restricted emotional lexicon as a by-product of this. Whereas, the Spanish language provides features for users to be more emotionally expressive. Five interesting examples of what I am referring to here as unique protective features of the Spanish language are outlined in the paper.
Spanish speakers are less likely to ascribe blame for accidental events: in Spanish, it is possible to say something like “the vase broke itself”. English speakers are more likely than Spanish speakers, because of the way verbs are used, to attribute blame to another person for accidental events and to remember the person to blame for such events.
Spanish speakers can indicate whether emotions are state or trait: unlike in English, talking about emotions in Spanish involves an indication of how permanent that emotion is. You can use a form of the verb that means “to be” that indicates a relatively consistent emotional trait (ser) and say something like “soy feliz” (I am happy), meaning I am generally a happy person.
But with emotions other than happiness, it is more common to hear people use the other form of the “to be” verb that indicates emotional states or impermanence (estar). In this case you would hear something like “estoy feliz”, which also means “I am happy”, or “estoy triste” (I am sad). This is cool because it incorporates a temporary characteristic to emotional experiences, and more broadly this suggests some efficacy to change current circumstances for the better. Very Buddhist / mindful and makes me think of the phrase “this too shall pass”.
Spanish speakers have a larger positive emotion lexicon to draw on: compared to other languages, the Spanish language has a higher number of words to describe emotions in general and happiness in particular. This means that there is greater capacity for optimism and broader emodiversity, or variation in the ways people can experience emotion. Emodiversity is a new word for me, I love it. Spanish speakers are also less likely to suppress emotional expression compared to English speakers.
Spanish speakers can vary the intensity of emotional labels: in building on the already larger number of words to describe emotions, these words can be altered to be more or less intense using common suffixes. Objects or emotions can be implied to be less intense or less significant by adding “-ito” or “-ita” to the end. To intensify or make more significant, you can add “-ísimo” or “ísima”.
This works in describing stressors too. A particularly interesting clinical example I saw in a piece Llabre wrote for The Conversation is:
The patient was in pain, anxious to complete the hard part of the therapy. The therapist was encouraging him to keep working. At one point the patient expressed a desire to quit. The therapist responded “Te queda una semanita más.” This translates to “You have a short week left.” The patient agreed to continue. By adding the suffix “ita” to the word “semana,” – or week – the therapist offered the patient a perspective on how much therapy remained in a way that sounded shorter, even though it was still a full week.
Spanish speakers can add greater context to verbs: through a language form called subjunctive verbs, Spanish speakers can take a verb and say it in a way that implies not only the action but also things like desires, moods, subjectivity, speculation or probability. This feature is pretty abstract my friends and a stretch beyond my own Spanish skills. There isn’t a concrete example that makes it easily accessible because there isn’t an equivalent language function in English.
Llabre notes that this form of language is probably most common in literature and in particular magical realism. This example of emotional forms of writing resonates with me because in creating this article, I now understand some Spanish language song lyrics that previously confused me based on my intermediate understanding of verb conjugation (e.g., ‘No te vayas’ by Camilo). If you have some understanding of the Spanish language, then you may find this article about subjunctive verbs simultaneously interesting and confusing.
Update
Since posting this article, my friend Martina reached out to provide some more information. Martina is a Spanish language teacher and let me know that:
- the subjunctive form is actually very common and used in everyday Spanish speech, not just literature
- the English language does have subjunctive form, but it is less common than in Spanish. Martina shared an article on subjunctive mood in English that is a really interesting read. It looks like a key distinction is that in English, there isn’t a subjunctive verb form. Instead:
phrases, clauses, and sentences express the subjunctive mood by using the bare form of a verb in a finite clause. Often, the verbs ‘be’ or ‘were’ are used as linking verbs in sentences written in the subjunctive mood.
Thanks Martina!
Author note
If you have published theoretical, review, or primary research on this topic and are keen to have a chat with me about it, please reach out: [email protected]
Reference for the paper discussed in this article
Llabre, M. M. (2021). Insight Into the Hispanic Paradox: The Language Hypothesis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(6), 1324–1336. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620968765
Photo
By Alexandru Acea on Unsplash