Hispanics make one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States. The Hispanic population grew by 60 percent in the last decade according to a survey in 2000. This population is projected to double to about 97 million. This is attributed to high fertility rate and immigration among this group. Mexican-Americans makes the largest portion of Hispanics at 63 percent, Puerto Ricans coming second at 11 percent, and Cubans at 4 percent and the Central and South Americans making a collective 14 percent. This numbers greatly influence U.S social economic decision making.

On average, the socioeconomic status of Hispanics is similar to that of African Americans. They are affected by high poverty levels characterized by low family income, low education levels, and unemployment or employment as casual laborers. In 1997 for instance more than 26 percent of Hispanic and African American communities lived in poverty as opposed to just 7 percent of white Americans (Morales et al., 2002). Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans are the most affected of the Hispanic population. Nevertheless, the Hispanics have a healthy eating behavior. Culturally, they eat balanced foods including carbohydrates, proteins and vegetables.

The low socioeconomic status inherent to Hispanics is associated with unhealthy behaviors among the group. Due to acculturation, most of the Hispanics have adopted the U.S lifestyles and have become increasingly vulnerable to lifestyle diseases especially diabetes. During acculturation a person abandons their culture in favor of the foreign culture (Batis et al., 2011). Hispanics have adopted unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and unhealthy eating which lead to diabetes.

Most of the Hispanics immigrating to the U.S come from Mexico and Latin America and speak their native language. Over 80 percent of them are unable to speak English well. As such this hinders their communication, affecting their education attainment, employment and even access to health care (Fernandez et al., 2011).

The cultural beliefs of the Hispanics differ from the cultural beliefs of Americans. These disparities in cultural beliefs greatly influence the decisions that Hispanics in the U.S make regarding socioeconomic issues. For instance the healthcare access is affected by cultural beliefs of the Hispanics. Mexicans believe that one cannot disclose private issues especially on sexual health to a person of the opposite sex (Malcolm et al., 2013). As such, when visiting a hospital they may not disclose their problem to health profession of the opposite sex. Besides cultural beliefs, the Hispanics are very religious and belief that some things happen for a reason. Their religious values and beliefs influence the decisions they make.

To address the problems faced by Hispanics in the United States, there is need to design teaching strategies that would cater for such disparities. One of the components that have to be included in the teaching materials for Hispanics is the importance of communication. The health care facilities should have translators ready to assist Hispanics with poor or no English understanding (Fernandez et al. 2011).

Consequently, there should be emphasizing on the importance of healthy living. The Hispanics have wonderful cuisine that is well balanced. Teaching should focus on the rich culture and foods of the Hispanics and discourage negative occultation including smoking or eating junk, a common behavior among non-Hispanic Americans.

The low socioeconomic status evidently influences health outcomes of the Hispanic. Teaching them on how to integrate various aspects of healthy living with the little that they get can greatly influence health of the Hispanics (Chando et al., 2013).

Conclusively, the Hispanics are among the vulnerable minorities in the U.S facing discrimination and prejudice. Since they make significant part of the population, addressing the underlying issues such as promoting education, employment and increased access to health care is necessary.