Hispanics have a lower burden of heart disease than would be predicted from their risk factors. Explanations for this phenomenon, the Hispanic paradox, focus on specific characteristics of the culture that affect stress appraisal and accumulation, including social connections. Features of culture evolve in the context of language, which influences the way emotions are appraised and expressed. The Spanish language, a unifying component defining Hispanic cultures, has unique features that may promote emotional expression, expand the emotional concepts implicated in the construction of emotion, and influence the appraisal of stress. Under chronic stress conditions, sustained responses can become maladaptive, leading to disease. Features of the Spanish language allow its speakers a wide range of emotion schemas by virtue of its emotion lexicon, the ability to easily minimize or exaggerate expressions, and ease in considering hypothetical situations with the use of the subjunctive. The hypothesis here proposes that the Spanish language is directly and indirectly (via culture) responsible for mitigating some of the effects of acute stress responses in Hispanics and, therefore, limits stress accumulation and is partly responsible for the Hispanic paradox.

西班牙裔人的心脏病负担低于他们的风险因素所预测的。对这种现象的解释，西班牙悖论，侧重于影响压力评估和积累的文化的具体特征，包括社会关系。文化的特征在语言的语境中演变，影响着情感的评价和表达方式。西班牙语是定义西班牙文化的统一组成部分，具有独特的特征，可以促进情感表达，扩展情感构建中涉及的情感概念，并影响压力评估。在慢性压力条件下，持续的反应可能会变得不适应，从而导致疾病。西班牙语的特点使其说话者凭借其情感词典可以拥有广泛的情感模式，轻松最小化或夸大表达的能力，以及使用虚拟语气轻松考虑假设情况的能力。这里的假设提出，西班牙语直接和间接（通过文化）负责减轻西班牙裔美国人急性压力反应的一些影响，因此限制了压力积累，并对西班牙裔悖论负有部分责任。