Think I'll die before I get old.

• Position: Minorities

With one exception, young white people are more optimistic--sometimes drastically so--than their minority peers about their likelihood of living to age 35, maintains a study at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

"Whites are not subject to the racism and discrimination, at institutional and individual levels, experienced by immigrants and U.S-born racial and ethnic minorities that undermine health, well-being, and real or perceived life chances," says lead author Tara D. Warner, assistant professor of sociology. "Such experiences--including fear of victimization or deportation--can be a source of chronic stress for racial and ethnic minorities, as well as immigrants, that further undermines well-being, even among youth."

According to Warner, on average, across adolescence and the transition to young adulthood, approximately 66% of whites were "almost certain" about their chances of surviving to age 35, while 38% of foreign-born Mexicans, 46% of second-generation Mexicans (U.S.-born respondent and immigrant mother), and 50% of blacks were "almost certain."

The study relies on data from the first three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and considers the responses of people who range in age from 12 to 25. Warner and her coauthor, Raymond R. Swisher, professor of sociology at Bowling Green (Ohio) State University, limited their respondents to people who self-identified as white, black, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Asian.

"Our most surprising finding is that foreign-born Mexican young people are the most pessimistic about their future survival--even more pessimistic than their black peers," states Warner.

"This...