Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Volume 195, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 189-195

Risk for psychiatric disorder among immigrants and their US-born descendants: Evidence from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (Article)

Breslau J.* , Aguilar-Gaxiola S. , Borges G. , Kendler K.S. , Su M. , Kessler R.C.
  • a Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, United States, Center for Reducing Health Disparities, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, 2921 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95817, United States
  • b Department of Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, United States
  • c Mexican Institute of Psychiatry, Mexico City, Mexico
  • d Departments of Psychiatry and Human Genetics, Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States
  • e Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
  • f Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

Although previous research has consistently documented that immigrants to the United States have better mental health than US natives, little is known about why this difference occurs. DSM-IV anxiety, mood, impulse control, and substance use disorders were assessed in a nationally representative survey of the US household population, the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Differences in risk for disorder between immigrants (N = 299) and 5124 natives (N = 5124) were examined using discrete time survival models. Differences were estimated by generation, age of immigration, and duration of residence in the United States. Immigrants had lower lifetime risk of disorder than natives (OR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.5-0.9). Risk was equally large for natives who were children of immigrants as for natives of subsequent generations. For mood and impulse control disorders, risk equal to that of natives was also found among immigrants who arrived in the United States as children (12 years of age or younger). Immigrants had lower risk than natives prior to arrival in the United States, but there was a trend toward equalization of risk with longer duration of residence in the United States. Differences in risk for disorder emerge within a single generation following immigration, consistent with a strong effect of environmental factors on changes in risk among immigrant populations. This pattern is consistent with either of two causal processes, one involving early socialization in the United States and the other involving postmigration experiences among immigrants who arrive in the United States as adults. © 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Author Keywords

Acculturation Immigration Epidemiology psychiatric disorders

Index Keywords

mood disorder immigrant anxiety disorder mental health human risk assessment comorbidity middle aged controlled study substance abuse socialization Health Surveys family health diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders environmental change national health service Mental Disorders mental disease United States Humans family Adolescent impulse control disorder male environmental factor Acculturation female risk factor Risk Factors Psychiatric Status Rating Scales cultural factor theoretical model prevalence Article major clinical study adult Age Factors Emigration and Immigration Child health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-34247584609&doi=10.1097%2f01.nmd.0000243779.35541.c6&partnerID=40&md5=d165d52534b02f99511c8939b9e4c1e0
DOI: 10.1097/01.nmd.0000243779.35541.c6
ISSN: 00223018
Cited by: 111
Original Language: English