Demography
Volume 51, Issue 4, 2014, Pages 1159-1173

The Consequences of Migration to the United States for Short-Term Changes in the Health of Mexican Immigrants (Article)

Goldman N.* , Pebley A.R. , Creighton M.J. , Teruel G.M. , Rubalcava L.N. , Chung C.
  • a Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ, 08544, United States
  • b California Center for Population Research, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
  • c Departament de Ciències Polítiques i Socials, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
  • d Universidad Iberoamericana, AC and CAMBS, México, DF, Mexico
  • e Centro de Análisis y Medición del Bienestar Social, AC and CIDE, México, DF, Mexico
  • f Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ, 08544, United States

Abstract

Although many studies have attempted to examine the consequences of Mexico-U.S. migration for Mexican immigrants' health, few have had adequate data to generate the appropriate comparisons. In this article, we use data from two waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS) to compare the health of current migrants from Mexico with those of earlier migrants and nonmigrants. Because the longitudinal data permit us to examine short-term changes in health status subsequent to the baseline survey for current migrants and for Mexican residents, as well as to control for the potential health selectivity of migrants, the results provide a clearer picture of the consequences of immigration for Mexican migrant health than have previous studies. Our findings demonstrate that current migrants are more likely to experience recent changes in health status-both improvements and declines-than either earlier migrants or nonmigrants. The net effect, however, is a decline in health for current migrants: compared with never migrants, the health of current migrants is much more likely to have declined in the year or two since migration and not significantly more likely to have improved. Thus, it appears that the migration process itself and/or the experiences of the immediate post-migration period detrimentally affect Mexican immigrants' health. © 2014 Population Association of America.

Author Keywords

Health status Immigrant Selection self-rated health Mexico

Index Keywords

human sex difference Self Report middle aged statistics health status ethnology Mexico United States Humans migrant male Emigrants and Immigrants female Socioeconomic Factors socioeconomics Mexican American Article adult age Sex Factors Age Factors Mexican Americans
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84905054610&doi=10.1007%2fs13524-014-0304-y&partnerID=40&md5=88f4dceaaacf963409e6ed80f37422ff
DOI: 10.1007/s13524-014-0304-y
ISSN: 00703370
Cited by: 33
Original Language: English