Social Science and Medicine
Volume 195, 2017, Pages 105-114

Unhealthy assimilation or persistent health advantage? A longitudinal analysis of immigrant health in the United States (Article)

Lu Y.* , Denier N. , Wang J.S.-H. , Kaushal N.
  • a Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States
  • b Department of Sociology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, United States
  • c School of Social Work, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong
  • d School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States

Abstract

Existing evidence on immigrant health assimilation, which is largely based on cross-sectional data, suggests that immigrants' initial health advantage erodes over time. This study uses longitudinal data to directly compare the self-rated health trajectories of immigrants and the native-born population. Data come from four panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (1996, 2001, 2004, and 2008), with each panel containing 2–4 years of health information. Results show that immigrants’ self-rated health remained stable during the period under study, but there was a concomitant decline in health for the native-born population. This result pointed to a persistent health advantage of immigrants during the period under study. The pattern held for immigrants of different length of residence and was especially salient for those originally from Latin America and Asia. Our findings that immigrants maintain their health advantage do not support the pattern of unhealthy assimilation commonly reported in cross-sectional studies. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Author Keywords

Unhealthy acculturation Immigrant health Assimilation Longitudinal data United States

Index Keywords

immigrant South and Central America longitudinal study indigenous people human Longitudinal Studies population group Asia statistics and numerical data Population Groups health status United States cross-sectional study migrant Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants Acculturation female cultural factor medical information health care adult public health immigrant population
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85034427385&doi=10.1016%2fj.socscimed.2017.11.019&partnerID=40&md5=c437150e2d220952203cbfaf86289df6
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.019
ISSN: 02779536
Cited by: 7
Original Language: English