For most people immigration to a new country such as Canada entails a positive move and an improvement in life. The many challenges associated with resettlement may, however, lead to insurmountable difficulties, stresses and conflict for a significant number of newcomers. The mortality experience of immigrants, as reflected in cause-of-death statistics, may provide indication of the extent of stress and conflict in their migration experience. This situation is most clearly exhibited in mortality from suicide, homicide, and motor vehicle accidents. In this study, hypotheses concerning immigrant mortality in Canada are developed and tested with a log-linear model for rates pertaining to rare events. Overall, the results give support for the importance of country-of-origin effects in explaining suicide propensities, but not for homicide and motor vehicle accidents mortality. Income discrepancies are a significant determinant of variability in death rates overall, but discrepancies between the immigrants in this study and the Canadian-born are not of much significance. The strongest net effect on the cause-specific death rate is associated with group membership. This effect likely reflects a number of residual unmeasured sources of variation including the influence of the immigrant ethnic community as a source of social support, and the potential confounding effects of migration selectivity.

[No Keywords available]

biology Origin Americas population Migrants Population Dynamics human statistics Social Problems Ethnic Groups ethnic group Developed Countries comparative study Cross-Sectional Studies Accidents, Traffic Accidents Cultural Background income North America cross-sectional study Humans Cross-Cultural Comparison homicide Canada social problem Socioeconomic Factors Psychological Factors stress risk factor Behavior Risk Factors socioeconomics Western Hemisphere cultural factor Incidence Article accident mortality migration Accidental Deaths Differential Mortality--determinants international migration developed country population and population related phenomena Demographic Factors Emigration and Immigration Economic Factors Northern America Population Characteristics traffic accident crime Suicide social behavior