Immigrant Health Paradox
- 15 May 2015
- book chapter
- other
- Published by Wiley
Abstract
With rising rates of immigration around the globe we have seen increased interest in the socioeconomic situation of immigrants as well as their health status and health care needs, and their impact on the host countries' health care system. Much of the research has focused on immigrants of non-Western origin to the three traditional immigration destinations—the United States, Canada, and Australia. While earlier research was often focused on the negative impact of immigration on immigrants' health and mental health, research in the last couple decades has consistently found evidence of relatively good health among most immigrants especially “voluntary” immigrants from non-Western origins to western nations, a finding often referred to as an immigrant health paradox. Most interest in immigrant health in the United States has focused primarily on immigrants from Latin America, especially Mexico. Immigrants tend to have better health and mortality profiles than the native born, especially from the same racial/ethnic group. While there are some exceptions to these findings, which we note in the current entry, the preponderance of evidence indicates that selection processes are pivotal for understanding the paradox. Sociocultural resources have also been implicated; however, most of this line of research is still underdeveloped. In the current investigation we outline (a) foundational research, (b) cutting edge research, and (c) key issues for future research. We argue that better health among immigrants is not necessarily paradoxical. Most “voluntary” immigrants arrive in their country of destination with good health and a positive outlook on life. However, the finding that longer stays in the United States deplete health likely reflects acculturation forces. More research is needed to more adequately capture acculturative stress processes, changes in lifestyle factors (smoking, diet, and exercise), and the sociocultural resources that protect immigrants from being vulnerable to premature mortality.Keywords
This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:
- Survival Differences among Native-Born and Foreign-Born Older Adults in the United StatesPLOS ONE, 2012
- Disability Among Native-born and Foreign-born Blacks in the United StatesDemography, 2011
- Shorter Stay, Longer Life: Age at Migration and Mortality Among the Older Mexican-Origin PopulationJournal of Aging and Health, 2010
- Trends in Diabetes Prevalence and Diabetes-Related Complications in Older Mexican Americans From 1993–1994 to 2004–2005Diabetes Care, 2009
- Health of foreign-born people in the United States: A reviewHealth & Place, 2008
- Health Selection Among New ImmigrantsAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2008
- Hispanic Paradox in Biological Risk ProfilesAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2007
- Health Assimilation Patterns Amongst Australian Immigrants*Economic Record, 2007
- Neighborhood composition and incidence of cancer among Hispanics in the United StatesCancer, 2005
- The Latino mortality paradox: a test of the "salmon bias" and healthy migrant hypotheses.American Journal of Public Health, 1999