Immigrants (Lecture) Flashcards
Example of how those who can ‘leave’ are often better off than those who ‘stay’?
Hutu Rwandans who migrated to Zaire = taller and heavier than Hutu who stayed in Rwanda.
Examples of how those who leave can end up worse in the long term.
Tokelauan emigrants to New Zealand in 1966 had more diabetes, hypertension, and asthma than those who stayed (Roberts et al, 1992).
Indians in the UK = higher cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and breast cancer than Indians in India (Krishnan, 2012).
Why is it those who leave can end up worse in the long term?
This may be due to starting off comparatively healthy and then ‘converging downward’
e.g Canadian women = 24.9 BMI, new immigrant women = 22.7 BMI, established immigrant women = 24.8 BMI
What is the average age of arrival for immigrants in the UK?
26
Why is it new immigrants are more unhealthy than those established?
Income actually gets better the longer you’ve been here so poverty declines among more established immigrants.
What is the latino paradox?
Lower chronic disease in Latinos compared to other race groups, despite lower socioeconomic status and education.
They also have lower mortality rates in seven out of the 10 leading causes of death in the US, even though they are twice as likely to be living under the poverty line and three times more likely to lack health insurance.
(Gonzalez de Gispert, 2015)
Why is the latino paradox a thing?
Extended family and community involvement in childcare
Salmon bias
The appearance of better health in Latin American populations might just be a product of the constant influx of ‘new blood’
So what creates the shift downward?
Foreign-born less likely:
To be insured, to use primary services (immunization)
But also more likely: to be not comfortable with the providers available, to seek out non-recorded health care options
Life course effect (Wadsworth, 1997)
