No abstract

Contexts with more inclusive immigrant policies may have the most benefit for Latino noncitizens.

To qualitatively examine how precarious work contributes to parenting stress among Mexican immigrant women. Background: Mexican immigrants tend to be employed in low-wage occupations with nonstandard work arrangements and schedules. Besides common strains associated with balancing work and family, they experience immigrant-specific stressors due to their unique positions in society and differences in structural resources and cultural values regarding parenting. Method: Ten focus groups were conducted with 30 Mexican immigrant women living in Nashville, TN. An additional focus group was conducted with four key informants who served the local immigrant community. Transcripts were analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches. Results: Precarious working conditions were a major source of stress and a central contributor

These results highlight the importance of developing new questionnaires to elicit stress exposures for Mexican immigrant mothers. Findings also suggest the value of intervention strategies and social policies that would ultimately improve maternal and child health in this marginalized population.

This paper investigates how social support differentially benefits self-rated health among men and women hospitalized with heart disease. Using cross-sectional data about patients admitted to a university hospital, we examine the extent to which gender moderates effects for the frequency of contact with family, friends, and neighbors on health and whether these effects differ between those with new versus established diagnoses. We find that gender differentiates the effect of nonmarital family contact on health but only when heart disease is newly diagnosed. When newly diagnosed, more frequent contact with family is associated with better self-rated health for women but not men. Men and women with preexisting diagnoses benefit equally from more frequent contact with family.