BACKGROUNDCross-national research shows that although immigrants initially have better health than their native-born counterparts, their health deteriorates over time in their destination countries, converging to natives' health (health convergence). Explanations include acculturation to negative health behaviors, exposure to low socioeconomic status, and social exclusion. OBJECTIVEThis study is the first to examine how material deprivation, a measure of relative disadvantage that includes elements of SES and social exclusion, interacts with duration of stay to affect immigrants' health convergence. METHODSUsing data from Italy (2009), we assess the association between duration of stay and three health outcomes, and we estimate interaction effects of duration of stay with material deprivation. RESULTSWe find immigrants' duration of stay is negatively associated with self-rated health, chronic morbidity, and activity limitations. Immigrants' health converges to natives', net of controls. Convergence is most dramatic for self-rated health, but the pattern is also reflected in chronic morbidity and activity limitations. The health of immigrants who live in conditions of material deprivation is more similar to natives' health at shorter durations of stay, compared to their not-deprived counterparts. CONTRIBUTIONThe paper contributes to a better understanding of the role of social exclusionmeasured as material deprivation -on the immigrant-native health convergence

No abstract

Exclusion through statistical invisibility. An exploration on what can be known through publicly available datasets on irregular migration and the health status of this population in Germany This working paper has been approved for release by: Andreas Edel

Although the children of first-generation immigrants tend to have better health than the native population, the health advantage of the children of immigrant families deteriorates over generations. It is, however, poorly understood where on the generational health assimilation spectrum children with one immigrant and one native parent (i.e., exogamous families) lie, to what extent family resources explain health assimilation, and whether the process of assimilation varies across health conditions. We seek to extend our understanding of the process of health assimilation by analyzing the physical and mental health of immigrant generations, assessing the role of exogamous family arrangements, and testing the contributions of family material and social resources to children's outcomes. We use register-based longitudinal data on all children residing in Finland, born in 1986–2000, and alive in 2000; these data are free of reporting bias and loss to follow-up. We estimate the risk of receiving inpatient and outpatient care for somatic conditions, psychopathological disorders, and injuries by immigrant generation status. Our results show evidence of a negative health assimilation process, with both first- and second-generation immigrant children having a higher prevalence of physical problems and particularly mental health problems than native children that is only partially explained by family resources. We find that the children of exogamous families are at especially high risk of developing psychopathological disorders. These results provide strong support for the hypothesis that children of exogamous families constitute a specific health risk group and that the impact on children's health of family social and material resources seems to be secondary to other unobserved factors.

No abstract