Internal migration and the health of Indigenous Mexicans: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Rationale Indigenous peoples have historically comprised a substantial part of migration streams around the world, yet our understanding of the effects of migration on indigenous health is limited. Objective To explore the migration-indigenous health relationship by assessing the impact of internal migration on the self-rated health trajectories of indigenous Mexicans. Data and method Using three waves of data (2002–2012) from the Mexican Family Life Survey, I estimated linear growth curves to examine differences in initial self-rated health and changes in self-rated health between indigenous and non-indigenous respondents (N = 12,533). Then, I investigated whether migrating domestically during the study period shaped indigenous health trajectories. Results At the baseline interview (before migration), indigenous migrants reported significantly better self-rated health than indigenous non-migrants and than all non-indigenous respondents. In spite of their better initial health, indigenous migrants’ health deteriorated substantially after migration, such that by the time of the last interview they reported the worst health. The self-rated health of all other groups improved during the same period. Conclusion Findings provide evidence of pre-migration health selection and post-migration health deterioration among Mexican indigenous migrants. These results suggest that internal migration is a risk factor that has an independent effect on indigenous health even after adjusting for personal, family, socioeconomic, and health care factors.

The Missing Mortality Advantage for European Immigrants to the United States in the Early Twentieth Century

“…Evidence of an immi grant health and mor tal ity advan tage has been found among immi grants to the United States from every region of the world (Riosmena et al 2017), and stud ies have found com pa ra ble advan tages for for eignborn pop u la tions in other des ti na tion con texts, includ ing Canada, Australia, and countries of Europe (Anson 2004;Boulogne et al 2012;Guendelman et al 1999;Kennedy et al 2006;Malmusi et al 2010). Similar advan tages in health and mor tal ity out comes have been documented for inter nal migrants mov ing within a coun try (Chen 2011;LeónPérez 2019;Lu 2008).…”

The Missing Mortality Advantage for European Immigrants to the United States in the Early Twentieth Century

“…Immigrant pop u la tions in the United States often have bet ter health out comes and lon ger life expec tan cies than their non im mi grant coun ter parts. An immi grant health and mor tal ity advan tage has been a recur rent find ing in demo graphic and pop u la tion health research and has been documented among migrants from all regions of the world (Riosmena et al 2017), in numer ous des ti na tion con texts (Anson 2004;Boulogne et al 2012;Guendelman et al 1999;Kennedy et al 2006;Malmusi et al 2010), and even among inter nal migrants within a coun try (Chen 2011;LeónPérez 2019;Lu 2008). This pat tern has been dubbed a "par a dox" in part because the mor tal ity pat terns of immi grant pop u la tions often do not cor re spond to their social posi tion in a coun try's ethnoracial hier ar chy (Bakhtiari 2021;Markides and Rote 2015).…”

Neurodesarrollo y estimulación oportuna en niños de madres indígenas migrantes y no migrantes en Chihuahua, México

“…In Mexico, indigenous migrants -especially children and adolescents -face significant challenges in terms of language barriers (Colmenares-Roa et al, 2017) and unfamiliar cultural practices in the urban zones where they arrive (León-Pérez, 2019), and are subject to marginalization (Franco-García, 2016). Furthermore, they experience inequalities in general health outcomes (Juárez-Ramírez et al, 2014) and, in the case of children below five years of age, in nutritional status (Ortega et al, 2012).…”