Selection, experience, and disadvantage: Examining sources of health inequalities among naturalized US citizens

Abstract

Objectives We integrated major theories in immigrant health and assimilation into a single analytical framework to quantify the degrees to which demographic composition, pathways to citizenship, and socioeconomic assimilation account for physical and mental health disparities between naturalized immigrants by region of origin. Methods Using the restricted data from the 2015–2016 California Health Interview Survey, we decomposed differences in physical and mental health into demographic factors, path to citizenship, and socioeconomic characteristics by region of origin using the Karlson, Holm, and Breen (KHB) method. Results Differences in socioeconomic status mediated most of the disparity in physical health between naturalized immigrants from different regions. Factors associated with major immigrant health theories—demographic composition, pathways to citizenship, and socioeconomic assimilation—did not mediate disparities in mental health. Conclusion This article argues that the study of health disparities among immigrants must simultaneously account for differences in demographic composition, immigration experience, and socioeconomic disadvantage. The findings also underscore the need for theory development that can better explain mental health disparities among immigrants.

The contribution of parity to ethnic differences in mothers' body mass index in the Netherlands: A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach

“… Rahimi and Hashemi Nazari, 2021 ). In prior work, conventional mediation analyses have been performed to assess whether ethnic differences in bodyweight are partly mediated by demographic factors, such as parity (e.g., Bacong and Sohn, 2021 , Sohn and Bacong, 2021 ). The implicit assumption underlying such analyses is that associations between the demographic factors considered and bodyweight do not differ between the groups compared.…”