TY - JOUR
T1 - Migration, health, and environment in the desert southwest
AU - Yabiku, Scott T.
AU - Glick, Jennifer E.
AU - Wentz, Elizabeth A.
AU - Haas, Steven A.
AU - Zhu, Li
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper was previously presented at the 2008 Population Association of America annual meeting, New Orleans, LA. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB-0423704, Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendation expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The "immigrant health paradox" has captured the attention of researchers struggling to understand why immigrants to the United States appear to have health advantages that would not be predicted by their socioeconomic position. This research extends prior analyses through examination of the potential role of environmental factors in explaining the immigrant health paradox. We use data from the Phoenix Area Social Survey, a survey conducted in 2006 of approximately 800 individuals. Multilevel ordered logistic models examine three health outcomes: self-rated health, heat stress, and asthmatic symptoms. An innovation is our multiple considerations of contextual factors, including neighborhood amenities, disorder, traffic counts, and the heat index. We have three key findings: (1) frequent local migration has negative impacts on health, (2) the local neighborhood environment partially mediates differences between US-born non-Hispanic Whites and foreign-born Hispanics, and (3) subjective measures of the local environment tend to have greater effects than objective measures. In sum, our analyses suggested a need for studies of place and health to consider migration and residential history as a factor shaping health outcomes. Further, regarding the immigrant paradox, the results suggest the need to move beyond a dichotomous measure of immigration contrasting international migrants with native-born residents.
AB - The "immigrant health paradox" has captured the attention of researchers struggling to understand why immigrants to the United States appear to have health advantages that would not be predicted by their socioeconomic position. This research extends prior analyses through examination of the potential role of environmental factors in explaining the immigrant health paradox. We use data from the Phoenix Area Social Survey, a survey conducted in 2006 of approximately 800 individuals. Multilevel ordered logistic models examine three health outcomes: self-rated health, heat stress, and asthmatic symptoms. An innovation is our multiple considerations of contextual factors, including neighborhood amenities, disorder, traffic counts, and the heat index. We have three key findings: (1) frequent local migration has negative impacts on health, (2) the local neighborhood environment partially mediates differences between US-born non-Hispanic Whites and foreign-born Hispanics, and (3) subjective measures of the local environment tend to have greater effects than objective measures. In sum, our analyses suggested a need for studies of place and health to consider migration and residential history as a factor shaping health outcomes. Further, regarding the immigrant paradox, the results suggest the need to move beyond a dichotomous measure of immigration contrasting international migrants with native-born residents.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11111-009-0082-4
DO - 10.1007/s11111-009-0082-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:69849094616
SN - 0199-0039
VL - 30
SP - 131
EP - 158
JO - Population and Environment
JF - Population and Environment
IS - 4-5
ER -