Unhealthy assimilation: Why do immigrants converge to American health status levels?
Unhealthy assimilation: Why do immigrants converge to American health status levels?
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DOI：
10.1353/dem.2006.0011
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发表时间：
2006-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Bedard, Kelly
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Antecol, Heather;Bedard, Kelly
有充分的证据表明，移民在抵达美国时比他们的美国人健康状况更好。但这种健康优势会随着时间的推移而消失。我们研究了这种“健康移民效应”的潜在决定因素，特别关注移民向不健康的美国BMI水平靠拢的趋势。使用全国健康访谈调查的数据，我们发现，女性和男性移民进入美国的平均BMI分别比本地出生的女性和男性低约2和5个百分点。与移民在美国停留的时间越长，他们的健康状况就会下降相一致，我们还发现，女性移民在抵达美国后的10年内几乎完全趋同于美国的BMI，而男性在15年内缩小了三分之一的差距。
It is well documented that immigrants are in better health upon arrival in the United States than their American. counterparts but that this health advantage erodes over time. We study the potential determinants of this "healthy immigrant effect," with a particular focus on the tendency of immigrants to converge to unhealthy American BMI levels. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, we find that average female and male immigrants enter the United States with BMIs that are approximately two and five percentage points lower than native-born women and men, respectively. Consistent with the declining health status of immigrants the longer they remain in the United States, we also find that female immigrants almost completely converge to American BMIs within 10 years of arrival, and men close a third of the gap within 15 years.