The Immigrant Advantage: What We Can Learn from Newcomers to America about Health, Happiness and Hope

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Many rich countries actively encourage immigration by people with particular skills that are in short supply. Casillas A, Leng M, Liu K, Hernandez A, Shrager S, Kanaya A. A long way from home: comparing mental health measures between foreign and U.S.-born Latinos in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2012;23:1719–32. Fu H, VanLandingham MJ. Mental health consequences of international migration for Vietnamese Americans and the mediating effects of physical health and social networks: results from a natural experiment approach. Demography. 2012;49:393–424.

No consistent evidence was revealed for more optimal overall MH among immigrants, compared to domestic-born individuals (Table 2). Immigrants in North America and Europe showed significantly better overall MH compared to domestic-borns in studies by Kearns et al. [ 65], Kwak [ 66], and Huang et al. [ 67] whereas other North American and European studies either revealed significantly worse overall MH [ 68, 69] or non-significant differences [ 20, 60, 70]. Well-being was investigated in only two European studies and was significantly higher among 1st generation immigrants relative to domestic-born individuals [ 65, 71]. Calvo et al. [ 72] reported significantly higher life satisfaction levels among immigrants compared to US-born individuals. Change in Immigrants’ MH with Increased Length of Residency Riosmena, F., & Dennis, J. A. (2012). A tale of three paradoxes: The Weak Socioeconomic Gradients in Health Among Hispanic Immigrants and their Relation to the Hispanic Health Paradox and Negative Acculturation, Chap 8. In J. L. Angel, F. M. Torres-Gil, & K. Markides (Eds.), Aging, Health, and Longevity in the Mexican-Origin Population (pp. 95–110). Springer: New York, NY.

Opondo C, Jayaweera H, Hollowell J, Li Y, Kurinczuk JJ, Quigley MA. Variations in neonatal mortality, infant mortality, preterm birth and birth weight in England and Wales according to ethnicity and maternal country or region of birth: An analysis of linked national data from 2006 to 2012. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2020;74:336–45. Mendenhall E, Kim AW. Rethinking idioms of distress and resilience in anthropology and global mental health. In: Dyer AR, Kohrt BA, Candilis PJ, editors. Global mental health ethics. Cham: Springer; 2021. p. 157–70. Santos-Lozada A. Self-rated mental health and race/ethnicity in the United States: support for the epidemiological paradox. PeerJ. 2016;4:e2508.

Goisis A, Remes H, Barclay K, Martikainen P, Myrskylä M. Advanced maternal age and the risk of low birth weight and preterm delivery: a within-family analysis using Finnish population registers. Am J Epidemiol. 2017;186:1219–26. Tummala-Narra P, Claudius M. Perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms among immigrant-origin adolescents. Cult Divers Ethn Minor Psychol. 2013;19:257–69. Lou Y, Beaujot R. What happens to the ‘healthy immigrant effect’: the mental health of immigrants to Canada. PSC Discuss Pap Ser. 2005;19:1. Fuster V, Zuluaga P, Colantonio SE, Román-Busto J. Regional differences in low birth weight in Spain: biological, demographic and socioeconomic variables. J Biosoc Sci. 2015;47:90–104.

American Heart Association. (2017). What is High Blood Pressure? Answers by Heart. https://dc.statelibrary.sc.gov/bitstream/handle/10827/25131/DHEC_What_is_High_Blood_Pressure_2017-07.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Accessed 26 August 2018. Kwak K, Rudmin F. Adolescent health and adaptation in Canada: examination of gender and age aspects of the healthy immigrant effect. Int J Equity Health. 2014;13:103. Aranda E, Vaquera E. Racism, the immigration enforcement regime, and the implications for racial inequality in the lives of undocumented young adults. Sociol Race Ethn. 2015;1:88–104. Increased economic output and living standards. Net immigration will lead to a growth in the size of the labour force and an increase in the productive capacity of the economy. Immigration leads to higher economic growth with a corresponding rise in tax revenues and potential for government spending.