Mental and Behavioral Health of Immigrants in the United States

Cultural, Environmental, and Structural Factors

Gordon C. Nagayama Hall

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780128161173
• eBook ISBN: 9780128163009
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Clinical Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Mental and Behavioral Health of Immigrants in the United States reviews research on immigrant mental health, acculturation, and multicultural psychology. The book is divided into three sections: Section A addresses the geographic and social context of immigration, including how parents and children navigate the acculturation process, how different cultural orientations affect behavior, and research methods on acculturation. Sections B and C focus on mental health issues common to Latinx, Asian, and Arab/Middle Eastern immigrants, and then more broadly across immigrant groups. Included here are a focus on depression, anxiety, and somatization, as well as alcohol abuse, insomnia, and issues for LGBTQ+ individuals. Pre- and post-migration stressors are discussed, as well as the effects of prejudice and bias, the mental health effects of religion and spirituality, and managing the demands of both work and family. Contributors from psychology, education, and social work provide different perspectives and identify opportunities for future research.- Summarizes research on mental health issues common to immigrants- Identifies prevalence of mental disorders among ethnic minorities in the United States- Examines the impact of group-based discrimination on mental health- Explores the impact of acculturation on mental health- Reviews mental health issues specific to Latinx, Asian, and Middle Eastern immigrants- Covers alcohol abuse, sleep, and other disorders across immigrant groups

Section C

Psychopathology

Chapter 11

The immigrant mental health advantage in the US among ethnic minority and other groups: Findings and potential mechanisms

David M. Barnes^a,*; Sarah A. Lieff^b,*; Evan L. Eschliman^c; YiPing Li^d; Lawrence H. Yang^{b,e a} Department of Epidemiology, School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, United States
^b Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, United States
^c Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
^d Clinical Psychology (Psychology in Education), Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
^e Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
^* Co-first authors.

Abstract

This chapter will address the prevalence of mental disorders among the ethnic minority groups (African American, Latinx, and Asian American) in the United States according to immigration status. We will utilize the most current psychiatric epidemiology studies to characterize the prevalence of mental disorders in these groups, and describe the possible mechanisms accounting for the apparent advantage for foreign-born individuals for the ethnic minority and other groups. We will utilize Black Americans as a case example to illustrate how various mechanisms influence psychopathology among immigrant groups.

Keywords

Immigration; Migration; Mental disorders; Mental illness; Psychopathology; Prevalence; United States

Introduction

The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world, accounting for one-fifth of the world’s migrants in 2017 (Radford, 2019). In 2017, immigrants constituted 13.6% of the US population, nearly triple their share of the population in 1970 (4.7%) (Radford, 2019). Immigrants and their descendants are estimated to account for 88% of the US population growth through 2065 (Radford, 2019).

Researchers often view immigration as a major life stressor that puts immigrants at risk of poor health outcomes (Friis, Yngve, & Persson, 1998; Markides & Rote, 2015). The stressors immigrants face in their host country include discrimination, low socioeconomic status, and language barriers (Markides & Rote, 2015). Paradoxically, despite the well-proven association between lower socioeconomic status and poorer health, much evidence suggests that immigrants in the US have better health and lower mortality than the native-born population (Abraido-Lanza, Dohrenwend, Ng-Mak, & Turner, 1999; Blanco et al., 2013; Markides & Rote, 2015; Salas-Wright, Vaughn, Schwartz, & Cordova, 2016; Vaughn, Salas-Wright, DeLisi, & Maynard, 2014). This phenomenon was originally termed the “Hispanic Epidemiologic Paradox” by Markides and Coreil (1986), based on findings that southwestern Latinxs primarily of Mexican origin demonstrated relatively good health despite poor socioeconomic status (Markides & Coreil, 1986; Markides & Rote, 2015). This chapter addresses how this paradox appears to extend to other immigrant groups and to mental health (Markides & Rote, 2015; Singh & Miller, 2004).

Consistent with this Immigrant Health Paradox (Markides & Rote, 2015), exposure to migration stressors does not necessarily result in elevated rates of psychopathology among immigrants in the US (Park & Kemp, 2006; Salas-Wright, Vaughn, Goings, Miller, & Schwartz, 2018; Suárez‐Orozco & Carhill, 2008). Multiple studies show that immigrants in the US are less likely than US-born individuals to experience an array of mental disorders (Alarcón et al., 2016; Alegria, Alvarez, & DiMarzio, 2017; Alegria, Canino, Stinson, & Grant, 2006; Breslau, Borges, Hagar, Tancredi, & Gilman, 2009; Salas-Wright et al., 2018; Takeuchi, Alegría, Jackson, & Williams, 2007; Williams, Gonzalez, et al., 2007; Williams, Haile, et al., 2007).

Since the early 1980s, standardized diagnostic survey instruments have been developed and used worldwide to assess mental disorders at the population level. Using these instruments, psychiatric epidemiology studies conducted in large, nationally representative adult samples in the US have clarified the relationship between immigration and psychopathology. The Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) study in the early 1980s was conducted in five regions of the US. The National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) followed a decade later, and was in turn followed in the early 2000s by the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), a consortium of three studies (Alegría et al., 2008), and the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

In the first section of this chapter, we report findings from the CPES consortium and NESARC studies, focusing on the prevalence of psychopathology in immigrants and their US-born counterparts within distinct race/ethnic groups (Blacks, Asians, Latinxs, and Whites). By reporting comparisons between foreign- and US-born individuals within racial/ethnic groups, we minimize variation in cultural differences between our comparison groups; emergent differences between the foreign- and US-born are then mor...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Preface
• Section A: Acculturation
• Section B: Mental health
• Section C: Psychopathology
• Index