Investigating Contemporary Lifestyles and the Health Experiences of Post-Soviet Immigrants: Conceptualizing Future Research

• In Event: 106 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session I
  In Refereed Roundtable: A. Table 09. Immigration and Health

Abstract

International migration represents a major force redefining the population structure of the contemporary United States. Incoming migration in particular influences different areas of life; its effects are apparent in culture, economy and other institutions. In the context of health care delivery, increased immigration accentuates the need to understand of how health behaviors and thus overall health profiles come about, and to introduce cultural awareness into health delivery services. After all, lifestyles in contemporary society are primary determinants of health or conversely, disease. Accordingly, it is particularly important for current and future research to foster an understanding of immigrant health behaviors, profiles, and processes, because American health care professionals will more commonly encounter these complex phenomena in the twenty-first century, and in addition to the increasingly complex health and disease profiles of other Americans born in the U.S. This paper utilizes contemporary health lifestyles theory in sociology, as well as recent lifestyles research in former Soviet societies, to better understand the health experiences of post-Soviet immigrants coming to the United States. It is a preliminary investigation intended to emphasize some of the lifestyle factors arguably important to immigrant health experiences and the lifestyle transformations that follow immigration, including but not limited to class structures, gender roles, the influence of collectivities, and broader habitus transformations. We assert that these concepts and others are important avenues for future research involving the health profiles and experiences of immigrant populations in the United States.

Authors

• Alla Chernenko, Middle Tennessee State University

• Brian Philip Hinote, Middle Tennessee State University