Immigrant Health Disparities in Historical Perspective: European Migration in the Early 20th Century

• In Event: 343 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. Immigration, Migration, and Health

Abstract

Recent studies of immigrant health have focused on an apparent paradox in which some new immigrants arrive healthier than expected but exhibit poorer health outcomes with acculturation. Although a variety of explanations have been put forth for these epidemiological patterns, questions remain about the socio-historical generalizability of selection and acculturation processes. By examining mortality patterns of white European immigrants to the United States in the early 20th century, this article aims to connect research on immigrant health to the larger historical story of race and migration. Specifically, it argues that immigrant health trajectories must be understood in the context of shifting racial boundaries and processes of racial and ethnic stratification, which may act as a “fundamental cause” of health patterns for immigrants in a new context. Results suggest that, contrary to the patterns of contemporary immigrant minorities, new white immigrants exhibited high mortality rates but generally saw improvement by the second generation. Additionally, second generation immigrants had relatively lower mortality rates in areas with a smaller immigrant presence and higher black socioeconomic status, which is consistent with the group threat hypothesis of racial boundaries. The findings suggest that the context of reception—characterized by how race is constructed and stratified—may shape immigrants’ overall life chances and ability to prevent disease across a range of more proximate mechanisms.

Author

• Elyas Bakhtiari, Boston University