The Costs of Integration: How Marriage to US-Born Spouses Affects Immigrant Mortality

• In Event: Immigrant Health - Changing Contexts, Heterogeneity, Resilience, and Selectivity

Abstract

Classical assimilation theory treats marriage into the mainstream as an indicator of optimal integration, yet the health implications of marriage to native-born spouses for immigrants in the United States is unknown. Using National Health Interview Survey data (1997-2014) linked to mortality records (N=124,596), I compare mortality outcomes for immigrants married to foreign-born versus US-born spouses. Marriage to US-born spouses is associated with elevated mortality risk for both men and women. Critically, controlling for education and income increases rather than decreases the hazard ratios, suggesting that material gains associated with marriage to a US-born spouse masks underlying mortality costs. Integration pathways also appear gendered. For men, marriage to any US-born spouse is associated with elevated mortality regardless of spouse's race, consistent with loss of culturally-embedded health resources. For women, the racial hierarchy appears consequential: marrying US-born White men is associated with 12% excess mortality, while marrying US-born non-White men shows no such elevation. These findings challenge classical assimilation's prediction that marrying into White mainstream America represents optimal integration. Economic and health integration appear to operate through different mechanisms, with material advantages masking rather than compensating for health costs. Integration's progressive logic, validated for economic outcomes, does not extend straightforwardly to mortality, suggesting that existing frameworks may need to account for divergent consequences across life domains. 

Author

• Yoonyoung Choi, University of Arizona