Legal Status, Acculturation and the Health of Immigrants in the United States

James D. Bachmeier, University of California, Irvine
Jennifer Van Hook, Pennsylvania State University
Frank D. Bean, University of California, Irvine

This paper contributes to research on the immigrant health paradox by examining whether the pace of “negative” health assimilation of the U.S. foreign-born population varies across an understudied, though increasingly salient dimension of contemporary immigration: legal and citizenship status. Using data from the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, we find that immigrant health trajectories over time vary considerably depending on legal and citizenship status. For both men and women, health outcomes tend to decline more precipitously with increased duration of U.S. residence for unauthorized migrants, as compared to their legally resident and naturalized counterparts, even after adjusting for factors known to predict health. For women this pattern holds with respect to self-reported general health and the prevalence of functional limitations, while for men, the finding only obtains for functional limitations, the prevalence of which increase sharply as unauthorized men spend more time in the country.