The Impact of Pre-Migration and Post-Migration Socioeconomic Status and Social Integration on Immigrant Health

Hsin-Chieh Chang, University of California, Los Angeles

This paper expands the social determinants of health (SDH) framework to a cross-national perspective, and examines the social patterning of self-rated health among immigrant women. Using social survey from Korea, I focus on the three largest ethnicities: Korean Chinese (N=24,561), Vietnamese (N=19,363), and Han Chinese (N=9,294). The results indicate that the effects of pre-and post-migration SES on immigrant health differ and are influenced by the SES-health relationships in sending societies. However, having better social relationships with native Koreans is significantly associated with better health after controlling for covariates, while social relationships with co-ethnic network reveals a negative association. Furthermore, I identified ethnicity-specific barriers to social integration and better health by demonstrating the magnitude of intra-and inter-group differences. To conclude, research concerning health consequences of immigration should consider the SES contexts of different sending societies and incorporate a gender-sensitive perspective, which also deserves further attention from immigrant integration and health policymakers.