Adolescent health and adaptation in Canada: examination of gender and age aspects of the healthy immigrant effect

International Journal for Equity in Health

Floyd Rudmin²  Kyunghwa Kwak¹ 

[1] Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees, and Belonging, School of Law and Social Sciences, University of East London, London, UK;Department of Psychology, UIT Norway’s Arctic University, Tromsø N-9037, Norway

关键词: Acculturation;    Healthy immigrant effect;    Health and adaptation;    Adolescents;   

Others  :  1137457
DOI  :  10.1186/s12939-014-0103-5

 received in 2014-04-15, accepted in 2014-10-17,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Introduction

A longstanding and widely held assumption is that immigrants suffer from ill health and adaptation problems. Yet recent studies show that immigrants report the same or better state of health compared to their native-born counterparts. This phenomenon, known as the healthy immigrant effect, has been found in studies of specific health conditions of adults. The present study focuses instead on adolescents and extends its examination of the healthy immigrant effect, measuring both health and adaptation.

Methods

Using data from population samples in the Canadian Community Health Survey (2007), foreign-born immigrant adolescents (n = 920) were compared to non-immigrant adolescents (n = 13,572) for their self-report to questionnaire items for health (general health, mental health, chronic illnesses with psychosomatic symptoms, and psychological illnesses) and adaptation (daily life stress, life satisfaction, and sense of belonging). Adolescents’ gender, age, and length of residence were analyzed for the effects.

Results

Immigrant adolescents were better than non-immigrant peers on the four health measures, and did not differ from non-immigrants on the three adaptation measures despite having less household income and more family members in the household. Immigrant girls exhibited more resilient adaptability, while young immigrant boys and older non-immigrant girls displayed some potential vulnerability. Length of residence, on the other hand, did not contribute to differences for the health and adaptation of immigrant adolescents.

Conclusions

The healthy immigrant effect was confirmed in a community population sample of adolescents in Canada. Foreign-born immigrant adolescents experience better health, as well as good adaptation equal to their native-born peers. These outcomes call for further research on sustaining good health and adaptation of the immigrant population, in particular by providing age-related effective services and prevention strategies.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Kwak and Rudmin; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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