Volume 25 - Article 25 | Pages 783-818

Assimilation and emerging health disparities among new generations of U.S. children

By Erin Hamilton, Jodi Berger Cardoso, Robert Hummer, Yolanda C. Padilla


Date received:	14 Jun 2011
Date published:	08 Dec 2011
Word count:	8945
Keywords:	assimilation, child health, disparities, immigration, race/ethnicity
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2011.25.25

Abstract

This article shows that the prevalence of four common child health conditions increases across generations (from first-generation immigrant children to second-generation U.S.-born children of immigrants to third-and-higher-generation children) within each of four major U.S. racial/ethnic groups. In the third-plus generation, black and Hispanic children have higher rates of nearly all conditions. Health care, socioeconomic status, parents’ health, social support, and neighborhood conditions influence child health and help explain third-and-higher-generation racial/ethnic disparities. However, these factors do not explain the generational pattern. The generational pattern may reflect cohort changes, selective ethnic attrition, unhealthy assimilation, or changing responses to survey questions among immigrant groups.

Author's Affiliation

Erin Hamilton - University of California at Davis, United States of America [Email]
Jodi Berger Cardoso - University of Texas at Austin, United States of America [Email]
Robert Hummer - University of Texas at Austin, United States of America [Email]
Yolanda C. Padilla - University of Texas at Austin, United States of America [Email]