Variability in immigrant health across cohorts and duration in the United States

Julien O. Teitler, Columbia University
Melissa L. Martinson, Princeton University
Nancy E. Reichman, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

In this paper, we investigate whether health differences exist across immigrant cohorts, and the extent to which arrival cohort accounts for observed differences in immigrant health by duration of residence in the U.S. Specifically, we describe cohort changes in the health of immigrant mothers arriving in the U.S. between 1970 and 2005, as well as the health of their U.S. born children. We use restricted National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) files from 1998 to 2005, which include data on 108,745 immigrants. Our analysis for infant and maternal outcomes includes 13,891 observations. Preliminary results demonstrate that maternal and infant health has declined over successive cohorts. When arrival cohort is controlled for, we find that maternal and infant health by duration in the U.S. follows a curvilinear pattern.