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Disability Status Differentials Among Asian Immigrants in the United States: The Added Dimensions of Duration and Age

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Abstract

The healthy immigrant and erosion effects are widely cited observations for immigrants’ health patterns in the United States. Yet, these effects are not always found in empirical studies. We examined both effects among Asians using the 2000 Census Public Microdata Sample. We examined six disability outcomes: sensory, physical, mental, mobility, work and self-care. We also investigated the moderating effect of age on years in the United States. We found substantial variation in disability status across our 13 Asian ethnic groups. Support for the healthy immigrant and erosion effects differed across the disability outcomes. For physical, sensory and mental disabilities, the healthy immigrant and erosion effects were displayed at younger ages. For work and mobility disabilities, younger immigrants displayed a higher prevalence for these outcomes than their US-born counterparts, but this pattern reversed at older ages. Self-care disability did not show any duration differences. Age also appears to be an important moderator of the healthy immigrant and erosion effects. Cohorts and question wording may also be important alternative explanations to immigrant health patterns.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Community Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Room 46-081c, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1772, USA

    Annie Ro & Gilbert C. Gee

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  1. Annie Ro
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  2. Gilbert C. Gee
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Correspondence to Annie Ro.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 7, 8 and Fig. 2.

Table 7 Odds ratios for the effect of Asian ethnicity, nativity and duration on sensory disability for API adults
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Table 8 Odds ratios for the effect of Asian ethnicity, nativity and duration on mental disability for API adults
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Ro, A., Gee, G.C. Disability Status Differentials Among Asian Immigrants in the United States: The Added Dimensions of Duration and Age. Race Soc Probl 4, 83–92 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-012-9069-3

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