Immigration, citizenship, and the mental health of adolescents.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Purpose
To examine the reported mental health outcomes of adolescent foreign-born non-citizens and adolescent foreign-born U.S. citizens compared to adolescent U.S.-born citizens.Methods
Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in the National Health Interview Survey, we compared mental health status of U.S.-born adolescent citizens to foreign-born citizens and non-citizens in the years 2010-2015, and examined how differences in emotional difficulty changed based on time spent in the U.S.Results
Results suggest that non-citizen adolescents experience better mental health outcomes than U.S.-born citizens. However, the mental health status of foreign-born citizens is indistinguishable from that of the U.S.-born, after accounting for basic socio-demographic characteristics. The prevalence of emotional difficulty experienced by immigrant adolescents increased with a family's duration in the U.S.Conclusion
Our findings are consistent with a broader health advantage for the foreign-born, but we present new evidence that the mental health advantage of foreign-born adolescents exists only for non-citizens.
SUBMITTER: Filion N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5933703 | biostudies-literature | 2018
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Immigration, citizenship, and the mental health of adolescents.
Filion Nicole N Fenelon Andrew A Boudreaux Michel M
PloS one 20180503 5
<h4>Purpose</h4>To examine the reported mental health outcomes of adolescent foreign-born non-citizens and adolescent foreign-born U.S. citizens compared to adolescent U.S.-born citizens.<h4>Methods</h4>Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in the National Health Interview Survey, we compared mental health status of U.S.-born adolescent citizens to foreign-born citizens and non-citizens in the years 2010-2015, and examined how differences in emotional difficulty changed based on tim ...[more]
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