The “immigrant health paradox” has captured the attention of researchers struggling to understand why immigrants to the United
States appear to have health advantages that would not be predicted by their socioeconomic position. This research extends
prior analyses through examination of the potential role of
environmental factors in explaining the immigrant health paradox. We use data from the Phoenix Area Social Survey, a survey conducted in
2006 of approximately 800 individuals. Multilevel ordered logistic models examine three health outcomes: self-rated health,
heat stress, and asthmatic symptoms. An innovation is our multiple considerations of contextual factors, including neighborhood
amenities, disorder, traffic counts, and the heat index. We have three key findings: (1) frequent local migration has negative
impacts on health, (2) the local neighborhood environment partially mediates differences between US-born non-Hispanic Whites
and foreign-born Hispanics, and (3) subjective measures of the local environment tend to have greater effects than objective
measures. In sum, our analyses suggested a need for studies of place and health to consider migration and residential history
as a factor shaping health outcomes. Further, regarding the immigrant paradox, the results suggest the need to move beyond
a dichotomous measure of immigration contrasting international migrants with native-born residents.
Keywords Environment - Health - Migration - Southwestern US
This paper was previously presented at the 2008 Population Association of America annual meeting, New Orleans, LA. This material
is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB-0423704, Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term
Ecological Research (CAP LTER). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendation expressed in this material are those
of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).