The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans

While migration plays a key role in shaping the health of Mexican migrants in the US and those in Mexico, contemporary Mexican migration trends may challenge the health selection and return migration hypotheses, two prevailing assumptions of how migration shapes health. Using data from the Mexican F...

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Autores principales:	Aresha M. Martinez-Cardoso, Arline T. Geronimus
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	Mexican Hispanic/Latino paradox stress migration Medicine R
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2082fa26224d4216980867dc06f01f9c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2082fa26224d4216980867dc06f01f9c2021-11-25T17:51:26ZThe Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans10.3390/ijerph1822121361660-46011661-7827https://doaj.org/article/2082fa26224d4216980867dc06f01f9c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12136https://doaj.org/toc/1661-7827https://doaj.org/toc/1660-4601While migration plays a key role in shaping the health of Mexican migrants in the US and those in Mexico, contemporary Mexican migration trends may challenge the health selection and return migration hypotheses, two prevailing assumptions of how migration shapes health. Using data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (2002; 2005), we tested these two hypotheses by comparing the cardiometabolic health profiles of (1) Mexico–US future migrants and nonmigrants and (2) Mexico–US return migrants and nonmigrants. First, we found limited evidence for health selection: the cardiometabolic health of Mexico–US future migrants was not measurably better than the health of their compatriots who did not migrate, although migrants differed demographically from nonmigrants. However, return migrants had higher levels of adiposity compared to those who stayed in Mexico throughout their lives; time spent in the US was also associated with obesity and elevated waist circumference. Differences in physical activity and smoking behavior did not mediate these associations. Our findings suggest positive health selection might not drive the favorable health profiles among recent cohorts of Mexican immigrants in the US. However, the adverse health of return migrants with respect to that of nonmigrants underscores the importance of considering the lived experience of Mexican migrants in the US as an important determinant of their health.Aresha M. Martinez-CardosoArline T. GeronimusMDPI AGarticleMexicanHispanic/Latino paradoxstressmigrationMedicineRENInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 18, Iss 12136, p 12136 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Mexican Hispanic/Latino paradox stress migration Medicine R
spellingShingle	Mexican Hispanic/Latino paradox stress migration Medicine R Aresha M. Martinez-Cardoso Arline T. Geronimus The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans
description	While migration plays a key role in shaping the health of Mexican migrants in the US and those in Mexico, contemporary Mexican migration trends may challenge the health selection and return migration hypotheses, two prevailing assumptions of how migration shapes health. Using data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (2002; 2005), we tested these two hypotheses by comparing the cardiometabolic health profiles of (1) Mexico–US future migrants and nonmigrants and (2) Mexico–US return migrants and nonmigrants. First, we found limited evidence for health selection: the cardiometabolic health of Mexico–US future migrants was not measurably better than the health of their compatriots who did not migrate, although migrants differed demographically from nonmigrants. However, return migrants had higher levels of adiposity compared to those who stayed in Mexico throughout their lives; time spent in the US was also associated with obesity and elevated waist circumference. Differences in physical activity and smoking behavior did not mediate these associations. Our findings suggest positive health selection might not drive the favorable health profiles among recent cohorts of Mexican immigrants in the US. However, the adverse health of return migrants with respect to that of nonmigrants underscores the importance of considering the lived experience of Mexican migrants in the US as an important determinant of their health.
format	article
author	Aresha M. Martinez-Cardoso Arline T. Geronimus
author_facet	Aresha M. Martinez-Cardoso Arline T. Geronimus
author_sort	Aresha M. Martinez-Cardoso
title	The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans
title_short	The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans
title_full	The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans
title_fullStr	The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans
title_full_unstemmed	The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans
title_sort	weight of migration: reconsidering health selection and return migration among mexicans
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/2082fa26224d4216980867dc06f01f9c
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The Weight of Migration: Reconsidering Health Selection and Return Migration among Mexicans

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