Racial Identity and the Healthy Immigrant Effect: Does Racial Background Affect Mental Health Among Immigrants in Canada?

Abstract

The concept of the “Healthy Immigrant Effect” emerged through findings suggesting that while immigrants are healthier than the native-born population due to a selection process favouring better health and higher education, their health tends to diminish over time due to the unique challenges they encounter in their new nation of residence (Yang, 2020). In this study, I hypothesize that established immigrants and visible minority immigrants would have worse mental health (as per the Healthy Immigrant Effect) in comparison to established immigrants and White immigrants. Furthermore, I predict that female visible minority immigrants have worse mental health than female White immigrants, due to the application of the stress process model (SPM) to infer the greater psychosocial stressors faced by women of colour (racism and sexism etc.). This study contributes to the literature surrounding the Healthy Immigrant Effect in the context of mental health, while adding dimensions of racial identity and gender producing a more nuanced and greater understanding of the concept. I implemented ordered logistic regression using a hybrid variable consisting of racial identity and length of time since migration in order to investigate social determinants of immigrant mental health. The findings suggest that both White and visible minority immigrants residing in Canada for 10 to 20 years had worse mental health than immigrants who immigrated less than 10 years ago, with implications varying depending on gender due to the different meanings of work attributed to each gender role. Overall, this study makes a strong contribution to the literature on the Healthy Immigrant Effect.