Black immigrants to the U.S. initially tend to have better health than other African-Americans, but stress causes a decrease in health as they spend more time in the country, according to a new study.
The study, which was co-authored by African-American studies professor Gniesha Dinwiddie, found that black immigrants are a distinct socioeconomic group compared with other black Americans, especially in terms of health, but also in areas such as higher education.
“Most studies have found that similar to Hispanic immigrants, black immigrants might have a health advantage over U.S.-born blacks and that living in ethnic enclaves protects them from disease vulnerability,” Dinwiddie said. “However, after several rounds of data analysis, the results showed that this health advantage dissipates the longer they stay in the United States.”
For this study, the researchers used regression models from the 2001-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which evaluated 2,897 people to understand risk factors correlated with different health hazards for population groups. The results of the nine-year study were published in this month’s American Journal of Public Health.
“Results derived from this study are significant because it is the only study to examine the differential risk factors driving disparities in health for black populations using biological markers of the stress response that are responsible for increasing disease vulnerability,” Dinwiddie said. “Not much is known about the health of black immigrant populations, and most studies assume that blacks and African-Americans are one homogenous group.”
The study analyzed allostatic load, which is a measurement of physiological responses to stress resulting from social conditions. Allostatic load can make a person more vulnerable to disease, she said, especially Type 2 diabetes and severe depression.
“The results were somewhat surprising, but since there is not much known about black immigrant populations, every result was informative,” she said.
One surprising finding was that a larger proportion of black immigrants was living below the federal poverty line compared to U.S.-born blacks, which Dinwiddie said is contrary to the perception of the socioeconomic status of immigrants.
Consistent with other studies, this research also suggested black immigrants have different socioeconomic status profiles compared with U.S.-born blacks in terms of higher post-secondary education achievement, Dinwiddie said.
Future studies will examine what types of diseasesare more common in black immigrant populations and how allostatic load affects them, Dinwiddie said.
Ruth Zambrana, a women’s studies professor familiar with the study, said the research used national data to work toward a better understanding of health in minority groups.
“It is a thoughtful analysis of national data that is inclusive of socioeconomic status as measured by education in further understanding of the benefits of education on health outcome,” Zambrana said. “Not unexpectedly, college education does not confer better health on blacks as it does for whites.”
Thurka Sangaramoorthy, an anthropology professor also familiar with the study, said the research is a significant contribution to understanding immigrant and minority health in the U.S.
Sangaramoorthy said it’s important to further explore issues like alienation, discrimination and poor economic and political integration to “get a holistic picture” of the well-being of black immigrants.
“Black immigrants are a severely understudied population, and their health effects are undertheorized in the current literature,” Sangaramoorthy said. “I think this study provides us with an impetus to do more work in this area.”
