Volume 75, Issue 12, December 2012, Pages 2099–2106
Part Special Issue: Place, migration & health
Abstract
Explanations
for immigrant health outcomes often invoke culture through the use of
the concept of acculturation. The over reliance on cultural explanations
for immigrant health outcomes has been the topic of growing debate,
with the critics’ main concern being that such explanations obscure the
impact of structural factors on immigrant health disparities. In this
paper, we highlight the shortcomings of cultural explanations as
currently employed in the health literature, and argue for a shift from
individual culture-based frameworks, to perspectives that address how
multiple dimensions of inequality intersect to impact health outcomes.
Based on our review of the literature, we suggest specific lines of
inquiry regarding immigrants’ experiences with day-to-day
discrimination, as well as on the roles that place and immigration
policies play in shaping immigrant health outcomes. The paper concludes
with suggestions for integrating intersectionality theory in future
research on immigrant health.
Highlights
►
Cultural explanations for immigrant health outcomes obscure the impact
of structural factors on immigrant health. ► A stronger emphasis on how
place, racialization processes, and immigration policies impact
immigrant health is necessary. ► We recommend an intersectional approach
to the study of immigrant health. ► We suggest specific lines of
inquiry regarding immigrants' experiences with racism and anti-immigrant
policies, and their health impact. ► Interpreting available
immigration-related measures requires fuller theorizing as to their
context-specific meaning.
Keywords
- USA;
- Immigrant health;
- Acculturation;
- Discrimination;
- Racialization processes;
- Racism;
- Intersectionality theory;
- Immigration policies
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
