Historical Changes in Self-Rated Health, Memory, and Depressive Symptoms Among Immigrants in the United States

TL;DR

The study finds that recent immigrant cohorts in the U.S. have better self-rated health and lower depressive symptoms compared to earlier-born peers, contrasting broader U.S. population trends.

Contribution

This study uniquely examines historical health trends among immigrant cohorts and identifies moderating factors like education and race.

Findings

Historical improvements in self-rated health were observed across immigrant birth cohorts.

Depressive symptoms decreased historically among successive immigrant cohorts.

Education moderated the historical decline in depressive symptoms among immigrants.

Abstract

Empirical evidence has documented historical declines in midlife health, well-being, and cognition, whereas historical improvements have been observed among older adults in the U.S. Less is known about whether recent cohorts of immigrants are doing better or worse than their earlier-born peers and how this relates to broader trends that have been transpiring in the U.S. We examined whether self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and memory have changed across cohorts of middle-aged and older adult immigrants living in the U.S. We also explored the moderating role of gender, race, education, and age at immigration. Multilevel models were applied to longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine historical changes in trajectories of self-rated health, episodic memory, and depressive symptoms among immigrants (N = 5,131, 57% women, birth year: M = 1945, range: 1890 to 1973) in midlife and old age. Historical improvements in self-rated health, historical stability in episodic memory, and historical decreases in depressive symptoms were observed across birth cohorts of immigrants in midlife and old age. Race and education moderated historical change. For example, attaining more years of education was associated with less strong historical decreases in depressive symptoms among successive cohorts. Our findings contrast the broader trends observed in the U.S. population; successive cohorts of immigrants demonstrated improvements in each of the included outcomes. Our discussion focuses on potential explanations for these trends, such as migration selectivity, the consideration of the historical context in our understanding of immigrant health, and the protective effects of cultural assets.