Journal article
Physical Health Among Black Immigrants by Region of Birth: A Test of the Racial Context Hypothesis
Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities
03 Oct 2024
PMID: 39361123
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
We test the Racial Context Hypothesis by examining the association between racial context of origin and five physical health outcomes (self-rated health, activity limitation, functional activity limitation, lifetime hypertension, and lifetime cancer) among U.S.-born Black Americans and Black immigrants in the United States.
This cross-sectional study used 2000 through 2018 waves of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Our subsample was limited to adults 18 years of age or older who self-identified as Black and selected a distinct global region of birth if not U.S. born (N = 212,269). We employed zero-order logistic regression models to estimate the relationships between each measure of health and racial context by region of birth.
Supporting the Racial Context Hypothesis, we found Black immigrants from racially mixed (Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, South America) and majority-Black contexts (Africa) had lower odds of being in fair or poor self-rated health [aOR 0.786; 0.616; 0.611], reporting any activity limitation [aOR = 0.537; 0.369; 0.678], reporting functional activity limitation [aOR 0.619; 0.425; 0.678], reporting lifetime hypertension diagnosis [aOR 0.596; 0.543; 0.618], and reporting lifetime cancer diagnosis [aOR 0.771; 0.326; 0.641] compared to U.S.-born Black Americans. After controlling for sociodemographic and socioeconomic covariates, Black immigrants from majority-White contexts (Europe) did not significantly differ from U.S.-born Black Americans on these five physical health measures.
This study expands our understanding of the "Black immigrant advantage" by showing that Black immigrants from predominantly Black and racially mixed regions rated their health status as poor or fair less often, experienced less activity or functional activity limitations, and had a lower risk of lifetime hypertension and cancer compared to U.S.-born Black Americans. The significant associations persisted even after controlling for sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Black immigrant health is not homogenous, and the racial context of origin Black immigrants come from has an association with their health outcomes.
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Details
- Title
- Physical Health Among Black Immigrants by Region of Birth: A Test of the Racial Context Hypothesis
- Creators
- Oluwaseun T Emoruwa - University of Alabama at BirminghamGabe H Miller - University of Alabama at BirminghamGbenga I Elufisan - Mississippi State UniversityGuadalupe Marquez-Velarde - Utah State UniversityDavid Ademule - Mississippi State UniversityHannah M Lindl - University of Alabama at BirminghamOlusola A Omisakin - Pennsylvania State UniversityGuizhen Ma - Delta State UniversityStephanie M Hernandez - Drexel UniversityVerna M Keith - University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Publication Details
- Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities
- Publisher
- SPRINGER INT PUBL AG; CHAM
- Number of pages
- 12
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001325691000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85205568346
- Other Identifier
- 991021910315304721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health