University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Ticon 1, 2000 Stockton Blvd., Ste. 210, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
Public Health Rep. 2011 May-Jun;126(3):361-70. doi: 10.1177/003335491112600310.
We tested whether positive selection on childhood predictors of adult mental and physical health contributed to health advantages of Mexican-born immigrants to the United States relative to U.S.-born Mexican Americans.
We combined data from surveys conducted during 2000-2003 in Mexico and the U.S. with the same structured interview. We examined retrospective reports of childhood (i.e., < 16 years of age) predictors of adult health--education, height, childhood physical illness, childhood mental health, early substance use, and childhood adversities--as predictors of migration from Mexico to the U.S. at > or = 16 years of age. We estimated overall selection by comparing migrants to all non-migrants. We also examined selection at the family (members of families of migrants vs. members of families without a migrant) and individual (migrants vs. non-migrants within families of migrants) levels.
Distinguishing between family and individual selection revealed evidence of positive health selection that is obscured in the overall selection model. In particular, respondents in families with migrants were more likely to have > or = 12 years of education (odds ratio [OR] = 1.60) and be in the tallest height quartile (OR = 1.72) than respondents in families without migrants. At both the family and individual levels, migrants are disadvantaged on mental health profiles, including a higher prevalence of conduct problems, phobic fears, and early substance use.
Positive health selection may contribute to physical health advantages among Mexican immigrants in the U.S. relative to their U.S.-born descendants. Mental health advantages likely reflect a lower prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Mexico, rather than protective factors that distinguish migrants.
我们检验了儿童时期成年精神和身体健康预测因素的正向选择是否有助于解释墨西哥出生移民相对于美国本土墨西哥裔美国人在美国拥有健康优势的原因。
我们结合了 2000-2003 年在墨西哥和美国进行的调查数据，并使用相同的结构化访谈。我们研究了成年（即 <16 岁）健康的儿童期（即 <16 岁）预测因素的回顾性报告，这些预测因素包括教育、身高、儿童期身体疾病、儿童期心理健康、早期物质使用和儿童期逆境，以预测 16 岁及以上从墨西哥移民到美国的情况。我们通过将移民与所有非移民进行比较来估计总体选择。我们还在家庭（移民家庭的成员与没有移民的家庭的成员）和个人（移民家庭中的移民与非移民）层面上检验了选择。
区分家庭和个人选择揭示了正向健康选择的证据，而这种选择在总体选择模型中被掩盖了。特别是，与没有移民的家庭相比，移民家庭的成员更有可能接受过 > 或 = 12 年的教育（优势比 [OR] = 1.60），身高处于最高四分位数（OR = 1.72）。在家庭和个人层面上，移民在心理健康方面处于劣势，包括行为问题、恐惧症和早期物质使用的患病率较高。
正向健康选择可能有助于解释与美国本土墨西哥裔美国人相比，美国墨西哥移民在身体健康方面的优势。心理健康方面的优势可能反映了墨西哥精神疾病的患病率较低，而不是能够区分移民的保护因素。
