Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Finance and Public Administrative School, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, #962 Caoshan Road, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, 233000, China.
Soc Sci Med. 2014 Feb;102:41-8. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.040. Epub 2013 Nov 28.
The existing literature has often underscored the "healthy migrant" effect and the "salmon bias" in understanding the health of migrants. Nevertheless, direct evidence for these two hypotheses, particularly the "salmon bias," is limited. Using data from a national longitudinal survey conducted between 2003 and 2007 in China, we provide tests of these hypotheses in the case of internal migration in China. To examine the healthy migrant effect, we study how pre-migration self-reported health is associated with an individual's decision to migrate and the distance of migration. To test the salmon bias hypothesis, we compare the self-reported health of migrants who stay in destinations and who return or move closer to home villages. The results provide support for both hypotheses. Specifically, healthier individuals are more likely to migrate and to move further away from home. Among migrants, those with poorer health are more likely to return or to move closer to their origin communities.
现有文献常常强调“健康移民”效应和“三文鱼偏差”在理解移民健康方面的作用。然而，这两个假说的直接证据，尤其是“三文鱼偏差”的证据有限。利用 2003 年至 2007 年在中国进行的一项全国性纵向调查的数据，我们在中国内部移民的情况下对这些假说进行了检验。为了检验“健康移民”效应，我们研究了移民前的自我报告健康状况与个人移民决策以及移民距离之间的关系。为了检验“三文鱼偏差”假说，我们比较了留在目的地的移民和返回或更接近原籍社区的移民的自我报告健康状况。结果支持这两个假说。具体而言，健康状况较好的人更有可能移民，并且移民的距离更远。在移民中，健康状况较差的人更有可能返回或更接近他们的原籍社区。
