School of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore, 525 W. Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA.
School of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore, 525 W. Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Mar;273:113737. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113737. Epub 2021 Jan 30.
Despite a well-documented relationship between social isolation and health among men, this link has been understudied among marginalized populations such as undocumented immigrant men whose structural social exclusion may impede the cultivation and maintenance of social connections in the United States. This may be particularly so in new immigrant settlement cities that may lack an established Latina/o community or the social infrastructure often needed to ease the process of social integration. Studies that have examined social disconnectedness, social isolation, and/or loneliness have largely focused on individual level factors (i.e., older age) that may precipitate or contextualize experiences of social isolation, social support and social networks. Missing from such conceptualizations is a consideration of the role of structural factors, such as "illegality" among undocumented immigrant men, on experiences of social disconnection, social exclusion, social isolation and loneliness and resultant adverse health behaviors. This study, through in-depth qualitative participant narratives, explores the social condition of one group of "illegal" immigrant men, Latino immigrant day laborers (LIDL), and their experiences of social exclusion, social isolation, loneliness and health in the new immigrant settlement city of Baltimore. Using an ethnographic methodological approach, eight focus groups (N = 37) were conducted with participants recruited from two day labor sites from 2016 to 2019. Thematic analysis revealed a structural process of social exclusion and disconnection that exposed LIDLs to experiences of racism, structural vulnerability, and dehumanization which in turn may have heightened social isolation and loneliness and patterned substance use and sexual risk taking. Findings further emphasize the potential conceptual significance of structurally induced social disconnection, as distinct from lack of social support, in the study of LIDLs' social isolation, loneliness and health.
尽管社会隔离与男性健康之间存在着有据可查的关系，但在一些边缘化群体中，这一联系尚未得到充分研究，例如无证移民男性，他们的结构性社会排斥可能阻碍了在美国建立和维持社会关系。在新移民定居城市中，这种情况可能更为突出，因为这些城市可能缺乏已有的拉丁裔社区，或者缺乏通常有助于促进社会融合的社会基础设施。那些研究过社会脱节、社会隔离和/或孤独感的研究主要集中在个体层面的因素（例如年龄较大）上，这些因素可能会引发或使社会隔离、社会支持和社交网络的体验具体化。在这些概念化中，缺少对结构性因素的考虑，例如无证移民男性的“非法性”，这些因素会影响到社会脱节、社会排斥、社会隔离和孤独感以及由此产生的不良健康行为的体验。本研究通过深入的定性参与者叙述，探讨了一个“非法”移民男性群体——拉丁裔移民日工（LIDL）的社会状况，以及他们在新移民定居城市巴尔的摩所经历的社会排斥、社会隔离、孤独和健康状况。本研究采用民族志方法学方法，于 2016 年至 2019 年期间，从两个日工场所招募参与者，进行了八次焦点小组讨论（N=37）。主题分析揭示了一种社会排斥和脱节的结构性过程，这种过程使 LIDL 面临种族主义、结构性脆弱性和非人性化的经历，这反过来可能加剧了社会隔离和孤独感，并形成了物质使用和性风险行为的模式。研究结果进一步强调了在研究 LIDL 的社会隔离、孤独和健康状况时，结构性导致的社会脱节与缺乏社会支持之间的潜在概念意义。
