Latinos' connections to immigrants: how knowing a deportee impacts Latino health. Issue 15 (18th November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vargas, Edward D.; Juárez, Melina; Sanchez, Gabriel R.; Livaudais, Maria
• Is Part Of: Journal of ethnic and migration studies. Volume 45:Issue 15(2019)
• Page Start: 2971
• Page End: 2988
• Publication Date: 2019-11-18
• Subjects: Health disparities -- mental health -- deportations -- Latino populations -- survey research; Ethnic relations -- Periodicals; Race relations -- Periodicals; Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Assimilation (Sociology) -- Periodicals; 305.8005
• DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1447365
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-183X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This manuscript examines how personally knowing a deportee and/or undocumented immigrant affects the mental health of Latina/o adults. Utilising a new survey sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico ( n = 1493), we estimate a series of logistic regressions to understand how personal connections to immigrants are affecting the mental health of Latinos using stress process theory. Our modelling approach takes into consideration the sociopolitical, familial, cultural, and personal contexts that make up the Latina/o experience, which is widely overlooked in datasets that treat Latinos as a homogeneous ethnic group. Our findings suggest that knowing a deportee increases the odds of having to seek help for mental health problems. The significance of this work has tremendous implications for policy makers, health service providers, and researchers interested in reducing health disparities among minority populations especially under a new administration, which has adopted more punitive immigration policies and enforcement.