Does Americanization Have Adverse Effects on Health?: Stress, Health Habits, and Infant Health Outcomes among Puerto Ricans

Abstract

Generational differences in the social circumstances, health habits, and infant health outcomes of Puerto Rican women are examined using recently collected data from the Puerto Rican Maternal and Infant Health Study. The results show that recent migrants to the U.S. mainland experiencefewer stressful life events and are less likely to engage in negative health behaviors durtingpregnancy than U.S.-born Puerto Rican women. Recent migrants also exhibit better infant health outcomes than childhood migrants and U.S.born women. Riskfactors (e.g., low hunman capital, meagerfinancial resources, and residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods) andprotectivefactors (e.g., strongfamily support and a Latino cultural orientation) identified in theories of segmented assimilation are related to the outcomes examined but cannot explain the generational differences that are documented. The study of how immigrants to the U.S. and their descendants become incorporated into American society has long been guided by assimilation theory (Gordon 1964; Park 1950; Park & Burgess 1921), which has recently reemerged as a topic of intense debate among scholars of ethnic relations. The classic assimilation perspective proposes that as immigrants spend time in the U.S. they gradually replace their old cultural and behavioral patterns with those of the