Abstract
Relative to socially privileged groups, socially marginalized people experience weaker health effects of household income and other economic resources, a pattern known as Minorities' Diminished Returns (MDRs). These MDRs are frequently seen in racial and ethnic minorities, but less is known about the relevance of such MDRs in immigrant families. To investigate the MDRs of household income on children's depression as a function of immigration, we compared non-immigrant and immigrant children for the effect of household income on children's depressive symptoms. This cross-sectional study was conducted across multiple cities in the United States. Baseline data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study collected in 2018 was used. A total of 6,412 children between the ages of 9-10-year-old were included. The predictor variable was household income. The primary outcome was children's depression measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Race, ethnicity, age, sex, parental marital status, parental employment, and financial difficulties were the covariates. Immigration status was the effect modifier. Overall, high household income was associated with lower children's depressive symptoms. Immigration status showed a statistically significant interaction with household income on children's depression. This interaction term suggested that high household income has a smaller protective effect against depression for immigrant children than non-immigrant children. The protective effect of household income against children's depression is diminished for immigrant than non-immigrant children.
Highlights
Relative to socially privileged groups, socially marginalized people experience weaker health effects of household income and other economic resources, a pattern known as Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs)
We performed a secondary analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) wave 1 data.[60,61,62,63,64]
Due to existing MDRs, immigrants are at a relative disadvantage regarding the degree by which their economic resources generate health
Summary
Relative to socially privileged groups, socially marginalized people experience weaker health effects of household income and other economic resources, a pattern known as Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs). There is a close association between social marginalization and household income.[11,12,13] Social marginalization, immigration status, and household income all have separate, combined, and multiplicative effects on children’s developmental outcomes.[11,12,13] This is mainly because both low household income and marginalized social identities are commonly associated with economic adversities, stress, trauma, stigma, and prejudice.[14,15,16,17] Among the strongest social determinants of children’s developmental outcomes is household income, a major family economic indicator.[18,19,20,21] Regardless of the domain, many studies have documented a link between low household income and associated poverty and financial distress as major risk factors of behavioral problems and poor health.[22,23,24] High household income, commonly measured by parental educational attainment, is linked to a variety of family economic indicators, such as employment, wealth, and marital status, all of which positively influence children’s mental health.[18,19,20,21] Parents with large economic resources can afford to put in higher investment and greater involvement in the lives of their children.[25,26,27] In addition, children from high socioeconomic status (SES) families are sent to better
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