Psychological distress in middle eastern immigrants to the United States: A challenge to the healthy migrant model?

Abstract

Research has documented a robust mental health advantage among Asian and Latino immigrants to the United States relative to the native-born. The current investigation extended this line of research, asking whether Middle Eastern immigrants to the United States enjoy a similar mental health advantage. Drawing on pooled cross-sections from the 2007-2018 National Health Interview Surveys, we used OLS regression to examine psychological distress in Middle Eastern immigrants relative to both native-born Whites and immigrants from other global regions. We used statistical interactions to assess whether gender and period differences are contingent on region of birth. Findings reveal that the average level of psychological distress is higher among Middle Eastern immigrants than among both U.S.-born Whites and immigrants from other regions. Despite changing circumstances of migration for Middle Easterners and implementation in the United States of anti-immigrant policies, we see no evidence that distress increased more among immigrants compared to native-born Whites. Results point to greater psychological distress among Middle Eastern women than their native-born White counterparts and women from other immigrant groups, as well as Middle Eastern men. In contrast, psychological distress levels for Middle Eastern and native-born White men were indistinguishable, suggesting that the Middle Eastern mental health disadvantage in the United States is borne solely by women. Results show that the mental health advantage enjoyed by some immigrant groups does not extend to Middle Eastern women, contradicting the healthy migrant model and challenging the assumption of a uniform mental health advantage across immigrant groups.