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Heterogeneity in the Association of Citizenship Status on Self-Rated Health Among Asians in California

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Abstract

Citizenship is considered an egalitarian legal identity but may function differently among minorities because of racial/ethnic stratification and historical context. Using Asians, I examine whether the association between citizenship and self-rated health differs by ethnicity. I examine the moderating effect of Asian ethnic group (Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and Other Asian) on citizenship and self-rated health using the 2012–2016 California Health Interview Survey (n = 11,084). Models account for demographics, socioeconomic status, healthcare, and English proficiency. Adjusting for demographics, naturalized citizens and non-citizens were statistically significantly more likely to report fair/poor health compared to U.S.-born citizens. Naturalized and non-citizen Vietnamese reported statistically significantly poorer health to all U.S.-born groups. These trends largely disappear when controlling for all covariates. Citizenship status can be useful in considering structural barriers for immigrants. Future work should interrogate the non-citizen category and why trends are seen among Vietnamese, but not others.

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California Center for Population Research, University of California, Los Angeles (P2C-HD041022).

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  1. Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, 36-071 CHS, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1772, USA

    Adrian Matias Bacong

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Table 3 Weighted multivariable ordinal logistic regression of citizenship status on the likelihood of reporting “fair” or “poor” health among Asians: 2012–2016 California Health Interview Survey (n = 11,084)
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Table 4 Weighted multivariable linear regression of citizenship status on the likelihood of reporting “fair” or “poor” health among Asians: 2012–2016 California Health Interview Survey (n = 11,084)
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Table 5 Predicted probabilities of fair or poor health by citizenship and ethnic group, 2012–2016 California Health Interview Survey (n = 11,084)
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Table 6 Bonferroni adjusted pairwise comparisons between citizenship-Asian ethnic groups, 2012–2016 California Health Interview Survey (n = 11,084)
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Bacong, A.M. Heterogeneity in the Association of Citizenship Status on Self-Rated Health Among Asians in California. J Immigrant Minority Health 23, 121–136 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-01039-w

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