Adding Nativity, Citizenship, and Immigration Status to Health Monitoring and Survey Data

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2025

Journal Title

American Journal of Public Health

ISSN

0090-0036

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2024.307867

Abstract

Immigration status and related policies have a significant impact on health outcomes. Yet major national health surveys currently provide little or no information about immigration status, rendering subgroups of noncitizens largely invisible. Even measures of citizenship, nativity, country of birth, and years in the United States, which provide critical information about immigration history, are not consistently included in national data sets.

The main objections to asking directly about immigration status are that (1) such questions are too stigmatizing, risking lower response rates and inaccurate responses; and (2) answering the questions may expose respondents to possible immigration or criminal consequences. Our analysis shows that these objections are unfounded or can be mitigated.

National health surveys have evolved over the past decades to include questions about mental health, substance use, sexual orientation, and gender identity—topics once assumed to be too stigmatizing to ask about, with possible negative legal consequences. We argue that the time has come to obtain more detailed information about immigration status as well as to consistently include the measures of immigration history mentioned so that we can better evaluate the health consequences of immigrant-related policy choices.

First Page

75

Last Page

82

Num Pages

8

Volume Number

115

Issue Number

1

Publisher

American Public Health Association

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