IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/334399.html

Explaining immigrant–native differences in health at birth: The role of immigrant selectivity in Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Ferrara, Alessandro
  • Cozzani, Marco

Abstract

Evidence shows that immigrants are often in better health than the native born-the so-called 'immigrant health paradox'-and this advantage may extend to their children's health. A commonly cited but rarely tested explanation is the 'selectivity hypothesis', positing that immigrants are healthier due to selection at origin based on health or socio-economic status (SES). Using 2007-19 Spanish birth registries, we investigate immigrant-native gaps in health at birth and whether they are explained by immigrants' educational selectivity. We find that babies born to immigrants are less likely to be low birthweight (LBW) but are disadvantaged in terms of macrosomia and gestational age. Selectivity is associated with reduced LBW even after accounting for parental SES, explaining the lower risk among children of Northern African and Latin American immigrants but not across other parental country-of-birth groups. Selectivity is not associated with other birth outcomes. We confirm the selectivity hypothesis but question its universality across groups and health outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferrara, Alessandro & Cozzani, Marco, 2025. "Explaining immigrant–native differences in health at birth: The role of immigrant selectivity in Spain," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-18.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:334399
    DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2025.2481953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/334399/1/Full-text-article-Ferrara-Cozzani-Explaining-immigrant-native.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00324728.2025.2481953?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Teitler, Julien O. & Hutto, Nathan & Reichman, Nancy E., 2012. "Birthweight of children of immigrants by maternal duration of residence in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 459-468.
    2. Jose N. Martinez & Ernesto Aguayo-Tellez & Erick Rangel-Gonzalez, 2015. "Explaining the Mexican-American Health Paradox Using Selectivity Effects," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 878-906, December.
    3. Ferrara, Alessandro & Luthra, Renee, 2024. "Explaining the attainment of the second-generation: When does parental relative education matter?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 120, pages 1-18.
    4. repec:sae:mrxval:v:49:y:2015:i:4:p:878-906 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Fernando Riosmena & Randall Kuhn & Warren C. Jochem, 2017. "Explaining the Immigrant Health Advantage: Self-selection and Protection in Health-Related Factors Among Five Major National-Origin Immigrant Groups in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 175-200, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fernando Riosmena & Randall Kuhn & Warren C. Jochem, 2017. "Explaining the Immigrant Health Advantage: Self-selection and Protection in Health-Related Factors Among Five Major National-Origin Immigrant Groups in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 175-200, February.
    2. Paglino, Eugenio & Elo, Irma T., 2025. "US-born and foreign-born life expectancy by race and Hispanic origin before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 380(C).
    3. Cassie McMillan, 2019. "Tied Together: Adolescent Friendship Networks, Immigrant Status, and Health Outcomes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(3), pages 1075-1103, June.
    4. Juárez, Sol P. & Hjern, Anders, 2017. "The weight of inequalities: Duration of residence and offspring's birthweight among migrant mothers in Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 81-90.
    5. Touma, Fatima & Hummer, Robert A., 2022. "Race/ethnicity, immigrant generation, and physiological dysregulation among U.S. adults entering midlife," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    6. Morey, Brittany N. & Garcia, Samantha & Lin, Katherine & Canchola, Alison J. & Alexeeff, Stacey E. & Kurtovich, Elaine M. & Uong, Stephen & Aoki, Rhonda-Lee F. & Guan, Alice & Torres, Jacqueline M. & , 2024. "A validation study for measuring Asian- and Hispanic-serving sociocultural institutions in neighborhoods using business listing data and potential implications for health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    7. Bonner Septien, Ana Paula & Nagoshi, Kira & Lundberg, Emily & Fogarty, Brendan & Barrand, Kate & Stolbach, Deborah & Tiemeier, Henning, 2024. "Trajectories of early childhood development in children experiencing homelessness," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    8. Mohamed Ismail, 2023. "The Effect of Social Contacts on the Uptake of Health Innovations among Older Ethnic Minorities in the UK: A Mixed Methods Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Eleonora Trappolini & Cristina Giudici, 2021. "Gendering health differences between nonmigrants and migrants by duration of stay in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(7), pages 221-258.
    10. Martinson, Melissa L. & Tienda, Marta & Teitler, Julien O., 2017. "Low birthweight among immigrants in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 168-176.
    11. Jonas Kinge & Tom Kornstad, 2014. "Assimilation effects on infant mortality among immigrants in Norway: Does maternal source country matter?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(26), pages 779-812.
    12. Reynolds, Megan M. & Chernenko, Alla & Read, Jen'nan Ghazal, 2016. "Region of origin diversity in immigrant health: Moving beyond the Mexican case," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 102-109.
    13. Michael B. Aguilera, 2024. "The Impact of Migration on Smoking among Colombian Migrants," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, October.
    14. Joshua Wassink, 2018. "Uninsured migrants: Health insurance coverage and access to care among Mexican return migrants," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(17), pages 401-428.
    15. Tiffany Green, 2014. "Hispanic Self-identification and Birth Weight Outcomes among U.S.- and Foreign-born Blacks," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 41(3), pages 319-336, September.
    16. Sarah Miller & Laura Wherry & Gloria Aldana, 2022. "Covering Undocumented Immigrants: The Effects of a Large-Scale Prenatal Care Intervention," NBER Working Papers 30299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Christina J. Diaz & Liwen Zeng & Ana P. Martinez-Donate, 2018. "Investigating Health Selection Within Mexico and Across the US Border," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(2), pages 181-204, April.
    18. Renee Luthra & Lucinda Platt, 2021. "Are UK immigrants selected on education, skills, health and social networks?," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2103, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    19. Su Y. Jang & Anna Oksuzyan & Frank J. van Lenthe & Mikko Myrskylä & Silvia Loi, 2024. "Living arrangements and chronic disease accumulation among native-born and immigrant older adults in Europe," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2024-032, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    20. Antonio Fidalgo & Alberto Holly & Marco Pecoraro & Philippe Wanner, 2016. "A nonparametric analysis of the healthy immigrant effect," IRENE Working Papers 16-15, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:334399. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.