Publications in this field have, in general, been based predominantly on the experiences of individual national settings. Migration, Health and Survival offers a comparative approach, bringing together leading international scholars to provide original works from the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, England and Wales, Norway, Belgium, and Italy. Variations in physical and mental health and mortality among migrants in relation to their host populations are examined and analyzed in detail, with specific discussion of: the immigrant health and mortality advantage; the healthy migrant hypothesis; migrants as vulnerable populations; the long-term effects of acculturation on health; fast epidemiological transition among migrants; and the intergenerational transmission of mortality risk. The contributions in this volume enhance the reader's understanding of immigrant health and mortality conditions across these leading countries of immigration in the western world. This is an important reference for researchers of migrant studies as well as teachers of graduate level courses in population studies and allied disciplines. Practitioners involved in the provision of health care to immigrants and refugees will further benefit from the insightful analyses
AbstractThis study looks at the relationship between unemployment, religious disintegration and suicide in Alberta during 1997–2015. Religious disintegration is operationalized as the percentage of population with no religious affiliation. Economic theory predicts suicides increase when unemployment rates are high and decline when unemployment rates are low. Sociological theory calls for suicides to vary inversely with the degree of religious integration in society. Multivariate analysis supports both economic and sociological interpretations. In Alberta, periods of rising unemployment (recessions) produce more suicides, and increased levels of religious disintegration are positively associated with the incidence of voluntary deaths.
Cette recherche examine les changements de la fécondité au Canada de 1947 à 2011 sous la lentille de propositions tirées de théories sociologiques et économiques des tendances de la fécondité de l'après-guerre dans les sociétés postindustrielles et retient deux questions principales. Dans la perspective économique, l'étude discute du rôle qu'ont le revenu moyen des hommes et les opportunités économiques des femmes (un facteur composé du revenu salarial moyen des femmes et de l'emploi des femmes) dans l'explication de la variation globale de la fécondité au cours de cette période de 65 ans. D'un point de vue sociologique, l'étude explore l'effet de la sécularisation (indice basé sur le pourcentage de la population ne rapportant aucune affiliation religieuse) sur les fluctuations de la fécondité. Le modèle économétrique spécifié postule que l'impact de ces variables sur la fécondité a un décalage de deux ans. Conformément à la théorie économique, les changements dans les opportunités économiques des femmes exercent un fort effet négatif sur l'indice synthétique de fécondité tandis que le revenu des hommes a un impact positif faible. Comme le prévoient aussi les axiomes de la théorie sociologique de la modernisation, la sécularisation est inversement associée à la fécondité. Ces résultats mettent en relief l'importance combinée du changement économique et social dans l'explication de l'évolution de la fécondité d'après-guerre au Canada.
Indigenous populations in New World nations share the common experience of culture contact with outsiders and a prolonged history of prejudice and discrimination. This historical reality continues to have profound effects on their well-being, as demonstrated by their relative disadvantages in socioeconomic status on the one hand, and in their delayed demographic and epidemiological transitions on the other. In this study one aspect of aboriginals' epidemiological situation is examined: their mortality experience between the early 1980s and early 1990s. The groups studied are the Canadian Indians, the American Indians and the New Zealand Maori (data for Australian Aboriginals could not be obtained). Cause-specific death rates of these three minority groups are compared with those of their respective non-indigenous populations using multivariate log-linear competing risks models. The empirical results are consistent with the proposition that the contemporary mortality conditions of these three minorities reflect, in varying degrees, problems associated with poverty, marginalization and social disorganization. Of the three minority groups, the Canadian Indians appear to suffer more from these types of conditions, and the Maori the least.
Dans cette étude prospective, j'examine les différences de mortalité par rapport à létat civil chez sept groupes d'immigrants et les habitants nés au Canada. On croit que le lieu de naissance influe sur ce rapport par son association avec le choix de migration et avec la structure familiale. Puisque la migration choisit les individus en bonne santé, les immigrants devraient constituer une proportion saine de la population. Donc, le choix d'un époux ou d'une épouse saine devrait être d'importance secondaire dans les différences de survie parmi les étrangers célibataires ou maries. Cependant, le choix d'adhérer à l'institution matrimoniale peut être importante par rapport à la population d'origine canadienne plus grande et plus hétérogène. Quelques communautés ethniques immigrantes ont des systèmes plus complexes de rapports familiaux étendus que d'autres. D'après les principes de la théorie de la protection de la mortalité, plus grands sont les réseaux familiaux, plus petit est lécart de survie entre les individus mariés ou célibataires. Des analyses multivariées des taux de mortalité en raison d'une cause spécifique fournissent seulement une confirmation partielle pour ces rapports pour lesquels on formule une hypothèse. Les résultats des recherches les plus constants de cette étude constatent que le couple marié vit plus longtemps que les individus célibataires, que ce soient les immigrants ou les personnes originaires du Canada. Ainsi, le rapport entre l'état civil et la mortalité observéà l'échelle internationale prévaut aussi parmi les populations immigrantes et les personnes originaires du Canada. Bien que les rôles protecteurs du mariage et de la famille semblent incontestables, les données indirectes suggèrent que le choix d'un époux ou d'une épouse saine contribue aussi à la baisse des taux de mortalité des couples maries.
Dans cette étude prospective, j'examine les différences de mortalité par rapport à l'état civil chez sept groupes d'immigrants et les habitants nés au Canada. On croit que le lieu de naissance influe sur ce rapport par son association avec le choix de migration et avec la structure familiale. Puisque la migration choisit les individus en bonne santé, les immigrants devraient constituer une proportion saine de la population. Donc, le choix d'un époux ou d'une épouse saine devrait être d'importance secondaire dans les différences de survie parmi les étrangers célibataires ou mariés. Cependant, le choix d'adhérer à l'institution matrimoniale peut être importante par rapport à la population d'origine canadienne plus grande et plus hétérogène. Quelques communautés ethniques immigrantes ont des systèmes plus complexes de rapports familiaux étendus que d'autres. D'après les principes de la théorie de la protection de la mortalité, plus grands sont les réseaux familiaux, plus petit est l'écart de survie entre les individus mariés ou célibataires. Des analyses multivariées des taux de mortalité en raison d'une cause spécifique fournissent seulement une confirmation partielle pour ces rapports pour lesquels on formule une hypothèse. Les résultats des recherches les plus constants de cette étude constatent que le couple marié vit plus longtemps que les individus célibataires, que ce soient les immigrants ou les personnes originaires du Canada. Ainsi, le rapport entre l'état civil et la mortalité observéà l'échelle internationale prévaut aussi parmi les populations immigrantes et les personnes originaires du Canada. Bien que les roles protecteurs du mariage et de la famille semblent incontestables, les données indirectes suggèrent que le choix d'un époux ou d'une épouse saine contribue aussi à la baisse des taux de mortalité des couples mariés.In this exploratory study I examine mortality differences by marital status across seven immigrant groups and the Canadian‐born population. Nativity is thought to condition this relationship through its association with migration selection and family structure. Since migration is selective of healthy persons, immigrants should constitute a relatively healthy subset of the population. Therefore, health selection into marriage should be of secondary importance in differentiating survival differences between single and married foreign‐born persons. However, selectivity into the marital institution may be important within the larger and more heterogeneous Canadian‐born population. Some immigrant ethnic communities have more complex systems of extended kin relations than others. Based on the postulates of the protection theory of mortality, the more extensive the family network, the smaller should be the survival gap between married and non‐married persons. Multivariate analyses of cause‐specific death rates provide only partial confirmation for these hypothesized relationships. The most consistent finding in this study is that for both immigrants and the Canadian‐born, married persons enjoy lower levels of mortality than either single or unmarried individuals. Thus, the marital status and mortality relationship observed in the international setting also prevails among immigrant and native‐born populations in Canada. Although the protective roles of marriage and family on mortality seem undeniable, indirect evidence suggests that health selection into marriage also contributes to the lower death rates of married people.
This analysis extends earlier research concerning the protective role of marriage in people's lives. An important aspect of this general phenomenon pertains to the differential protection marriage engenders for the sexes. It is hypothesized that being married as opposed to unmarried entails a lower risk of suicide, and that marital status transitions from an unmarried state (e.g., single, widowed, divorced) to the married state entail a greater benefit for men than for women. This hypothesis is largely supported by an analysis of Canadian data covering four decades (from 1951 to 1981). Using a standardization procedure, it was discovered that a transition from single or widowed to married would entail a greater reduction in suicide risk for men than for women. In the case of a transition from divorced to married status, both sexes would benefit equally in reducing suicide potential. The analysis further demonstrates only weak support for the thesis that over time there would be a convergence in sex differences in the potential protective significance of marriage in reducing suicide risk.
This study concerns itself with the relationship between nativity, language affiliation, and interurban mobility in Canada during the intercensal period 1976–81. Three hypotheses are evaluated: a) the urban/ethnic affinity thesis predicts that international immigrants share strong preferences for settling in and relocating toward large urban centers where established ethnic communities exist; b) the sociocultural explanation of mobility posits that variations in the propensity to relocate are a function of nativity and language; and c) the heterogeneity explanation predicts that interurban mobility flows ultimately serve to increase rather than decrease linguistic heterogeneity in large urban areas. A series of crosstabular and logistic regression analyses provide support for all three hypotheses. Theoretical and policy oriented implications are discussed in the context of ethnic community survival in urban Canada.
A neglected area of sociological investigation is the relationship between ethnic factors and suicide mortality. This paper explores this topic among immigrant-ethnic groups in Canada. Three hypotheses are evaluated: (1) the assimilation thesis, which posits that the greater the degree of social assimilation among immigrant-ethnic groups, the greater the suicide rate; (2) the ethnic community integration explanation, which predicts that ethnic groups with strong degrees of community cohesiveness share reduced odds in their incidence of suicide; and (3) the socioeconomic hypothesis, which accounts for observed differences in suicide on the basis of discrepancies in socioeconomic well-being. The results of a multiple regression analysis provide empirical support for hypotheses (1) and (2). The findings are discussed in the con text of multiculturalism and the propensities for sociocultural groups to commit suicide dur ing the processes of assimilation and adjustment to the larger society.
