Studies of U.S.-based health survey data (that typically ignore immigrant legal status) consistently find evidence of a health paradox wherein Mexican immigrants, despite their generally poor socioeconomic standing, experience more favorable health outcomes and behaviors than the native-born. Various explanations have been posited to explain this pattern, including the “salmon bias” perspective which argues that unhealthy and infirm Mexicans immigrants may be likely to return to Mexico, leaving healthier immigrants behind. However, almost no research to date has examined this process, especially among unauthorized migrants. We propose to do just that through a mixed-methods study (survey + follow-up interviews) of adult return migrants and non-migrants living in an area of Mexico where a high proportion of residents migrate to the U.S, often to work in the roofing industry. We see this as pilot data, conducted solely in Mexico, as we plan to use the findings from this project to support a larger bi-national grant proposal (that we will submit for external funding) to explore how health status and medical care use of Mexican immigrants varies by stage of migration and settlement process.
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