Does Place Matter? Dietary Change Among Immigrants to the US

Objectives On average, U.S. immigrants experience increases in body mass during their time in the country. These changes are related to important shifts in diet post immigration but could also continue to be influenced by sending-area environments. We assess the level of variance in dietary change that is attributable to country of origin and U.S. state of residence-level factors. Methods Using longitudinal data on three measures of dietary change from the nationally-representative New Immigrant Survey (n = 7930), we use cross-classified multilevel models to test what proportion of the variance in dietary change is attributable to country of origin vs. U.S. state of residence. The three measures of dietary change are degree of change (1–10); whether any foods from the home country were abandoned; whether any new foods were adopted in the U.S. Results When foreign-born individuals received legal permanent resident status (+/− 8 years after arriving in the U.S.), country of origin explained 6% of individual variation in diet (a moderate but nontrivial amount), with state of residence explaining a much smaller amount of variance at 1.6%. Interesting, the interaction of country of origin and state of residence explained an additional 1.4%, suggesting that the context in which immigrants are “received” varies in some important ways across people of different national origins to shape dietary changes. When adding covariates at country or U.S. state level to explain the variance at these scales, higher availability of sweets in the country of origin and U.S. state levels of obesity were particularly important variables predicting dietary change. Conclusions While “new” obesogenic and broader nutritional environments the foreign-born are exposed to after immigration may indeed have an impact on nutritional outcomes, “old” environments may continue to leave a mark on people's dietary choices, and further shape the way in which new environments affect people's dietary change. Funding Sources Research reported in this presentation was supported in part by the NIDDK of the NIH under Award Number R01DK115937. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

From “Migrant” to “Citizen”: Labor Market Integration of Former Live-In Caregivers in Canada

This study examines the impact of attaining permanent resident status on the employment integration of migrant caregivers in Canada. The authors use survey data from 631 caregivers who arrived as migrants under a temporary foreign worker program before transitioning to permanent residency, as well as data from 47 focus group discussions. The authors find that although most caregivers do switch out of caregiving work over time, they often remain within a few, lower-skilled occupations. Postsecondary education acquired before migration has no impact on occupational mobility. Caregivers’ lack of financial stability and the stigmatization of their employment experience often constrain their labor market options; moreover, an emotional bond and sense of obligation toward employers often hinder their ability to move out into other occupations, even after receiving legal permanent resident status. From the empirical results, the authors provide theoretical insights into the complex relationship between immigration patterns and labor markets.