The impact of pre-migration and post-migration socioeconomic status and social integration on immigrant health

This paper expands the social determinants of health (SDH) framework to a cross-national perspective, and examines the social patterning of self-rated health among immigrant women. Using social survey from South Korea, I focus on the three largest ethnicities of immigrant women who are marriage migrants: Korean Chinese (N=24,561), Vietnamese (N=19,363), and Han Chinese (N=9,294). The results indicate that the effects of pre- and post-migration SES on immigrant health differ and are influenced by the SES-health relationships in sending societies. Regarding the effects of social exclusion on immigrant health, having better social relationships with native Koreans is significantly associated with better health among immigrants after controlling for covariates; however, having better social relationships with co-ethnic network reveals a negative association, which is only observed among Vietnamese. Furthermore, ethnicity-specific barriers to social integration and better health were identified by demonstrating the magnitude of intra- and inter-group differences. To conclude, research concerning health consequences of immigration should consider the developmental contexts of different sending societies and incorporate a gender perspective, which also deserves further attention from immigrant integration and health policymakers.