ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2017
Immigration policies and mental health morbidity among Latinos: A state-level analysis.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 128 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
128 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A research agenda for understanding how social inequality is linked to brain structure and function.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- Structural interventions that affect racial inequities and their impact on population health outcomes: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among African American and Hispanic Adolescents and Young Adults: a Systematic Review.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2021Pooled it
- The adverse health effects of punitive immigrant policies in the United States: A systematic review.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Suicide risk around the world: a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of non-health-targeted policies on migrant health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet. Global health · 2019Pooled it
- Family immigration status and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in Latino adolescents in California.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Mapping the Legal Landscape From 2000 to 2021: State Sanctuary and Antisanctuary Policies, Local Sanctuary Ordinances, and 287(g) Agreements.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- State sanctuary policies and the immigration enforcement activities across US counties: implications for population health.Health affairs scholar · 2026Article
- The Persistent Health Care Gap for Undocumented Children.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Immigration Policies as Social Determinants of Health Among International Students in the United States.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Family cohesion and cultural socialization as buffers of the association between discrimination and internalizing symptoms across adolescence.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Restrictive abortion policy climate is associated with increased depression symptoms among women in the United States: Findings from a 25-year longitudinal study.SSM. Mental health · 2026Article
- U.S. policy research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, 1993-2024.Health affairs scholar · 2026Article
- Mental Health Treatment Utilization Among Hispanic and Latino Adults in the United States: The Role of Immigration Status, Acculturation, and Socioeconomic Disadvantage.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Mediating mechanisms in the discrimination - Mental health link among Mexican-origin adolescents: A latent growth curve mediation analysis.Development and psychopathology · 2026Article
- Insufficient: A scoping review of structural racism and intimate partner violence in US-based immigrant communities of color.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Heat-related illness symptoms and mental health in Florida farmworkers.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The intersectional structural violence that Latinx health students are experiencing and its consequences.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Article
68 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleDespite abundant state-level policy activity in the U.S. related to immigration, no research has examined the mental health impact of the overall policy climate for Latinos, taking into account both inclusionary and exclusionary legislation.
objectiveTo examine associations between the state-level policy climate related to immigration and mental health outcomes among Latinos.
methodsWe created a multi-sectoral policy climate index that included 14 policies in four domains (immigration, race/ethnicity, language, and agricultural worker protections). We then examined the relation of this policy climate index to two mental health outcomes (days of poor mental health and psychological distress) among Latinos from 31 states in the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a population-based health survey of non-institutionalized individuals aged 18 years or older.
resultsIndividuals in states with a more exclusionary immigration policy climate had higher rates of poor mental health days than participants in states with a less exclusionary policy climate (RR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.10). The association between state policies and the rate of poor mental health days was significantly higher among Latinos versus non-Latinos (RR for interaction term: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.06). Furthermore, Latinos in states with a more exclusionary policy climate had 1.14 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.25) times the rate of poor mental health days than Latinos in states with a less exclusionary policy climate. Results were robust to individual- and state-level confounders. Sensitivity analyses indicated that results were specific to immigration policies, and not indicators of state political climate or of residential segregation. No relationship was observed between the immigration policy index and psychological distress.
conclusionThese results suggest that restrictive immigration policies may be detrimental to the mental health of Latinos in the United States.
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