AJPH
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (29)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Beiser, M.
Right arrow Articles by Tousignant, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Beiser, M.
Right arrow Articles by Tousignant, M.
Related Collections
Right arrow Family Health
Right arrow Mental Health
Right arrow Other Race/Ethnicity
Right arrow Socioeconomic Factors
Right arrow Immigration
Right arrow Low-Income Children
February 2002, Vol 92, No. 2 | American Journal of Public Health 220-227
© 2002 American Public Health Association

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Poverty, Family Process, and the Mental Health of Immigrant Children in Canada

Morton Beiser, MD FRCPC, Feng Hou, PhD, Ilene Hyman, PhD and Michel Tousignant, PhD

Morton Beiser, Feng Hou, and Ilene Hyman are with the Culture, Community, and Health Studies Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Michel Tousignant is with the Laboratoire de recherche en écologie humaine et sociale, Université de Québec a Montréal, Montreal, Canada.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Morton Beiser, MD, FRCPC, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Clarke site, 250 College St, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada (e-mail: morton_beiser{at}camh.net).

Objectives. This study examined the differential effects of poverty on the mental health of foreign-born children, Canadian-born children of immigrant parents, and children of nonimmigrant parents.

Methods. Secondary analysis of data from a national Canadian study of children between 4 and 11 years of age was conducted.

Results. Compared with their receiving-society counterparts, foreign-born children were more than twice as likely to live in poor families, but they had lower levels of emotional and behavioral problems. The effect of poverty on children's mental health among long-term immigrant and receiving-society families was indirect and primarily mediated by single-parent status, ineffective parenting, parental depression, and family dysfunction. In comparison, the mental health effect of poverty among foreign-born children could not be explained by the disadvantages that poor families often suffer.

Conclusions. Poverty may represent a transient and inevitable part of the resettlement process for new immigrant families. For long-stay immigrant and receiving-society families, however, poverty probably is not part of an unfolding process; instead, it is the nadir of a cycle of disadvantage.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Epidemiol. Community HealthHome page
T. Torsheim, C. Currie, W. Boyce, and O. Samdal
Country material distribution and adolescents' perceived health: multilevel study of adolescents in 27 countries
J Epidemiol Community Health, February 1, 2006; 60(2): 156 - 161.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2002 by the American Public Health Association