Disparities in functional disability among Arab Americans by nativity, immigrant arrival cohort, and country of birth
Abstract
© 2018 The Authors This study contributes to a growing literature that documents the
importance of arrival cohort and country of birth for differentiating the health of
U.S. immigrants. We use nationally-representative data from nine years of the American
Community Survey (2008–2016) to examine if an immigrant health advantage exists among
Arab Americans ages 40+ (n = 49,867) and test if differences among the foreign-born
vary by arrival cohort (pre-1991, 1991–2000, and 2001+). Results from multivariate
logistic regression models find that foreign-born Arab Americans have higher odds
of physical and self-care disability, and this varies by immigrant arrival cohort.
The post-2001 cohort had the highest odds of both disabilities, while the earlier
two cohorts did not differ from the native-born after adjustments for covariates.
Compositional differences in birthplace, particularly the large influx of immigrants
from Iraq in the most recent cohort, explained these differences. Political instabilities
globally have contributed to a growing number of U.S. immigrants with vulnerabilities
that might be overlooked when arrival cohorts are not considered.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18086Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.100325Publication Info
Read, Jen'nan G; Ajrouch, Kristine J; & West, Jessica S (2019). Disparities in functional disability among Arab Americans by nativity, immigrant arrival
cohort, and country of birth. SSM - Population Health, 7. pp. 100325-100325. 10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.100325. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18086.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Jen'nan Read
Sally Dalton Robinson Professor
Jessica Sayles West
Medical Instructor in the Departmentof Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences
Jessica is a medical sociologist who specializes in research on hearing loss, aging,
and health disparities over the life course. Jessica’s work has described the “spillover”
effects of hearing loss on health outcomes for both individuals and those close to
them, as well as sociodemographic disparities in the onset of and life expectancy
with hearing loss. Her research, which leverages both population-level data and electronic
health record data, has appeared in th
Alphabetical list of authors with Scholars@Duke profiles.

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info