Immigration and Child Mortality: Lessons from the United States at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The societal integration of immigrants is a great concern in many of today’s Western societies, and has been so for a long time. Whether we look at Europe in 2015 or the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, large flows of immigrants pose challenges to receiving societies. While much research has focused on the socioeconomic integration of immigrants there has been less interest in their demographic integration, even though this can tell us as much about the way immigrants fare in their new home country. In this article we study the disparities in infant and child mortality across nativity groups and generations, using new, high-density census data. In addition to describing differentials and trends in child mortality among 14 immigrant groups relative to the native-born white population of native parentage, we focus special attention on the association between child mortality, immigrant assimilation, and the community-level context of where immigrants lived. Our findings indicate substantial nativity differences in child mortality, but also that factors related to the societal integration of immigrants explains a substantial part of these differentials. Our results also point to the importance of spatial patterns and contextual variables in understanding nativity differentials in child mortality.

The Influence of Kin Proximity on the Reproductive Success of American Couples, 1900–1910

“…We limit the dis play of model coef fi cients to var i ables asso ci ated with kin and ser vant avail abil ity, and focus our dis cus sion on their poten tial influ ence on cou ples' repro duc tion. Briefly, how ever, the inci dence rate ratios for inde pen dent var i ables not shown in Table 3 are con sistent with results from prior stud ies of repro duc tion and child mor tal ity in the early twen ti ethcen tury United States (Dribe et al 2014(Dribe et al , 2020Hacker and Roberts 2019;Mor gan et al 1994;Preston et al 1994;Preston and Haines 1991). Women mar ried to farm ers, for exam ple, expe ri enced a higher rate of births, lower rate of child deaths, The Influence of Kin Proximity on Reproductive Success and higher net gain in the rate of liv ing chil dren than women whose spouses worked in other occu pa tions.…”

“…The Influence of Kin Proximity on Reproductive Success char ac ter is tics-includ ing rural-urban res i dence, lit er acy, coun try of birth, abil ity to speak English, occu pa tion, and income-and fer til ity, fer til ity decline, and child sur vival. For exam ple, farm cou ples liv ing in rural areas and for eignborn cou ples tended to have the highest rates of repro duc tion, while nativeborn pro fes sional cou ples liv ing in urban areas tended to have the low est rates (Dribe et al 2014(Dribe et al , 2020Hacker and Roberts 2017;Preston and Haines 1991). These find ings are con sis tent with adap ta tion the o ries of fer til ity decline that empha size the role of eco nomic factors, includ ing child quan tity-qual ity trade-offs asso ci ated with increased incomes, urban i za tion, indus tri al i za tion, and school ing, and with inno va tion and dif fu sion the o ries that empha size the impor tance of such cul tural fac tors as reli gious sec u lar i zation (Hacker 2016;Hacker and Roberts 2019).…”

The Missing Mortality Advantage for European Immigrants to the United States in the Early Twentieth Century

“…Mortality dif fer ences for the 1-4 age cat e gory are more in line with age and time trends, and the higher for eignborn mor tal ity is con sis tent with find ings from research that has used cen sus records to esti mate child hood mor tal ity (Bakhtiari 2018;Dribe et al 2020;Haines and Preston 1997;Preston and Haines 1991). Relative gaps in mor tal ity rates were smallest in the mid dle of the age dis tri bu tion, between ages 25 and 54.…”

“…Euro pean immi grants to the United States in the early 1900s had higher mor tal ity when com pared to U.S.born nonHis panic Whites, according to Vital Statistics data. Esti mates of child mor tal ity based on cen sus records have found higher rates among for eignborn Whites, rel a tive to their U.S.born nonHis panic White coun ter parts, in 1900 and 1910 (Bakhtiari 2018;Dribe et al 2020;Haines and Preston 1997;Preston and Haines 1991). By the lat ter decades of the twen ti eth cen tury, this mor tal ity pen alty appears to have reversed.…”

“…Available data sug gest that the mor tal ity out comes of Euro pean immi grants in this era corresponded to their mid dletier social posi tion. Estimates based on cen sus records from 1900 and 1910 have found higher rates of child hood mor tal ity among White immi grants rel a tive to their U.S.born White coun ter parts, although still sub stan tially lower than rates of the Black pop u la tion (Bakhtiari 2018;Dribe et al 2020;Haines and Preston 1997;Preston and Haines 1991). Rates of infant and adult mor tal ity were also higher for for eignborn Whites in early 1900s Vital Statistics records (Lieberson 1980).…”