Evidence concerning the relations of migration to health status and health care utilization is inconclusive. This paper outlines the theoretical positions on these relations and reviews the empirical findings supporting varying positions. The paper also presents the findings of a survey of a probability sample of the U.S. population concerning these issues. The analysis is organized around comparisons among immigrants from other societies, internal migrants, and nonmigrants on important dimensions of health status and the utilization of different types of health services. Comparisons were also made among first generation, second generation, and 'old stock.' Finally, immigrants were grouped by country and area of origin to assess the influence of cultural differences on health and the utilization of services. Attempts were made to control the influence of demographic characteristics while assessing the relations between migration and health status. The controlled analysis showed immigrants to enjoy better health conditions followed by migrants and then the nonmigrants. Significant differences in physical performance were manifested among immigrants from varying areas of origin, and also among generations of nativity. Controlling for both demographic characteristics and health status, immigrants were consistently the least utilizers of services and internal migrants the highest. An increase in utilization was associated with generational residence in the U.S. First generation were least utilizers, followed by second generation with the 'old stock' being the greatest utilizers. Immigrants from different countries and regions of the world also exhibited significant differences in the patterns of utilization of health services.
The Research ProblemHealth is a revealing indicator of well-being and adjustment, and an important variable in migration research. The present large scale crossnational migration in Europe has attracted considerable public and