摘要：Objectives. We examined 5 health outcomes among Black children born to US-born and foreign-born mothers and whether differences by mother’s region of birth could be explained by maternal duration of US residence, child’s place of birth, and familial sociodemographic characteristics. Methods. Data were from the 2000–2011 National Health Interview Surveys. We examined 3 groups of children, based on mother’s region of birth: US origin, African origin, and Latin American or Caribbean origin. We estimated multivariate regression models. Results. Children of foreign-born mothers were healthier across all 5 outcomes than were children of US-born mothers. Among children of foreign-born mothers, US-born children performed worse on all health outcomes than children born abroad. African-origin children had the most favorable health profile. Longer duration of US residence among foreign-born mothers was associated with poorer child health. Maternal educational attainment and other sociodemographic characteristics did little to explain these differences. Conclusions. Further studies are needed to understand the role of selective migration and the behavioral, cultural, socioeconomic, and contextual origins of the health advantage of Black children of foreign-born mothers. An increasing proportion of US children have parents who were born outside the United States. 1 In 2012, 24% of children younger than 18 years had at least 1 foreign-born parent. Among US Blacks, the proportion of children with foreign-born parents has increased from 9% in 2000 to 17% in 2012 because of large migration streams from Africa and the Caribbean. Despite the rapid growth of this subpopulation over the past decade—from roughly 930 000 to over 2 million children—relatively little is known about these children, mostly because of data limitations and the recency of these migration flows. 2 Previous studies on the health of children of foreign-born parents (whom we refer to as foreign-origin children) have focused mostly on Hispanic and, to a lesser extent, on Asian children. Studies of Hispanic children generally report that foreign-origin children have better health than US-origin children despite Hispanic families being socioeconomically disadvantaged. 1,2 Studies also highlight considerable heterogeneity in the health patterns of both Hispanic and Asian foreign-origin children, including differences by type of illness and levels of parents’ acculturation and region of birth. 3–7 Explanations for these patterns emphasize the role of selective migration, acculturation, and access to social and health-related resources. 1,8,9 We examined differences in health outcomes among US Black children according to the mother’s region of birth and whether the children of foreign-born mothers were born abroad or in the United States. We investigated measures of general health status (child’s overall health status, activity limitations, missed school days due to illness) and highly prevalent specific illnesses (allergies, asthma). We examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES) and mother’s duration of US residence as explanatory factors.
