Resiliency of Foreign-Born Hispanics in Stressful Events: Evidence of the Healthy Immigrant Paradox During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened levels of depression and anxiety globally. While foreign-born Hispanics faced additional stressors compared to their native-born counterparts, they may have displayed better mental health outcomes as suggested by the Healthy Immigrant Paradox. However, it remains unclear whether this paradox extends to indicators of psychological distress, particularly in the face of unprecedented stressors like the pandemic. Using a multivariate logistic regression model and a sample of Hispanic older adults from the Health and Retirement Study, we investigate the association between foreign-born status and depressive symptoms across three distinct periods: pre-pandemic, initial shutdown, and post-shutdown pandemic. We find that older foreign-born Hispanics experienced relatively lesser increases in depressive symptoms during the pandemic than the native-born, despite having lower socioeconomic status. Regression estimates, adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic factors, indicate that being foreign-born was associated with better psychological health during the post-shutdown period: foreign-born Hispanics depicted a 9-percentage-point reduction in the likelihood of reporting depressive symptoms relative to native-born individuals. We discuss different channels driving these effects and suggest that older foreign-born Hispanics may have recovered faster than native-born Hispanics due to higher levels of resiliency. Our results contribute to the literature on the Healthy Immigrant Paradox, particularly in the context of mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.