The impact of anti-immigrant state policies on the mental health of children and youth

What is it about?

Previous research has found something interesting: on average, children in immigrant families tend to have better health and mental health outcomes than their peers with U.S.-born parents, despite generally experiencing higher levels of poverty and less access to resources. However, little research has examined whether this pattern holds across different state contexts, some of which are more welcoming toward immigrants while others are more hostile. This study examined whether anti-immigrant state policies (as measured by something called the Immigration Policy Climate index, or IPC, for each state) affect children’s mental health outcomes. Our results found that they do: immigrant children living in hostile states had a modest but significant increase in the likelihood of reporting mental health issues. Their rates moved substantially closer to those of children with U.S.-born parents, suggesting that the initial advantage was weakened. More broadly, we also found that Asian and Pacific Islander children were the only racial and ethnic group in our sample to experience a similar effect, regardless of their own immigration background. This suggests that hostile immigration policies may shape the mental health of racial minority youth even when they are not immigrants themselves.

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Photo by Akshat Jhingran on Unsplash

Photo by Akshat Jhingran on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings are important because they show how political factors seem to shape the mental health out immigrant children and youth. While enhancing access to mental health care is crucially important, it is equally vital to address the systemic drivers, like anti-immigrant policies, of mental health.

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