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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Immigration and suicidal behavior among Mexicans and Mexican Americans
Guilherme Borges1, Joshua Breslau, Maxwell Su
1Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatria & Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico DF, Mexico. guibor@imp.edu.mx
Objectives:
We examined migration to the United States as a risk factor for suicidal behavior among people of Mexican origin.
Methods:
We pooled data from 2 nationally representative surveys in the United States (2001-2003; n = 1284) and Mexico (2001-2002; n = 5782). We used discrete time survival models to account for time-varying and time-invariant characteristics, including psychiatric disorders.
Results:
Risk for suicidal ideation was higher among Mexicans with a family member in the United States (odds ratio [OR] = 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06, 2.11), Mexican-born immigrants who arrived in the United States at 12 years or younger (OR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.09, 3.09), and US-born Mexican Americans (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.03, 2.38) than among Mexicans with neither a history of migration to the United States nor a family member currently living there. Risk for suicide attempts was also higher among Mexicans with a family member in the United States (OR = 1.68; 95% CI = 1.13, 2.52) and US-born Mexican Americans (OR = 1.97; 95% CI = 1.06, 3.65). Selection bias caused by differential migration or differential return migration of persons at higher risk of suicidal ideation or attempt did not account for these findings.
Conclusions:
Public health efforts should focus on the impact of Mexico-US migration on family members of migrants and on US-born Mexican Americans.
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