Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 23, 2026

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
The Acceleration of Immigrant Unhealthy Assimilation
Osea Giuntella1,2, Luca Stella2,3
1Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Abstract:
It is well known that immigrants tend to be healthier than US natives and that this advantage erodes with time spent in the USA. However, we know less about the heterogeneity of these trajectories among arrival cohorts. Recent studies have shown that later arrival cohorts of immigrants have lower entry wages and experience less economic assimilation. In this paper, we investigate whether similar cohort effects can be observed in the weight assimilation of immigrants in the USA. Focusing on obesity, we show that more recent immigrant cohorts arrive with higher obesity rates and experience a faster 'unhealthy assimilation' in terms of weight gain. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Related Concept Videos
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Horney's Sociocultural Approach
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Surveys
Stereotype Content Model
Migration

