An “Immigrant Paradox” for Adolescent Externalizing Behavior? Evidence from a National Sample

Background and Purpose.  Recent decades have witnessed a rise in the number of immigrant children in the United States and concomitant concerns regarding externalizing behaviors such as crime, violence, and drug misuse by immigrant adolescents. Importantly, however, the bulk of evidence to date indicates that, despite experiencing greater social disadvantage compared to US-born Americans, immigrants in general are less likely to take part in violence and crime, misuse alcohol and drugs, and experience a wide array of adverse behavioral and health outcomes. That stated, one important caveat should not be overlooked: emerging evidence suggests that the protective effects of nativity may decrease as individuals spend longer amounts of time in the United States, particularly among those who immigrate during early childhood. Building upon prior research, the objective of the present study is to systematically compare the prevalence of externalizing behaviors and migration-related factors—namely, age of arrival and duration in the US—among immigrant and US-born adolescents in the United States.

Methods.  Data on 12 to 17 year-olds (n = 25,057) from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) R-DAS between 2002 and 2009 were used. The R-DAS online analytic software was employed. Measures of externalizing behavior include past 12-month involvement in violence (i.e., serious fights, group fight, attack to injure), delinquency (i.e., theft, drug selling, carry handgun), and substance use (i.e., alcohol, cannabis, other illicit drugs). Prevalence estimates, odds ratios, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated adjusting for the complex survey sampling design.

Results. Compared to their US-born counterparts, immigrant adolescents—particularly those between the ages of 15 and 17—are significantly less likely to be involved in externalizing behavior. Specifically, immigrant adolescents in general are less likely to be involved in most violent and delinquent behaviors—the exceptions being group fighting and theft—and all substance use variables examined, with odds ratios ranging from 0.45 (drug selling) to 0.86 (serious fight).  In addition, later age of arrival and fewer years spent in the US were associated with reduced odds of reporting externalizing behavior. Immigrant adolescents—particularly those who arrived after childhood (i.e., age 12 or older) and had spent less time in the US (i.e., fewer than 5 years)—were also more likely to report cohesive parental relationships, positive school engagement, and disapproving views with respect to adolescent substance use.

Conclusions and Implications. This study extends prior research on the “immigrant paradox” to externalizing behavior among adolescents using a nationally representative data source.  In addition to identifying a lower prevalence for externalizing behaviors among immigrant adolescents, we also found that the robust link between nativity and externalizing among immigrants with less exposure to United States may be, in part, explained by differences in ecodevelopmental and intrapersonal protective factors. Building upon prior research, the findings from the present study have important implications for the development and implementation of ongoing prevention efforts designed to target externalizing behavior among immigrant youth in the United States.