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Primary Submission Category: Health equity

The Health of Racialized Bicultural Populations Over the Life Course

Authors:  Arinala Randrianasolo,

Presenting Author: Arinala Randrianasolo*

Robert Park’s (1928) Marginal Man theory describes an individual that lives within two societies, but is never fully a part of either. Park’s Marginal Man theory of bicultural populations could be applied to two populations in the United States. The first bicultural population is the 1.5 immigrant generation. The 1.5 immigrant generation advance through the life course in American culture while also likely experiencing their sending country’s culture at home. Prior research has found that the foreign-born population has health advantages when compared to the native-born population. The second population is that of the multi-ethnoracial population. The hyperdescent hypothesis states that multi-ethnoracial individuals’ health could iterate towards the racial category that is more socially advantage or mirror its health outcomes. Despite the possible health advantages that come with being a bicultural population, being racialized in the United States could render the advantages of biculturalism ineffective. Given the theoretical advantages, this research project asks if the racialization process in the United States results in similar health outcomes for bicultural populations. I hypothesize that in childhood, the 1.5 generation will have better health outcomes than the multi-ethnoracial population but those advantages will deteriorate in adulthood.

Data will come from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The sample will consist of two bicultural groups. The outcome variable will be two health outcomes, asthma and migraines. The main predictor variable will be foreign born status as it will differentiate between the two populations in the analysis. The analysis will involve running logistic regressions to see if foreign-born status is positively associated with the health outcomes listed above.