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Why Are Immigrants Better Off?

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998;55:781-782.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

SINCE 1970, more than 5 million Mexicans have immigrated to the United States, the largest number of immigrants from one country to the United States in recent history. People of Mexican descent now make up almost one third of the total population of Texas and California.¹

The study by Vega et al reported in this issue of the ARCHIVES is an important and timely piece, coming when Mexican immigrants in California are the target of adverse societal attitudes and governmental policies affecting benefits, university access, and bilingualism. Paradoxically, the study shows that despite socioeconomic disadvantages, Mexican immigrants have a much better mental health profile than people of Mexican descent born in the United States. Carried out on a specific population in northern California, the study was elegantly designed and employed state-of-the-art methods and instrumental measures that were further refined during the study. The study's major finding, that place of birth . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998;55(9):771-778.
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