Mokdad, A. H., Ford, E. S., Bowman, B. A., Dietz, W. H., Vinicor, F., Bales, V. S., et al. (2003). Prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and obesity-related health risk factors, 2001. JAMA, 289, 76–79. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.289.1.76. Stafford M, Newbold BK, Ross NA. Psychological distress among immigrants and visible minorities in Canada: a contextual analysis. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2010;57:428–41.

Adler NE, Newman K. Socioeconomic disparities in health: pathways and policies. Health Aff. 2002;21:60–76. Rather than brain drain, some prefer to call it the brain gain, and the Economist newspaper captures the main arguments here. Osypuk TL, Alonso A, Bates LM. Understanding the healthy immigrant effect and cardiovascular disease: looking to big data and beyond. Circulation. 2015;132:1522–4.

Supplementary Material

Vangen S, Stoltenberg C, Skjaerven R, Magnus P, Harris JR, Stray-Pedersen B. The heavier the better? Birthweight and perinatal mortality in different ethnic groups. Int J Epidemiol. 2002;31:654–60. Casillas A, Leng M, Liu K, Hernandez A, Shrager S, Kanaya A. A long way from home: comparing mental health measures between foreign and U.S.-born Latinos in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2012;23:1719–32. Riosmena, F., Kuhn, R., & Jochem, W. C. (2017). Explaining the immigrant health advantage: Self-selection and protection in health-related factors among five major national-origin immigrant groups in the United States. Demography, 54(1), 175–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-016-0542-2. Some take work they are overqualified for, because it still pays better than what is available at home. But others do use their skills. Lost skills Bostean G. Does selective migration explain the Hispanic paradox? A comparative analysis of Mexicans in the U.S. and Mexico. J Immigr Minor Health. 2012;15:624.

Mood, C. (2010). Logistic regression: Why we cannot do what we think we can do, and what we can do about it. European Sociological Review, 26(1), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcp006.Dannefer, D. (2003). Cumulative advantage/disadvantage and the life course: cross-fertilizing age and social science theory. Journals of Gerontology, 58B(6), S327–S337. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/58.6.S327. The automated database search yielded 3535 records, in addition to six potential papers identified through the bibliographies of pertinent articles (Fig. 1). Of these, only 58 papers met the eligibility criteria. Half of the studies were conducted in the US, whereas Canada was the second most common country of study origin (26%), followed by Europe (21%) (Online Appendix Table S2). Approximately 90% of the studies adopted either a cross-sectional or a secondary analysis (of cross-sectional data) design. Over two-thirds (69%) of the studies recruited mixed migrants from different regions of the world. Latin America was the most common region of origin (21%), followed by Asia (9%). Around half of the studies were deemed of moderate quality, and about 34% were of high quality. Adjustment for socio-demographic confounders was carried out in 88% of the studies. Only 21% of the eligible papers showed a reliable response rate (≥ 75%) [ 51]. Examination of both the HIE theory and the YSEI phenomenon was considered in only 40% of the included studies (Online Appendix Table S2). Overall MH was investigated in about a third of the included studies. Depression was the most examined MH condition (43%), followed by anxiety (29%). Presence or Absence of Mental Health Advantage? To date, research on patterns and determinants of birthweight among immigrants in Spain has been limited by a relative scarcity of data. Researchers have usually used data from Spanish Vital Statistics (Estadistica del Movimiento Natural de la Población), which offers basic information regarding some characteristics of births, new-born infants, and their parents. Using this same data source and following previous population-based studies on birthweights in Spain [ 35, 36, 37], we did not restrict the analysis to a single calendar year, but extended our data to cover a 11-year period to obtain a higher number of immigrant mothers from different origins. Our research took advantage of aggregate data from several years to build a dataset reflecting the full number of births that occurred in Spain over the period 2007–2017. Our database provides an opportunity to analyze in greater depth several factors that are known to be associated with differences in birthweight between immigrant populations.

Australia's strategy gives a clue as to why countries are so keen to attract migrants with the skills that are needed. Better skilled workforce. In the UK, immigrants working in the economy are more likely to have more educational and skilled qualifications. For example, just 20% of UK citizens finished education at 21 or later. But 53% of new immigrants were educated until 21 or later. (LSE study 2012) Immigration allows an economy to attract high skilled professionals to fill in job vacancies and contribute to higher tax revenues.Bowe AG. The immigrant paradox on internalizing symptoms among immigrant adolescents. J Adolesc. 2017;55:72–6. Kwak K, Rudmin F. Adolescent health and adaptation in Canada: examination of gender and age aspects of the healthy immigrant effect. Int J Equity Health. 2014;13:103. Kaplan SA, Ahmed R, Musah A. “When you walk in the rain, you get wet”: a qualitative study of Ghanaian immigrants’ perspective on the epidemiological paradox. J Immigr Minor Health. 2015;17:255–62.

Sixty-one search terms, including generalized ones, that reflect the main concepts of this review (mental health and HIE/Immigrant Paradox) were employed and combined utilizing Boolean operators OR/AND (Online Appendix Table S1). Five automated databases were searched from inception to January 2021: PubMed, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Sociology Database. The research was restricted to human studies published in the English language. A manual search of the bibliography of potentially pertinent articles was also carried out. Study Selection Van Geel M, Vedder P. The adaptation of non-Western and Muslim immigrant adolescents in the Netherlands: an immigrant paradox? Scand J Psychol. 2010. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2010.00831.x. Blinder AS. Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates. J Hum Resour. 1973;8:436–455. Teitler J, Martinson M, Reichman NE. Does life in the United States take a toll on health? Duration of residence and Birthweight among six decades of immigrants. Int Migr Rev. 2017;51:37–66.

Discussion

Immigrants bring new perspectives, experiences, and ideas to their local communities. With this added diversification, there is more strength to be found within the community. Immigrants start businesses, earn an income, and support others on the local level. This creates an increase in local production, which creates more profits, which further helps the economy. Strong economies that are based on immigrant perspectives tend to find the most success. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). About Adult BMI: What is BMI? https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html. Accessed 26 August 2018. Haberer J, Trabin T, Klinkman M. Furthering the reliable and valid measurement of mental health screening, diagnoses, treatment and outcomes through health information technology. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2013;35:349. Ramraj C, Pulver A, Siddiqi A. Intergenerational transmission of the healthy immigrant effect (HIE) through birth weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2015;146:29–40. Moreno O, Cardemil E. The role of religious attendance on mental health among Mexican populations: a contribution toward the discussion of the immigrant health paradox. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2016;88:10.