The Gendered Immigrant Paradox: Depressive Symptoms Among Immigrant and Native-Born Adolescents

Research has consistently shown a mental health advantage for immigrant youth compared to U.S.-born youth, despite often facing disadvantages associated with lower socioeconomic status. This mental health advantage, termed the “immigrant paradox,” appears to attenuate with acculturation. However, little research has explored whether gender moderates this relationship during adolescence. Using Wave I data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), the current study tests if the association between immigrant generation and depression differs by gender. Building on this framework, the study estimates a series of age and parental education adjusted, survey weighted Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models including family cohesion as a protective mechanism and perceived discrimination as a risk mechanism. Across models the pattern is clear: there is a gendered immigrant paradox: immigrant-origin girls have significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than do native-born girls and gender differences among immigrant youth are negligible. Generational contrasts show that the advantage is largest among first-generation adolescents and dissipates across generations. Accounting for cohesion and discrimination partly, but not fully, attenuates the immigrant female advantage suggesting that cultural, social and gendered processes are fundamental to understanding the well-being and assimilation of adolescents in the United States.Key Words: Immigrant paradox, gender, adolescent mental health, assimilation