Compares the physical and emotional health status and health-risk behaviors of immigrant adolescents and native-born adolescents with immigrant parents to adolescents in native-born families. Self-reported risk behaviors included sexual activity, delinquency, violence, and use of controlled substances. Findings reveal that: (1) foreign-born youth had the fewest health problems, and native-born youth with immigrant parents had the second-fewest health problems; (2) immigrant children were least likely to engage in risky behavior; (3) the most consistent beneficial health effects of foreign birth were found for Mexican, Central and South American, Chinese, Filipino, and other Asian youth; (4) foreign birth also apparently protects youth from psychological distress; and (5) both physical health problems and risky behaviors increase with more years of exposure to and assimilation into American culture. Future research should attempt to uncover the mechanisms behind the health protection of foreign birth, including the potential roles of parenting behaviors and extended kin relationships, as well examine the increase in psychological distress as ethnic minority youth assimilate, with a closer look at parent-adolescent conflicts.
