Better community support of young immigrant parents could also benefit our healthcare system
CHE RESEARCH BITES
By Nicole Black and Johannes S. Kunz
08 August, 2024
Becoming a parent can be daunting. Parents need support and information to raise children. Imagine the added stress for an immigrant speaking limited English, with limited social connections and language barriers preventing them from accessing needed support.
Our research into children’s healthcare use suggests that when parents speak limited English, they often turn to general practitioners (GPs) as trusted sources of parenting information, especially when there are GPs in their local areas from their home countries.
We found that children whose parents have limited English proficiency make on average two extra visits to the GP each year. However, this does not appear to be because they are sicker than children whose immigrant parents are proficient in English. They don’t attend hospitals more often or visit more specialist doctors, nor do they report more physical or mental health problems or disabilities than children of parents who are proficient in English.
But, we find that a reliance on the GP for parenting information may be a likely explanation. Better community support for young immigrant families, such as parent networking groups or multilingual resources could help reduce the reliance on GPs for non-medical advice and potentially improve their social networks within the community.
Find the original academic paper here: Black, Nicole, and Johannes S. Kunz. (2024). The intergenerational effects of language proficiency on child health outcomes: Evidence from survey-and Census-matched health care records, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 225 (2024): 136-152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2024.07.006
Find out more about the Disadvantage and health research theme.
CHE Research Bites are short, easy-to-understand summaries of our recent academic papers highlighting new evidence and insights on topical issues in the health and healthcare sectors.
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