This project explores potential longer-term impacts of international migration on Vietnamese mental and physical health. It addresses the key problems related to selection by using a "natural experiment" research design, involving the comparison of three population-based samples: Vietnamese immigrants in the United States; Vietnamese who have never left Vietnam (hereafter referred to as never migrants); and Vietnamese returnees in Vietnam. By comparing the immigrants to both the never-leavers and the returnees, one can estimate the effects of migration per se on health outcomes net of selection effects – this is because while both immigrants and returnees share the set of factors that predispose them to emigrate, only the immigrants have the experience of moving to and adjusting to life in America.
Data were collected between 2003 and 2005. In total, they comprise three population-based sub-samples totaling 736 working age adults (23-53 years old). These sub-samples include 128 Vietnamese immigrants currently residing in New Orleans; 141 returnees to Ho Chi Minh City; and 467 Vietnamese nationals who never left Ho Chi Minh City.
Publications and Working Papers
- Fu, Hongyun and Mark VanLandingham. 2012. Mental health consequences of international migration for Vietnamese Americans and the mediating effect of social networks: Results from a natural experiment approach. Demography 49(2): 393-424 (lead article).
- Fu, Hongyun and Mark VanLandingham. 2012. Disentangling the effects of migration, selection and acculturation on weight and body fat distribution: Results from a natural experiment involving Vietnamese Americans, returnees, and never-leavers. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 14(5): 786-796.
- VanLandingham, Mark and Hongyun Fu. 2012. Migration and health in Southeast Asia. In Williams, Lindy and Philip Guest (eds). Demographic Change in Southeast Asia. Ithaca: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program Publications.
- Fu, Hongyun and Mark VanLandingham. 2010. Mental and physical health consequences of repatriation for Vietnamese returnees. Journal of Refugee Studies 23(2): 160-182.
Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.
