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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Michael G. Farnworth, PhD, Department of Economics, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada, 506-447-3319, mikefarn@unb.ca and James T. McDonald, PhD, Economics, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada.

Research in developed countries has firmly established that new immigrants enjoy significant health advantages relative to comparable native-born populations. Over time after immigration these health advantages narrow, and eventually converge to native-born levels. This phenomenon is known as the healthy immigrant effect (HIE). While the literature proposes a host of reasons for the HIE there is little statistical research on exactly what is contributing to this convergence. One hypothesis is that through a process of acculturation, immigrants gradually adopt typical Canadian health behaviours and this contributes to worsening health during years in Canada. Smoking is one of the main causes of a range of health problems in later life, such as cancer, heart disease, bronchitis, and emphysema. This paper aims to contribute to the HIE debate by conducting a thorough analysis of one potentially important determinant of changing health; smoking. The main questions are: At any particular age level is an immigrant more or less likely to start smoking cigarettes daily than a native born Canadian? Do such differences fade away or grow over the years that an immigrant lives in Canada? We examine retrospective information reported in the Canadian National Population Health Survey, 1996/1997 and the Canadian Community Health Survey 2001/2003.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Recognize the methods economists use to examine retrospective data on the likelihood of individuals starting to smoke daily.
• Articulate some potential reasons why new immigrants enjoy significant health advantages relative to comparable native-born populations and potential reasons why this difference typically fades over time.

Keywords: Smoking,

Related Web page: www.unbf.ca/arts/econ/personal_pages/Ted.htm

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered