Segmented assimilation: An alternative to acculturation for understanding U.S. Latino health

Acculturation has become a popular framework in public health for research on the influence of the immigration process on the health of U.S. Latinos. Although public health is oriented toward examination of large-scale structural and social forces that affect health, studies have tended to separate acculturation from these processes. Adherence to a single dimension, acculturation, within the multidimensional assimilation framework may be too limiting to fully explain U.S. Latino health patterns. This paper reviews an alternative framework, segmented assimilation, that has been applied to social stratification research on U.S. Latinos but has been little utilized as an explanatory model for health outcomes related to immigration. Segmented assimilation assumes that the assimilation process takes place in the context of a society consisting of segregated and unequal segments. Assimilation among Latino immigrants and their offspring may not only take the form of growing acculturation and parallel integration into the middle class; it may also consist of assimilation into permanent poverty and the underclass, due to limited opportunities for socioeconomic mobility, racial discrimination, residential segregation. From this perspective, the well-documented pattern of worsening health outcomes for Latino immigrants with longer durations of stay in the U.S., as well as in later generations, may be the result of structural vulnerabilities rather than or in addition to acculturation. This paper critically reviews the potential of segmented assimilation for health research on the U.S. Latino population, proposes mechanisms by which segmented assimilation may influence Latino health, and suggests directions for future research. It also distinguishes the health policy implications of segmented assimilation from those of acculturation as a means of addressing Latino health issues.