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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 7/2014

01-07-2014 | Original Paper

The immigrant paradox: immigrants are less antisocial than native-born Americans

Authors: Michael G. Vaughn, Christopher P. Salas-Wright, Matt DeLisi, Brandy R. Maynard

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 7/2014

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Abstract

Purpose

Although recent research on crime and violence among immigrants suggests a paradox—where immigrants are more socially disadvantaged yet less likely to commit crime—previous research is limited by issues of generalizability and assessment of the full depth of antisocial behavior.

Methods

We surmount these limitations using data from waves I and II of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and compare immigrants (N = 7,320) from Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America to native-born Americans (N = 34,622) with respect to violent and nonviolent forms of antisocial behavior.

Results

After controlling for an extensive array of confounds, results indicate that immigrants are significantly less antisocial despite being more likely to have lower levels of income, less education, and reside in urban areas. These findings hold for immigrants from major regions of the world including Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Conclusions

This study confirms and extends prior research on crime and antisocial behavior, but suggests that it is premature however to think of immigrants as a policy intervention for treating high crime areas.
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Metadata
Title
The immigrant paradox: immigrants are less antisocial than native-born Americans
Authors
Michael G. Vaughn
Christopher P. Salas-Wright
Matt DeLisi
Brandy R. Maynard
Publication date
01-07-2014
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 7/2014
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0799-3

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