Violent and accidental mortality among four immigrant groups in Canada, 1970–1972

Abstract

For most people immigration to a new country such as Canada entails a positive move and an improvement in life. The many challenges associated with resettlement may, however, lead to insurmountable difficulties, stresses and conflict for a significant number of newcomers. The mortality experience of immigrants, as reflected in cause‐of‐death statistics, may provide indication of the extent of stress and conflict in their migration experience. This situation is most clearly exhibited in mortality from suicide, homicide, and motor vehicle accidents. In this study, hypotheses concerning immigrant mortality in Canada are developed and tested with a log‐linear model for rates pertaining to rare events. Overall, the results give support for the importance of country‐of‐origin effects in explaining suicide propensities, but not for homicide and motor vehicle accidents mortality. Income discrepancies are a significant determinant of variability in death rates overall, but discrepancies between the immigrants in this study and the Canadian‐born are not of much significance. The strongest net effect on the cause‐specific death rate is associated with group membership. This effect likely reflects a number of residual unmeasured sources of variation including the influence of the immigrant ethnic community as a source of social support, and the potential confounding effects of migration selectivity.