Immigration and psychotic experiences in the United States: Another example of the epidemiological paradox?

• Immigration is associated with increased risk for psychosis in Europe.
• Paradoxically, when compared with native-born populations, immigrants report better mental health outcomes in North America.
• Our findings show that immigration does not increase risk for psychotic experiences Across multiple racial and ethnic groups.
• Selection and acculturation factors May influence the diverging patterns of psychosis Among immigrations in Europe and North America.

In Europe, it is widely established that immigration increases risk for psychotic disorder. However, research has yet to confirm this association in the United States, where immigrants paradoxically report better health status than their native-born counterparts. Further, few studies have examined this topic with respect to sub-threshold psychotic experiences, which are more common than psychotic disorders in the general population. This study analyzes the (1) National Comorbidity Survey-Replication, (2) the National Latino and Asian American Survey, and (3) the National Survey of American Life, in order to determine whether generation status had any impact on risk for lifetime and 12-month PE, and whether these associations vary across racial/ethnic groups, adjusting for demographic variables and socioeconomic status. We found an absence of an immigration effect on PE across various ethnic groups and across various geographic areas, and found that immigration is actually protective among Latinos, supporting the idea that the epidemiological paradox extends to the psychosis phenotype.