Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Sociology

Historically and in the present, immigration looms large in the American consciousness. Today, we find ourselves in a challenging moment, struggling with political polarization alongside key questions about the causes and consequences of immigration. In this contemporary context, I explore the views that Americans hold about immigration, which may in turn impact immigrant integration. I then explore how first, second, and third-generation immigrants experience national and transnational social ties with attention to their health impacts. Broadly speaking, my dissertation seeks to understand how proximity to the immigrant experience is an important marker of group change. Since a large number of Americans are immigrants or have parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents who are or were immigrants, understanding variability in the ideas or stereotypes that Americans hold with respect to contemporary immigration is crucial to understanding how today's immigrants will be incorporated into the fabric of American life. To that end, I collect and analyze original survey data through the American Population Panel (APP) to first examine variability by generation in how Americans view immigrants in today's climate (Chapter Two). I find that generation is an important predictor of views towards immigration, but generation matters less for how individuals perceive diversity. Next, I use the commentary associated with my original APP survey to understand the thought processes and ideas that respondents invoke when presenting their views of immigration (Chapter Three). I find that oftentimes respondents cannot separate immigration from illegality, with politics, nationalism, and mistrust combining to create archetypes that respondents superimpose on immigrants broadly. Last, I conduct interviews with first, second, and third-generation immigrants in order to characterize the social ties that immigrants hold, how these ties inform their experiences in both the U.S. and in t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Reanne Frank (Committee Chair); Tasleem Padamsee (Committee Member); Townsand Price-Spratlen (Committee Member); Cindy Colen (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Applied Mathematics; Asian American Studies; Asian Studies; Behavioral Sciences; Behaviorial Sciences; Demographics; Demography; Health; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; Mental Health; Political Science; Public Health; Public Policy; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2019, Sociology

Remittances, the money that immigrants send back to recipients in their country of origin, are one of the most prominent types of transnational economic ties and provide many migrants with continued interaction with family and friends who remain in their origin countries. These transactions may prove to be beneficial or detrimental to migrant mental and physical health. Using the New Immigrant Survey (NIS), I assess whether remittance-sending has countervailing associations with migrant mental and physical health. I hypothesize that remittance-sending puts migrants at a physical health disadvantage by depleting already lower incomes. I also hypothesize that remitting migrants experience a mental health bonus through fulfillment of family roles. Overall, I find that remittances are associated with a physical health disadvantage and only provide a mental health bonus under certain circumstances. I also find that the composition of migrants who select into remitting is consequential for health outcomes. And for both physical and mental health, the type of remittance transfer (to extended or nuclear family) and the magnitude of the transfer conditions the overall health impact, particularly for mental health. My findings underscore the complexity of transnational ties, in terms of who selects into transnational economic behavior (i.e. remittance sending), the type of behavior (magnitude and type of remittance transfer), and the health consequences, both physical and mental, of that behavior.

Committee: Reanne Frank Dr. (Advisor); Kristi Williams Dr. (Committee Member); Cynthia Colen Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Demographics; Demography; Families and Family Life; Finance; Health; Health Care; Hispanic Americans; Individual and Family Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Public Health; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology