Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Ahead of Print.
In recent decades, naturalization rates among U.S. immigrants have surged as many seek citizenship to regain lost rights and protections. However, the impact of naturalization on immigrants’ life outcomes, such as health, remains underexplored in academic research. Challenges arising from selection processes complicate the interpretation of any observed health disparities between naturalized citizens and noncitizens. To address this gap, we link restricted-use data from the 2000 U.S. census to individual Social Security records on citizenship change and death, enabling a 20-year observation of naturalization and mortality. Results from discrete-time hazard analysis of mortality risk reveals a significant protective health effect from naturalization, which increases in magnitude among long-term naturalized citizens. The effect is particularly strong across older ages and among groups with lower education, refugee entry status, Hispanic origin, and health limitations. These findings suggest that naturalization represents an important but stratifying source of institutional support for socially vulnerable immigrants.