The Association Between Acculturation and Health Insurance Coverage for Immigrant Children from Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Regions of Origin

Among immigrant children whose parents have historically had lower education, the study explored which immigrant children
were most likely to have coverage based on maternal region of origin. The direct and indirect relationship of acculturation
on immigrant children’s coverage was also assessed. A subsample of US-born children with foreign-born mothers from the Early
Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Kindergarten Cohort was analyzed using multinomial logistic regressions (n = 1,686). Children
whose mothers emigrated from the Caribbean or Indochina had greater odds of being insured compared to children whose mothers
emigrated from Mexico. Moreover, Latin American children did not statistically differ from Mexican children in being uninsured.
Maternal citizenship was positively associated with children’s coverage; while living in a household with a mother who migrated
as a child was negatively associated with private insurance. To increase immigrant children’s coverage, Latin American and
Mexican families may benefit from additional financial assistance, rather than cultural assistance.