Self-Reported Health of Working-Age Refugees, Immigrants, and the Canadian-Born
Table 2
Prevalence of good to excellent self-reported physical health for sociodemographic and social capital measures among refugees, immigrants, and Canadian-born (n = 17, 082).
Canadian-born (% good health) (n = 11,266)
Chi-square value
Refugee (% good health) (n = 753)
Chi-square value
Immigrant (% good health) (n = 5063)
Chi-square value
Demographics
Visible minority status
Visible minority
90.5
0.28
89.9
0.50
92.4
0.03
Not a visible minority
91.7
91.6
90.6
Sex
Male
91.9
0.38
88.2
0.02
93.4
<0.001
Female
91.4
93.2
90.2
Age
15–44 years
93.9
<0.001
90.7
0.73
93.9
<0.001
45–64 years
88.4
89.9
88.8
Socioeconomic status
Education
High school diploma or less
89.0
<0.001
91.9
0.24
88.4
<0.001
More than a high school diploma
93.5
89.3
92.9
Total household income from the past year
$49,999 or less
84.5
<0.001
87.8
0.048
87.3
<0.001
$50,000 or more
92.0
89.6
92.4
$100,000 or more
94.7
NR
94.5
Missing/refused/do not know
91.9
NR
91.3
Marital status
Single/widowed/divorced separated
90.8
0.005
86.2
0.01
90.0
0.004
Married/common-law
92.3
92.0
92.4
Presence of a confidant
No confidant
85.6
<0.001
NR
0.62
87.0
0.01
1 or more confidant
91.8
90.4
91.9
Social trust
Hesitant to trust people
88.6
<0.001
90.0
0.70
89.0
<0.001
Believes most people can be trusted
94.2
90.8
94.0
Involvement with social groups/organizations/associations in the past 12 months
None
88.2
<0.001
87.5
0.02
90.5
0.01
1 or more
93.2
92.5
92.4
Experience of discrimination of any form for any reason in Canada in the past 5 years
No
93.6
<0.001
92.2
0.03
93.8
<0.001
Yes
87.5
87.3
88.6
Language most often spoken at home
English or French
91.6
0.15
92.0
0.25
90.7
0.02
Other languages
93.3
89.4
92.5
% of friends contacted in the past month with the same mother tongue
Less than half
87.5
0.001
93.8
0.02
91.5
0.76
Half or more
91.9
88.3
91.8
% of friends contacted in the past month that were of a visibly different ethnicity
Less than half
91.8
0.21
90.2
0.89
90.7
<0.001
Half or more
90.8
90.5
93.8
Sense of belonging to Canada
Very weak/somewhat weak/somewhat strong/no opinion
90.6
0.001
87.7
93.4
<0.001
Very strong
92.4
91.3
90.7
Self-reported mental health
Fair/poor
59.6
<0.001
20.5
<0.001
52.0
<0.001
Good/very good/excellent
93.8
94.1
93.6
Place of birth of respondent (for those born outside of Canada)
