Life-course and population health perspectives to fill gaps in migrant health research

Abstract

This article highlights categories and dichotomies used in the study of the health of migrants, including migrant motivation, migrant type, pre- and post-migration time periods, and health as biomedically or socially determined. The authors suggest that the full spectrum of migrants and migration be considered more thoroughly in order to improve our understanding of migrant health. This paper challenges simple conceptions of migration, mobility, and migrant experience. To fill gaps in knowledge left by these conceptions, researchers must recognize the decisions migrants make as a process which plays out both over time (in migrant life-courses) and also across personal, national, and international contexts which connect the individual to larger structures and phenomena. The authors argue that, in this reality, research questions related to migrant health are best addressed using life-course perspectives which recognize health as a continuum of socially-constructed statuses.