Occupational Mobility and Depression Among the Foreign-Born in the United States

This paper used the 2003 New Immigrant Survey (n = 2,305) to examine the relationship between occupational mobility before and after migration and depression among immigrants. There were two measures of occupational mobility, change in occupational prestige and educational match. For both measures, upward and downward mobility were associated with higher depression. This association was only present among women; for men, there were no significant relationships between the occupational mobility measures and depression. The findings suggest that immigrant occupational mobility may not solely represent the acquisition or reduction of material resources. Instead, occupational mobility may encompass immigrants’ unique stressors and post-migration working environments that produce a range of psychosocial influences on mental health. Gender differences also suggest immigrant women face unique stressors that arise from adjusting to both the working and domestic spheres.