Skin Tone, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender Differences in BMI among New US Immigrants

Abstract

Scholars have been interested in the relationship between skin tone and health since at least the 1970s; however, no study, to our knowledge, has analyzed a diverse immigrant sample. In this study, we use the New Immigrant Survey and interactions to examine how skin tone and race/ethnic­ity – alongside gender – jointly pattern BMI among Legal Permanent Residents. Our approach allows for the analysis of BMI among multiple racial/ethnic immigrant groups, while considering skin tone. Our results document that darker skin shades are associated with higher BMI, but only for women. Further, we also tease out the rela­tionship between gender and race/ethnicity for BMI, which allows us to better under­stand this critical connection for new immi­grants’ health in the United States. Together, our results highlight that BMI jointly varies by skin tone and race/ethnicity, which em­phasizes the importance of an intersectional approach, especially for new immigrant women of color. Ethn Dis.2022:32(4):315-324; doi:10.18865/ed.32.4.315