The Immigrant Paradox in the Problem Behaviors of Youth in the United States: A Meta‐analysis.

This meta‐analysis synthesizes the empirical data on problem behaviors among foreign‐ (G1) and U.S‐born (G2+) youth and explores the effects of immigrant status on youth internalizing and externalizing problems. A random effects meta‐regression with robust variance estimates summarized effect sizes for internalizing and externalizing problems across 91 studies (N = 179,315, Mage = 13.98). Results indicated that G1 youth reported significantly more internalizing problems (g =.06), and fewer externalizing problems than G2+ youth (g = −.06). Gender and sample type moderated the effects. The findings provide a first‐step toward reconciling mixed support for the immigrant paradox by identifying for whom and under what conditions the immigrant experience serves as a risk or protective factor for youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]