Using the National Health Interview Survey (2004), I examine immigrants' health in the United States using three health indicators: respondent-reported health, functional difficulties, and emotional problems. This study builds upon the concepts of the sameness of immigrants and the differences between immigrants in relation to issues of health. In order to examine whether difference between foreign-born and native-born impacts health status, this study focuses on the sameness of the two groups: the sameness of being foreign born and the sameness of being native born. Concomitantly, this research assumes that differences within the foreign-born population also affect health status.

The complex composition of recent immigrants to the U.S. has not received sufficient attention in sociological health studies, and thus provides the impetus for this study, which includes an examination of factors such as region of birth and duration (time in the United States). Immigrants from the former Soviet Union nations were used as a reference group for comparing immigrants from other geographic regions. The models also control for other factors previously found to affect health: duration, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and behavioral factors. The results indicate both the sameness and differences of immigrants have significant associations with health. Immigrants reported better health compared to the native-born, while immigrant differences by region of birth and duration were also significantly associated with health. Most of those differences are in comparison to those born in the former Soviet Union. Economic resources and education are powerful predictors for all three health indicators whereas region of birth and other factors considered have varying influences, depending on the health indicator.

This research shows that considering both the sameness of, and the differences among, immigrants is crucial to better understand the overall framework of the relationship between immigrants and health. Through examining both their sameness in sharing an identity as immigrants and their differences in region, duration, and their socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics, this research adds to our knowledge of the complex associations between the social characteristics of immigrants and physical and mental health measures.