The immigrant advantage

Journalist Claudia Kolker has learned that a wide variety of cherished customs are brought to the United States by immigrant groups, often adapted to American life by the second generation in a distinctive blending of old and new. Taken together, these extraordinary traditions may well contribute to what's known as "the immigrant paradox," the growing evidence that immigrants, even those from poor or violence-wracked countries, tend to be both physically and mentally healthier than most native-born Americans. These customs are unfamiliar to most Americans, but they shouldn't be. Honed over…