Comparing the Different Manifestations of Postpartum Mental Disorders by Origin, among Immigrants and Native-Born in Israel According to Different Mental Scales

Shakked Lubotzky-Gete, Maru Gete, Roni Levy, Yaffa Kurzweil and Ronit Calderon-Margalit
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Shakked Lubotzky-Gete: Hadassah Braun School of Public Health, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel
Maru Gete: Otolaryngology (ENT) and Head-Neck Surgery, Shaarei-Tzedek Medical Center, Jerusalem 9103102, Israel
Roni Levy: Hadasa School of Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel
Yaffa Kurzweil: The Nursing Administration, Shamir Medical Center, Zeriffin 60930, Israel
Ronit Calderon-Margalit: Hadassah Braun School of Public Health, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: We conducted a prospective study, aimed to study whether the prevalence of mental disorders after birth differs by country of origin. Parturient mothers of Ethiopian origin, Former-USSR (FSU) origin, or nonimmigrant, native-Israeli origin ( n = 974, all Jewish) were recruited in hospitals in Israel and were followed 6–8 weeks and one year after birth. General linear models were used to study the associations between origin and mental health, comparing Ethiopian and FSU origin with native-Israeli. Ethiopian and FSU mothers were more likely to report on somatic symptoms, compared with native-Israeli women. Ethiopian origin was negatively and significantly associated with anxiety in all three interviews (? = ?1.281, ? = ?0.678 and ? = ?1.072, respectively; p < 0.05 in all). FSU origin was negatively associated with depression after birth (? = ?0.709, p = 0.036), and negatively associated with anxiety after birth and one-year postpartum (? = ?0.494, and ? = ?0.630, respectively). Stressful life events were significantly associated with all mental disorders in the three time points of interviews. Our findings suggest that immigrants tend to express higher mental distress with somatic symptoms. Additional tools are needed for mental distress screening among immigrants.

Keywords: immigrants; somatization; postpartum; depression; anxiety; mental disorders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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