The Association of Immigrant- and Non-Immigrant-Specific Factors With Mental Ill Health Among Immigrants in Sweden

Petter Tinghög, Suad Al-Saffar, John Carstensen and Lennart Nordenfelt
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Petter Tinghög: Department of Health and Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden, petter.tinghog@ihs.liu.se
Suad Al-Saffar: Section of Psychiatry, Neurotec Institution, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Stockholm Centre for Public Health, Stockholm, Sweden
John Carstensen: Department of Health and Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Lennart Nordenfelt: Department of Health and Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2010, vol. 56, issue 1, 74-93

Abstract: Background: It has often been shown that immigrants are particularly at risk for mental ill health. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of immigrant- and non-immigrant-specific factors with mental ill health within a diverse immigrant population. Method: An extensive questionnaire was sent out to a stratified random sample of three immigrant populations from Finland, Iraq and Iran. The 720 respondents completed a Swedish, Arabic or Farsi (Persian) version of the questionnaire including the WHO (10) Well-Being Index and the HSCL-25. Results: The results indicate that mental ill health among immigrants is independently associated with non-immigrant-specific factors (i.e. high number of types of traumatic episodes, divorced/widowed, poor social network, economic insecurity and being female) and immigrant-specific factors (i.e. low level of sociocultural adaptation). These results were obtained regardless of whether mental ill health was operationalized as low subjective well-being or a high symptom level of anxiety/depression. Conclusions: These fi ndings support the notion that mental ill health among immigrants is a multi-faceted phenomenon that needs to be tackled within a wide range of sectors — e.g. the healthcare system, the social service sector and, of course, the political arena.

Keywords: living conditions; mental ill health; migration; risk factors; Sweden; trauma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:56:y:2010:i:1:p:74-93

DOI: 10.1177/0020764008096163

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