Gender Differences in the Incidence of Depression Among Immigrants and Natives in Aragón, Spain

Discrimination and mental health of Somali immigrants in North America: a longitudinal study from 2013 to 2019

PURPOSE

Immigrant mental health is closely linked to the context of reception in the receiving society, including discrimination; past research has examined this relationship only cross-sectionally. This longitudinal study examines the relationships between discrimination and mental health among Somali immigrants living in North America from 2013 to 2019.

METHODS

Data for 395 participants (mean age 21 years at Time 1) were collected through the four-wave Somali Youth Longitudinal Study in four cities: Boston, MA, Minneapolis, MN, Lewiston/Portland, ME, and Toronto, ON. Latent linear and quadratic growth models were used to predict mental health symptoms over time and discrimination's role in these changes.

RESULTS

PTSD and anxiety symptoms decreased from 2013 to 2015 and subsequently increased. Depression was static from 2013 to 2015, worsening thereafter. Increases in discrimination predicted increases in mental health symptomatology at all timepoints.

CONCLUSION

This study provides support for discrimination's toxic impact on mental health and suggests that recent increases in discrimination may have contributed to worsening mental health among Somali immigrants living in North America.

[Mental health, acculturation and religiosity in Jewish migrants from the former Soviet Union in Austria]

BACKGROUND

Research on migration provides controversial findings regarding the links between mental health and migration as well as the factors influencing the mental health of migrants. Even though there is evidence for differences between migrant groups from different countries of origin, almost no empirical studies about individual migrant groups in Austria have been undertaken so far.

METHODS

In the present population-based study we compared depression and anxiety of 96 ex-Soviet Jews to a sample of 101 Austrians matched by age and sex. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of acculturation attitude and religiosity on the psychological condition of the migrants. Depression and anxiety were measured with Beck-Depression-Inventory (BDI), State-Trait-Anxiety-Inventory (STAI) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Acculturation attitude was assessed with Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) and religiosity with a self-developed scale.

RESULTS

Ex-Soviet Jews were significantly more depressed and more anxious than native Austrians but not more likely to be affected by clinical depression. Integration (i.e. interest in both the original and the receiving society's culture) as an acculturation strategy was associated with the lowest mental health burden. Religiosity had a protective effect against depression but not against anxiety.

CONCLUSION

The present study allows initial insights into the mental health of a migrant group which has hardly been subject to research, and it indicates a need for a greater opening of the Austrian majority population to migrants.

Psychotropic drugs prescription in undocumented migrants and indigent natives in Italy

To evaluate psychotropic drug use in undocumented migrants and natives in the same conditions of poverty. We studied drug dispensation by a nongovernmental organization during the year 2014. Drugs were identified according to the Anatomical Chemical Therapeutic classification and their quantity was measured in defined daily doses (DDD). We determined the percentage of patients taking at least one medicine with psychotropic activity in relation to the total number of patients receiving medicines of any class. We also calculated the individual DDD for psychoactive drugs. The percentage of natives receiving this type of medicine is significantly higher than that of undocumented migrants. Individual DDDs for each class of psychotropic drug are comparable in Italians and undocumented migrants and, among the latter, no difference was found in relation to ethnicity. Our findings describe for the first time the use of psychotropic medicines by undocumented migrants. On this basis, we hypothesize that poverty is more important than migration and ethnicity in generating the need for this type of pharmacological treatment. Both natives and undocumented migrants show poor adherence to treatment. This situation should be considered when programming health interventions in this field for the very poor and undocumented migrants.

Migration-Related Stressors and Their Effect on the Severity Level and Symptom Pattern of Depression among Vietnamese in Germany

OBJECTIVES

Vietnamese in Germany represent a scarcely researched and vulnerable group for mental health problems, especially under exposure to migration-related stressors (MRS). This study analyzes the effect of those MRS on the severity level and symptom pattern of depression.

DESIGN

We analyzed the data of 137 depressed Vietnamese patients utilizing Germany's first Vietnamese psychiatric outpatient clinic. Hierarchical linear regression models were applied to investigate how the quantity of MRS influenced (1) the overall severity of self-reported depression symptoms; (2) the cognitive, affective, and somatic BDI-II subscale; and (3) the single BDI-II items of these subscales.

RESULTS

A greater number of MRS were related to a higher severity level of depression in general, as well as to a higher level on the cognitive depression subscale in particular. The BDI-II single items pessimism, past failure, guilt feelings, punishment feelings, and suicidal thoughts were particularly associated with a higher quantity of perceived MRS.

CONCLUSION

Among depressed Vietnamese migrants in Germany, a higher number of reported MRS were associated with higher overall depression severity. Within the domains of depression, particularly the cognitive domain was linked to perceived MRS. The association between MRS and suicidal thoughts is clinically highly relevant.