title: The association of immigrant- and non-immigrant-specific factors with mental ill health among immigrants in Sweden.
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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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 findings 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.
authors: Department of Health and Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. petter.tinghog@ihs.liu.se
authors: Petter
authors: P
authors: Tinghög
authors: Suad
authors: S
authors: Al-Saffar
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Carstensen
authors: Lennart
authors: L
authors: Nordenfelt
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000208:ethnology; D005783:Gender Identity; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000208:ethnology; D007493:Iraq / Q000208:ethnology; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011287:Prejudice; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult