The association of immigrant- and non-immigrant-specific factors with mental ill health among immigrants in Sweden.
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.
Tinghög
Petter
P
Department of Health and Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. petter.tinghog@ihs.liu.se
Al-Saffar
Suad
S
Carstensen
John
J
Nordenfelt
Lennart
L
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