title: Psychosocial health among immigrants in central and southern Europe.
abstract: Migration exposes people to a number of risks that threaten their health, including those related to psychosocial health. Self-perceived health is usually the main indicator used to assess psychosocial health. Electronic databases were used to examine the literature on the psychosocial health of immigrants in Europe and of North Africans living in their own countries. Immigrants of various ethnic groups show a similar risk of psychosocial disorders but generally present a higher risk than the local population. This risk is related to gender (being higher in women), poor socio-economic status and acculturation, discrimination, time elapsed since migration and age on arrival in the new country. Although the stressors and situations the different ethnic groups experience in the host country may be shared, the way they deal with them may differ according to cultural factors. There is a need to collect detailed data on psychosocial health among the various immigrant groups in Europe, as well as to monitor this aspect in North African residents who lack access to specific services.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toselli
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Biomedical and Specialty Surgical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Italy emanuela.gualdi@unife.it.
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gualdi-Russo
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Diaa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marzouk
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Clinical Sciences, Center for Primary Health Care Research, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sundquist
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Clinical Sciences, Center for Primary Health Care Research, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundquist
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000352:Africa, Northern / Q000208:ethnology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012917:Social Adjustment; D063508:Social Discrimination / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology