@article{ref1,
title="The Association of Immigrant- and Non-Immigrant-Specific Factors With Mental Ill Health Among Immigrants in Sweden",
journal="International journal of social psychiatry",
year="2010",
author="Tinghög, P. and Al-Saffar, S. and Carstensen, J. and Nordenfelt, L.",
volume="56",
number="1",
pages="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 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.<p />",
language="",
issn="0020-7640",
doi="10.1177/0020764008096163",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020764008096163"
}