TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2010//
TI  - The Association of Immigrant- and Non-Immigrant-Specific Factors With Mental Ill Health Among Immigrants in Sweden
JO  - International journal of social psychiatry
A1  - Tinghög, P.
A1  - Al-Saffar, S.
A1  - Carstensen, J.
A1  - Nordenfelt, L.
SP  - 74
EP  - 93
VL  - 56
IS  - 1
N2  - 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 />
LA  - 
SN  - 0020-7640
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020764008096163
ID  - ref1
ER  -