Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 12/2007

01-12-2007 | ORIGINAL PAPER

To what extent may the association between immigrant status and mental illness be explained by socioeconomic factors?

Authors: Petter Tinghög, MA, Tomas Hemmingsson, PhD, Ingvar Lundberg, MD, PhD

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 12/2007

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Immigrants in Sweden have a higher rate of mental illness than the native Swedes. This study investigated to what extent the association between immigrant status and mental illness can be explained by a different distribution of known risk factors for impaired mental health between groups of immigrants and persons born in Sweden.

Methods

The study is based on data from the Swedish PART-study, designed to identify risk factors for, and social consequences of, mental illness. The study population consists of a random sample of 10,423 Swedish citizens, whereof 1,109 were immigrants. The data was collected in the year 2000. The immigrants were divided into three groups based on country of origin (Scandinavians born outside Sweden, Europeans born outside Scandinavia, non-Europeans). The occurrence of mental illness among immigrants and native Swedes were compared not adjusting and adjusting for indicators of socioeconomic advantage/disadvantage (education, income, labour market position, etc). Mental illness was approximated with the WHO (ten) wellbeing index scale and depressive symptoms were measured with the major depression inventory scale (MDI).

Results

Immigrants’ excess risk for low subjective wellbeing was completely accounted for by adjustment for known risk factors in all the immigrant groups. However, social-economic disadvantages could not account for the non-European immigrants’ higher prevalence of depression (MDI), although the increased relative risk found in univariate analyses was substantially reduced.

Conclusions

The findings in this study suggest that the association between immigrant status and mental illness appears above all to be an effect of a higher prevalence of social and economic disadvantage.
Literature
1.
Bayard-Burfield L, Sundquist J, Johansson S-E (2000) Self-reported long-standing psychiatric illness and intake of benzodiazepines: A comparison between foreign-born and Swedish-born people. Eur J Public Health 10:51–57CrossRef
2.
Bech P, Gudex C, Johansen KS (1996) The WHO (Ten) Well-Being Index: validation in diabetes. Psychother Psychosom 65:183–190PubMedCrossRef
3.
Berry J, Kim U (1988) Acculturation and mental health. In: Dasen P, Berry JW, Sartorius N (eds) Cross-cultural psychology and health: towards applications. Sage, London
4.
Berry JW, Poortinga YH, Segall MH, Dasen PH (2002) Cross-cultural psychology:research and applications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, New York, US
5.
Comino EJ, Silove D, Manicavasagar V, Harris E, Harris MF (2001) Agreement in symptoms of anxiety and depression between patients and GPs: the influence of ethnicity. Fam Pract 18:71–77PubMedCrossRef
6.
Cox DR, Snell EJ (1981) Applied statistics: principles and examples. Chapman and Hall, London
7.
Dohrenwend BP, Levav I, Shrout PE, Schwartz S, Naveh G, Link BG, Skodol AE, Stueve A (1992) Socioeconomic status and psychiatric disorders: the causation-selection issue. Science 255:946–952PubMedCrossRef
8.
Dooley D, Catalano R, Wilson G (1994) Depression and unemployment: panel findings from the epidemiologic catchment area study. Am J Community Psychol 22:745–765PubMedCrossRef
9.
Farooq S, Gahir MS, Okyere E, Sheikh AJ, Oyebode F (1995) Somatization: a transcultural study. J Psychosom Res 39:883–888PubMedCrossRef
10.
Ferrada-Noli M (1997) A cross-cultural breakdown of Swedish suicide. Acta Psychiatr Scand 96:108–116PubMedCrossRef
11.
Forsell Y (2005) The major depression inventory versus schedules for clinical assessment in neuropsychiatry in a population sample. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 40:209–213PubMedCrossRef
12.
Forsell Y (2004) Psychiatric symptoms, social disability, low wellbeing and need for treatment: data from a population-based study. Int J Soc Psychiatry 50:195–203PubMedCrossRef
13.
Good B, Kleinman A (1985) Culture and depression: studies in the anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry of affect and disorder. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley
14.
Henderson S, Duncan-Jones P, Byrne DG, Scott R (1980) Measuring social relationships. the interview schedule for social interaction. Psychol Med 10:723–734PubMedCrossRef
15.
Hudson CG (2005) Socioeconomic status and mental illness: tests of the social causation and selection hypotheses. Am J Orthopsychiatry 75:3–18PubMedCrossRef
16.
Hällström T (1996) (Mental illness—Gender differences) Psykisk ohälsa—könsskillnader. In: P Östlin (ed) (Gender and Illness: an anthology of gender differences from a public health perspective) Kön och ohälsa: en antologi om könsskillnader ur ett folkhälsoperspektiv. Studentlitteratur, Lund
17.
Johansson LM, Sundquist J, Johansson SE, Bergman B (1998) Immigration, moving house and psychiatric admissions. Acta Psychiatr Scand 98:105–111PubMedCrossRef
18.
Johansson LM, Sundquist J, Johansson SE, Bergman B, Qvist J, Traskman-Bendz L (1997) Suicide among foreign-born minorities and Native Swedes: an epidemiological follow-up study of a defined population. Soc Sci Med 44:181–187PubMedCrossRef
19.
Kessler RC, McGonagle KA, Zhao S, Nelson CB, Hughes M, Eshleman S, Wittchen HU, Kendler KS (1994) Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States. Results from the national comorbidity survey. Arch Gen Psychiatry 51:8–19PubMed
20.
Kirmayer LJ, Young A (1998) Culture and somatization: clinical, epidemiological, and ethnographic perspectives. Psychosom Med 60:420–430PubMed
21.
Knipscheer JW, Kleber RJ (2006) The relative contribution of posttraumatic and acculturative stress to subjective mental health among Bosnian refugees. J Clin Psychol 62:339–353PubMedCrossRef
22.
Link BG, Lennon CL, Dohrenwend BP (1993) Socioeconomic status and depression: the role of occupations involving direction, control and planning. Am J Soc 98:1351–1387CrossRef
23.
Littlewood R, Lipsedge M (1997) Aliens and alienists:ethnic minorities and psychiatry. Routledge, London, New York
24.
Lundberg I, Damstrom-Thakker K, Hallstrom T, Forsell Y (2005) Determinants of non-participation, and the effects of non-participation on potential cause-effect relationships, in the PART study on mental disorders. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 40:475–483PubMedCrossRef
25.
Mollica RF, Sarajlic N, Chernoff M, Lavelle J, Vukovic IS, Massagli MP (2001) Longitudinal study of psychiatric symptoms, disability, mortality, and emigration among Bosnian refugees. Jama 286:546–554PubMedCrossRef
26.
Newman SC, Sheldon CT, Bland RC (1998) Prevalence of depression in an elderly community sample: a comparison of GMS-AGECAT and DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Psychol Med 28:1339–1345PubMedCrossRef
27.
Noh S, Beiser M, Kaspar V, Hou F, Rummens J (1999) Perceived racial discrimination, depression, and coping: a study of Southeast Asian refugees in Canada. J Health Soc Behav 40:193–207PubMedCrossRef
28.
Patel V, Araya R, de Lima M, Ludermir A, Todd C (1999) Women, poverty and common mental disorders in four restructuring societies. Soc Sci Med 49:1461–1471PubMedCrossRef
29.
Socialstyrelsen (2000) (Different Living conditions––Different Health:a study among immigrants from Chile, Iran, Polen and Turkey) Olika villkor––olika hälsa: en studie bland invandrare från Chile, Iran, Polen och Turkiet. In: Invandrares levnadsvillkor, 4. Socialstyr, Stockholm
30.
Stansfeld SA, Rael EG, Head J, Shipley M, Marmot M (1997) Social support and psychiatric sickness absence: a prospective study of British civil servants. Psychol Med 27:35–48PubMedCrossRef
31.
Statistics-Sweden (1989) Occupations in population and housing census 1985 (FoB 85) according to Nordic standard occupational classification (Nordisk yrkesklassificering, NYK) and Swedish socio-economic classification (Socioekonomisk indelning, SEI): alfabetical version. SCB, Stockholm
32.
Stjarne MK, Fritzell J, De Leon AP, Hallqvist J (2006) Neighborhood socioeconomic context, individual income and myocardial infarction. Epidemiology 17:14–23PubMedCrossRef
33.
34.
Stockholm. Utrednings––och statistikkontoret (1999) (Stockholm’s Statstical Yearbook) Statistisk årsbok för Stockholm. Stockholm
35.
Sundquist J (1994) Refugees, labour migrants and psychological distress. A population-based study of 338 Latin-American refugees, 161 south European and 396 Finnish labour migrants, and 996 Swedish age-, sex- and education-matched controls. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 29:20–24PubMed
36.
Sundquist J, Bayard-Burfield L, Johansson LM, Johansson S-E (2000) Impact of ethnicity, violence and acculturation on displaced migrants: psychological distress and psychosomatic complaints among refugees in Sweden. J Nerv Ment Dis 188:357–365PubMedCrossRef
37.
Unden AL, Orth-Gomer K (1989) Development of a social support instrument for use in population surveys. Soc Sci Med 29:1387–1392PubMedCrossRef
38.
Ward C, Kennedy A (1993) Psychological and socio-cultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions: a comparison of secondary students overseas and at home. Int J Psychol 28:129–147CrossRef
39.
Ward C, Searle W (1991) The impact of value discrepancies and cultural-identity on psychological and sociocultural adjustment of sojourners. Int J Intercul Rel 15:209–225CrossRef
40.
Westermeyer J, Neider J, Callies A (1989) Psychosocial adjustment of Hmong refugees during their first decade in the United States. A longitudinal study J Nerv Ment Dis 177:132–139PubMedCrossRef
41.
Wiking E, Johansson SE, Sundquist J (2004) Ethnicity, acculturation, and self reported health. A population based study among immigrants from Poland, Turkey, and Iran in Sweden. J Epidemiol Community Health 58:574–582PubMedCrossRef
42.
Vogel J, Hjerm M, Johansson S-E, Arbetslivsinstitutet, Statistiska centralbyrån (2002) (Integration towards Swedish living standards? living conditions of immigrants to Sweden in the 1990’s)Integration till svensk välfärd? om invandrares välfärd på 90-talet. Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB): Arbetslivsinstitutet, Stockholm
Metadata
Title
To what extent may the association between immigrant status and mental illness be explained by socioeconomic factors?
Authors
Petter Tinghög, MA
Tomas Hemmingsson, PhD
Ingvar Lundberg, MD, PhD
Publication date
01-12-2007
Publisher
D. Steinkopff-Verlag
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 12/2007
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0253-5

Other articles of this Issue 12/2007

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 12/2007 Go to the issue

ORIGINAL PAPER

Idealized cultural beliefs about gender: implications for mental health

Erratum

Remission of maternal depression and child symptoms among single mothers

ORIGINAL PAPER

Sexual behaviour in sleep

ORIGINAL PAPER

Adult and peer involvement in help-seeking for depression in adolescent population

ORIGINAL PAPER

A prospective study of childhood psychopathology: independent predictors of change over three years

ORIGINAL PAPER

Patients with schizophrenia and their finances: how they spend their money