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Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
Published in: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 1/2008

Open Access 01-12-2008 | Research

Integration of immigrants into a new culture is related to poor sleep quality

Authors: Ursula Voss, Inka Tuin

Published in: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes | Issue 1/2008

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Abstract

Background

This article reports on the relationship between cultural influences on life style, coping style, and sleep in a sample of female Portuguese immigrants living in Germany. Sleep quality is known to be poorer in women than in men, yet little is known about mediating psychological and sociological variables such as stress and coping with stressful life circumstances. Migration constitutes a particularly difficult life circumstance for women if it involves differing role conceptions in the country of origin and the emigrant country.

Methods

The study investigated sleep quality, coping styles and level of integration in a sample of Portuguese (N = 48) and Moroccan (N = 64) immigrant women who took part in a structured personal interview.

Results

Sleep quality was poor in 54% of Portuguese and 39% of Moroccan women, which strongly exceeds reports of sleep complaints in epidemiologic studies of sleep quality in German women. Reports of poor sleep were associated with the degree of adoption of a German life style. Women who had integrated more into German society slept worse than less integrated women in both samples, suggesting that non-integration serves a protective function. An unusually large proportion of women preferred an information-seeking (monitoring) coping style and adaptive coping. Poor sleep was related to high monitoring in the Portuguese but not the Moroccan sample.

Conclusion

Sleep quality appears to be severely affected in women with a migration background. Our data suggest that non-integration may be less stressful than integration. This result points to possible benefits of non-integration. The high preference for an information-seeking coping style may be related to the process of migration, representing the attempt at regaining control over an uncontrollable and stressful life situation.
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Metadata
Title
Integration of immigrants into a new culture is related to poor sleep quality
Authors
Ursula Voss
Inka Tuin
Publication date
01-12-2008
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes / Issue 1/2008
Electronic ISSN: 1477-7525
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-6-61

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