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April 10, 2008Social Integration Affects Mental Health of Immigrant Men and Women in Unexpected Ways |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Social integration affects the mental health of non-Western male immigrants in a positive way. For women however, social integration gives an increased risk for mental problems according to a new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). That was unexpected, says Professor Odd Steffen Dalgard from the Division for Mental Health at the NIPH. Dalgard is the primary author of the article "Immigration, social integration and mental health in Norway, with focus on gender differences", published in BioMed Central: Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, where the results of the study are presented. A possible explanation for the gender differences is that social integration in Western countries challenges traditional female gender roles from non-Western countries to a greater degree than it challenges traditional male gender roles. This can lead to conflict of norms, threatened self-esteem and/or loss of feelings of identity. Another reason that social integration for non-Western women contributes to psychological problems in some cases can be that they are exposed to negative sanctions from the man's side if they seek contact with the Norwegian society, says Dalgard. In this study non-Western immigrants were defined as women and men born in Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa, whilst Western immigrants were defined as women and men born in Western Europe or America. All men, women and youths in Oslo in 11 different age groups were invited to participate in HUBRO, which aimed to get an overview of the Oslo-population's health and collect research material. Social integration is measured by knowledge of the Norwegian language, reading of Norwegian newspapers, visits from ethnic Norwegians, as well as receipt of help from ethnic Norwegians.
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