Migration and Mental HealthRuby Osoria, Diana Lozano, Nancy Madrid, Marcella Hernandez, and Hugo Salgado

Overview • Research question (Hypothesis)• Literature Review• Data Source (Qualitative and Quantitative)• Research Subjects

Research Question• Are Tunkanseños who experience higher perceived

discrimination more likely to suffer from depression than Tunkanseños that do not experience perceived discrimination?

• Sub-question: How does the association between discrimination and depression vary among internal migrants, international migrants, returning migrants, relatives of migrants, and non-migrants?

Hypothesis• H1: We hypothesize that those who have migrated are more

likely to suffer from depressive symptoms.• H2: We hypothesize that higher levels of perceived

discrimination will have a moderating effect on those that report depressive symptomology.

Why it’s important?• Our study will attempt to:

1) Shed light on the intensity of perceived discrimination by Tunkanseños and its influence on psychological responses such as depression.

2) Control for the multiple co-factors and acknowledge and reduce the limitations of past studies.

3) Better understanding of mental health among rural families establishing themselves in urbanized areas.

4) May encourage positive action to decrease the stigma towards undocumented Latino migrants entering the U.S. clandestinely.

5) Additional literature may stress the need for immigration and public health policy reform towards a culturally sensitive population.

Literature Review• Migration• Depression• Perceived Discrimination

Migration• Various macro and micro structures associated with migration process for

many groups that lead to poor mental and physical health, trend is the same when focusing specifically on Mexican Migration to the United States

• Studies focus on the pre-migration, during-migration and post-migration factors to understand how health can be affected by various stages and the process as a whole-instead of just acculturation

• Migration also impacts health in sending communities-children and wives are highly affected due to separation from loved ones and the rearrangement of household duties and traditional gender roles

• Internal Migration Process has also lead to poor health, research indicates how individuals who often migrate from rural to urban centers can experience similar migration hardships as those migrating internationally

Depression• International Migrants• longer residence in the US higher depression levels

• Depression levels among non migrants• relatives of international migrants > non migrants with no migrant relatives

• Latina Women• Hopelessness factors:

• living in larger households• not working• lack of family support• lower levels of education

• Female Migrant Workers• Depression and suicide ideation stressors:

• language barriers• hard physical labor• migration experience• geographic social isolation• emotional isolation • female responsibilities

Perceived Discrimination • Studies have shown that migrating Latinos who have

experienced perceived discrimination have an increased risk of mental health illnesses such as depression.

• Likewise, their non-migrating relatives are also in jeopardy because they have a higher chance of suffering from anxiety and depressive symptoms (Familiar et al 2011).

• Perceived discrimination in the U.S. can interfere with undocumented Latinos’ work, school, and succeeding in general (The National Survey of Latinos, 2002).

Contributing to existing data• Focusing on the mental health of the migrant as well as the

non-migrating family • Providing literature on the effects of both domestic and

international migration on mental health• Our categories: migrants, non-migrating relatives, returning-

migrants, and non-migrants

Research Subjects • International Migrants• Internal Migrants• Non-Migrants (Relatives of migrants)• UCSD clinical psychologists

Data Sources• Mixed data analysis

- Qualitative - Quantitative

QualitativePreguntas Para Migrantes

• Porque se sintio discriminado? • Cree usted que este evento influyo o influye sus decisions o

acciones corrientes?

Non-Migrants

• Cree usted que la discriminacion debe ser una preocupacion significante para las personas que se piensan migrar?

• Podria usted formular una recomendacion para alguna persona que sea propenso a la discriminacion?

Quantitative

Ex. 98a ¿Cada cuanto cree usted que he ha sido discriminado en los EEUU, a veces, muchas veces o siempre?

1 A veces2 Muchas veces3 Siempre8888 N/A9999 NS/NQR

CES-D 20 Item Scale• Used in many studies as a screening tool for the presence of

depressive illness. • The test has proven to be reliable and valid among

participants with different ethnic backgrounds (Radloff 1977).• The range of scores are from 0 to 60, with greater scores

reflecting greater levels of depressive symptoms (Radloff 1977).

Questions and Comments?