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What Does Migration Mean to Us? USA and Russia: Relationship Between Migration, Resilience, Social Support, Happiness, Life Satisfaction, Depression, Anxiety and Stress

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Abstract

In the present study, migrants and non-migrants in the USA and Russia were compared regrading positive and negative variables of mental health. Data of resilience (RS-11), social support (F-SozU), happiness (SHS), life satisfaction (SWLS), depression, anxiety and stress symptoms (DASS-21) were collected in representative samples in Russia (non-migrants: N = 2129; migrants: N = 188) and in the USA (non-migrants: N = 2191; migrants: N = 116). In Russia, no significant differences between migrants and non-migrants were found. In the USA, social support and (marginally) resilience were significantly lower in the migrant sample. Cross-culturally, multiple regression analyses showed that for non-migrants all positive variables were associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. In both migrant samples, the associations were more specifically. While in the US migrant sample, happiness and life satisfaction were of particular importance, in the migrant sample in Russia, happiness and social support played a significant role. Practical applications for enhance of subjective well-being and limitations of gained results are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Massenbergstr 9-13, 44787, Bochum, Germany

    Julia Brailovskaia, Pia Schönfeld & Jürgen Margraf

  2. Center for Cognitive Therapy, Moscow, 101000, Building 5/4, Russia

    Yakov Kochetkov

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  1. Julia Brailovskaia
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  2. Pia Schönfeld
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Correspondence to Julia Brailovskaia.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The datasets during and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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The study was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship warded to Jürgen Margraf by the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation.

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Brailovskaia, J., Schönfeld, P., Kochetkov, Y. et al. What Does Migration Mean to Us? USA and Russia: Relationship Between Migration, Resilience, Social Support, Happiness, Life Satisfaction, Depression, Anxiety and Stress. Curr Psychol 38, 421–431 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9627-3

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