Livingston I L, Neita M, Riviere L, Livingston S L
Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Howard University, Douglas Hall Room 207, 2441 Georgia Avenue, NW, PO Box 987, Washington DC 20059, USA.
West Indian Med J. 2007 Jun;56(3):213-22. doi: 10.1590/s0043-31442007000300004.
Given that the health of many immigrants declines after increasing years in their host countries and that there may be gender differences in these experiences, this exploratory study's main objective was twofold: a) assess the relationship between acculturative stress and negative health (ie both mental and physical) and b) determine if there were any gender differences in these stress-health relationships. Gender-stratified analyses were conducted on a sample of 418 (males = 158, females = 260) English-speaking immigrants (the majority of whom were Jamaicans--males = 81%, females = 86%) that lived in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland (DC Metropolitan Area, United States of America (USA). Mail-order surveys were used to collect the data over a six-month period in 2002. Data for the main independent variable, acculturative stress, were collected using five indices (ie personal problems, group affiliations, adjustment to life in the USA, lonely feelings and feeling socially satisfied). Data for the major dependent variable, health, were collected using four indices (ie symptoms of depression, physical health conditions, the rating of one's health and the feeling of control one had over one's health). After controlling for selected covariates, both males (r = 0.42, p < 0.001) and females (r = 0.19, p < 0.05) reported a positive relationship between personal problems and depression. In other cases, female immigrants, with increasing personal problems, reported more physical health problems (r = 0.20, p < 0.05). Male immigrants who had more group affiliations (r = 0.22, p < 0.05), and who reported more loneliness (r = .26, p < 0.05) had less symptoms of depression. These exploratory results suggest the potential importance of selected variables (eg personal problems and depression) in efforts at improving the health of Caribbean immigrants.
鉴于许多移民在其东道国居住年限增加后健康状况下降，且这些经历可能存在性别差异，本探索性研究的主要目标有两个：a）评估文化适应压力与负面健康状况（即心理和生理健康）之间的关系；b）确定这些压力与健康的关系中是否存在性别差异。对418名说英语的移民（男性 = 158人，女性 = 260人）进行了性别分层分析（其中大多数是牙买加人——男性占81%，女性占86%），他们居住在哥伦比亚特区、弗吉尼亚州和马里兰州（美国华盛顿特区大都市区）。2002年，通过邮购调查在六个月的时间里收集数据。主要自变量文化适应压力的数据通过五个指标收集（即个人问题、群体归属、对美国生活的适应、孤独感和社交满意度）。主要因变量健康的数据通过四个指标收集（即抑郁症状、身体健康状况、对自身健康的评分以及对自身健康的控制感）。在控制了选定的协变量后，男性（r = 0.42，p < 0.001）和女性（r = 0.19，p < 0.05）均报告个人问题与抑郁之间存在正相关关系。在其他情况下，随着个人问题增多，女性移民报告的身体健康问题更多（r = 0.20，p < 0.05）。群体归属更多（r = 0.22，p < 0.05）且孤独感更强（r = 0.26，p < 0.05）的男性移民抑郁症状较少。这些探索性结果表明，选定变量（如个人问题和抑郁）在改善加勒比移民健康状况的努力中可能具有重要意义。
