Health Promotion Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
Hedera, Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Korte Meer 5, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
J Youth Adolesc. 2021 May;50(5):855-871. doi: 10.1007/s10964-021-01423-1. Epub 2021 Mar 31.
Previous research is inconclusive as to whether having an immigration background acts as a risk factor for poor mental health in adolescents, and furthermore, what contribution the social context in which adolescents grow up may make. To address these questions, the current study uses an integrative resilience framework to investigate the association between immigration background and adolescent mental health, and the moderating role of social capital at the individual, the school, and the national level. The study uses data gathered from nationally representative samples of adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 years (N = 63,425 (52.1%); M = 13.57, SD = 1.64) from 29 countries participating in the 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Data analysis reveals that first- and second-generation immigrants reported higher levels of life dissatisfaction and psychosomatic symptoms than their native peers, and that this association varied across schools and countries. In addition, social capital was found to moderate the association between immigration background and adolescent mental health. Individual-level social support from peers and family and national-level trust protected against poor mental health in adolescents with an immigration background, while the opposite was true for individual-level teacher support. Supportive teacher-student relationships were found to provide more protection against poor mental health for native adolescents than for immigrant adolescents. Our findings indicate the importance of taking an ecological approach to design interventions to reduce the negative effects of having an immigration background on adolescent mental health.
先前的研究对于移民背景是否是青少年心理健康不良的风险因素尚无定论，此外，青少年成长的社会环境可能会产生什么影响也没有定论。为了解决这些问题，本研究使用综合弹性框架来调查移民背景与青少年心理健康之间的关联，以及个体、学校和国家层面的社会资本的调节作用。该研究使用了来自 29 个国家的具有代表性的 11、13 和 15 岁青少年（N=63425（52.1%）；M=13.57，SD=1.64）的全国代表性样本数据，这些数据来自于 2017/18 年的健康行为在学龄儿童（HBSC）研究。数据分析表明，第一代和第二代移民比他们的本地同龄人报告了更高水平的生活不满和身心症状，而且这种关联在学校和国家之间有所不同。此外，社会资本被发现调节了移民背景和青少年心理健康之间的关联。来自同伴和家庭的个体层面的社会支持以及国家层面的信任可以保护有移民背景的青少年免受心理健康不良的影响，而来自教师的个体层面的支持则相反。支持性的师生关系被发现为本地青少年提供了比移民青少年更多的保护，以避免心理健康不良。我们的研究结果表明，采取生态方法设计干预措施以减少移民背景对青少年心理健康的负面影响非常重要。
