Lerias Doukessa, Ziaian Tahereh, Arthur Nancy, Augoustinos Martha, Pir Tara, Miller Emily
Justice & Society, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, 5072, Australia.
UniSA Business, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Community Ment Health J. 2025 Jun 4. doi: 10.1007/s10597-025-01474-9.
Being of immigrant background is a risk factor for poor mental health among youth. In OECD countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, both immigration and youth are a policy-focus as these countries are popular destinations for immigrants. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mental health of immigrant youth to better support their acculturation and mental health. This study compared the mental health of immigrant youth in Australia, Canada and the United States, and refugee and migrant youth within each country. It also explored numerous factors that were previously reported to impact the mental health of immigrant youth needing to acculturate to their settlement country. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a global mental health screen, was used to evaluate 1063 participants recruited through communities in California, Ontario and South Australia. Twenty-four predictor variables were explored, and multivariable linear regression models accounted for substantial proportions of variance in the mental health of immigrant youth in each country. Perceived discrimination, family functioning and resilience were predictive of the mental health of immigrant youth across Australia, Canada and the United States. Additional predictors differed between each settlement country. Similarities and differences in the findings between Australia, Canada and the United States were discussed, and the study provided specific recommendations for policy and practice related to the needs of immigrant youth in the three settlement countries. This study was a timely contribution to the area of youth mental health, whose purpose was to support the acculturation and mental health of youth in OECD countries where great diversity exists due to immigration.
具有移民背景是青少年心理健康状况不佳的一个风险因素。在澳大利亚、加拿大和美国等经合组织国家，移民和青少年都是政策关注的焦点，因为这些国家是受欢迎的移民目的地。本研究的目的是调查移民青少年的心理健康状况，以便更好地支持他们的文化适应和心理健康。本研究比较了澳大利亚、加拿大和美国的移民青少年，以及每个国家内的难民和移民青少年的心理健康状况。它还探讨了许多先前报告的影响需要适应定居国家的移民青少年心理健康的因素。使用全球心理健康筛查工具《长处和困难问卷》对通过加利福尼亚州、安大略省和南澳大利亚州社区招募的1063名参与者进行评估。研究探讨了24个预测变量，多变量线性回归模型解释了每个国家移民青少年心理健康差异的很大一部分。感知到的歧视、家庭功能和心理韧性可预测澳大利亚、加拿大和美国移民青少年的心理健康状况。每个定居国家的其他预测因素有所不同。讨论了澳大利亚、加拿大和美国研究结果的异同，并为与三个定居国家移民青少年需求相关的政策和实践提供了具体建议。这项研究对青少年心理健康领域做出了及时贡献，其目的是支持经合组织国家中因移民而存在巨大多样性的青少年的文化适应和心理健康。
