Immigrant status and gender effects on psychopathology and self-concept in adolescents: a test of the migration-morbidity hypothesis.

Evidence for a relationship between immigrant status and psychological morbidity (which we shall refer to as the "migration-morbidity" hypothesis) in adolescents is variable and inconclusive. The present study tests this hypothesis and also explores gender differences in self-reported psychopathology and self-concept measures. Native-born Australians, Australian-born adolescent children of immigrants, and immigrant and refugee adolescents are compared on a number of relevant measures. The results do not support the migration-morbidity hypothesis. However, Vietnamese refugee adolescents had poorer self-concept than the other groups.