The Impact of Familial and Environmental Factors on the Adjustment of Immigrants

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vered Slonim-Nevo ◽  
Julia Mirsky ◽  
Ludmila Rubinstein ◽  
Bernhard Nauck

This study examined the impact of family interaction, perceived discrimination, stressful life events, and the hosting country on the adjustment of Israeli and German immigrants. Results show that changes in self-esteem between the 1st year of immigration and 2 and 4 years later were significantly related to family relations: the better the functioning, the greater the improvement. The patterns of relationships in the family, however, only partially explained changes in psychological well-being and language proficiency. Perceived discrimination explained discrepancies over time in psychological well-being among fathers and adolescents and the discrepancies in language proficiency among mothers: the lower the discrimination, the greater the improvement. Adult immigrants who experienced more stressful life events presented deterioration in their psychological well-being over time. Finally, adults who immigrated to Germany were more likely to acquire the new language than their counterparts who immigrated to Israel.

Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 383-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Brailovskaia ◽  
Tobias Teismann ◽  
Jürgen Margraf

Abstract. Background: Stressful life events and suicide ideation regularly occur together. Yet, little is known about factors that buffer individuals against the development of suicide ideation. Aim: In a long-term follow-up study design, it was investigated whether positive mental health, that is, high levels of subjective and psychological well-being, buffers the association between stressful life events and suicide ideation. Method: A total of 126 German students (80.2% female; age: M = 24.29, SD = 5.21) were assessed at a baseline evaluation and again 24 months later. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires. Results: Linear hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Positive mental health was considered to moderate the impact of stressful life events on suicide ideation – controlling for age and gender. Limitations: Current results are limited to university students. Conclusions: Positive mental health interacts with stressful life events, such that those with high levels of positive mental health show an attenuated increase in suicide ideation at elevated levels of stress. Positive mental health seems to confer resilience and should be focused on in counseling centers for students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis M. García-Marín ◽  
Adrián I. Campos ◽  
Nicholas G. Martin ◽  
Gabriel Cuéllar-Partida ◽  
Miguel E. Rentería

Abstract Background Migraine is a complex neurological disorder that is considered the most common disabling brain disorder affecting 14 % of people worldwide. The present study sought to infer potential causal relationships between self-reported migraine and other complex traits, using genetic data and a hypothesis-free approach. Methods We leveraged available summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of 1,504 phenotypes and self-reported migraine and inferred pair-wise causal relationships using the latent causal variable (LCV) method. Results We identify 18 potential causal relationships between self-reported migraine and other complex traits. Hypertension and blood clot formations were causally associated with an increased migraine risk, possibly through vasoconstriction and platelet clumping. We observed that sources of abdominal pain and discomfort might influence a higher risk for migraine. Moreover, occupational and environmental factors such as working with paints, thinner or glues, and being exposed to diesel exhaust were causally associated with higher migraine risk. Psychiatric-related phenotypes, including stressful life events, increased migraine risk. In contrast, ever feeling unenthusiastic / disinterested for a whole week, a phenotype related to the psychological well-being of individuals, was a potential outcome of migraine. Conclusions Overall, our results suggest a potential vascular component to migraine, highlighting the role of vasoconstriction and platelet clumping. Stressful life events and occupational variables potentially influence a higher migraine risk. Additionally, a migraine could impact the psychological well-being of individuals. Our findings provide novel testable hypotheses for future studies that may inform the design of new interventions to prevent or reduce migraine risk and recurrence.


2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. van Vuuren ◽  
S. van der Heuvel ◽  
S. Andriessen ◽  
P. Smulders ◽  
P. Bongers

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guler Boyraz ◽  
Victoria A. Felix ◽  
Lisa K. Battle ◽  
John B. Waits ◽  
Danita D. Wynes ◽  
...  

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen M. Jennison

This article is an analysis of stressful life events, the buffering hypothesis, and alcohol use in a national sample of 1,418 respondents 60 years of age and over. The results indicate that older adults who experience stressful losses are significantly more likely to drink excessively than those who have not experienced such losses or who have experienced them to a lesser extent. Increased drinking among older adults may therefore be a reaction to life circumstances in which alcohol represents an attempt to cope with traumatic loss, personal as well as within the kinship network. Supportive resources of spouse, family, friends, and church appear to have a stress-buffering effects that reduces the excessive-drinking response to life crisis. Data suggest, however, that older persons are vulnerable to the magnitude of losses experienced as they grow older and lose more of their family, friends, and peers. These stressors appear to seriously impact their drinking behavior and are not effectively buffered. Respondents report that drinking may increase during periods of prolonged exposure to emotionally depleting life change and loss, when supportive needs may exceed the capacities of personal and social support resources.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Broeren ◽  
Carol Newall ◽  
Helen F. Dodd ◽  
Ruth Locker ◽  
Jennifer L. Hudson

AbstractThe current study investigated the longitudinal relationships among behavioral inhibition (BI), life events, and anxiety in a sample of 102 BI children and 100 behaviorally uninhibited (BUI) children aged 3 to 4 years. Children's parents completed questionnaires on BI, stressful life events, and anxiety symptoms, and were administered a diagnostic interview three times in a 5-year period. In line with our hypotheses, negative life events, particularly negative behavior-dependent life events (i.e., life events that are related to the children's own behaviors), and the impact of negative life events were predictive of increases in subsequent anxiety symptoms, the likelihood of having an anxiety disorder, and increased number of anxiety diagnoses over the 5-year follow-up period. Experiencing more positive, behavior-independent life events decreased the risk of being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Furthermore, differences were found in life events between BI and BUI children. That is, BI children experienced fewer positive and specifically positive behavior-dependent life events, and the impact of these positive life events was also lower in BI children than in BUI children. However, BI did not interact with life events in the prediction of anxiety problems as hypothesized. Therefore, this study seems to indicate that BI and life events act as additive risk factors in the development of anxiety problems.


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