Perceived loneliness: Why are Syrian refugees more lonely than other newly arrived migrants in Germany?

Abstract

Migration often impacts the mental and emotional health of those needing to move from their home countries. Studies have focused on migrants’ levels of distress or well-being, and recent research looks at older migrants’ experience with loneliness. What has yet to be researched is how different migrant groups experience loneliness, and how these feelings are affected by the contexts of leaving one country and reception in another. Drawing on the theoretical framework of integration, this article asks whether newly arrived refugees in Germany differ in their perception of loneliness from other newly arrived migrants. It examines these perceptions as related to social contacts and the context—and interplay—of exit and reception. Using OLS regressions with data from the Recent Immigration Processes and Early Integration Trajectories in Germany (ENTRA) project, we find that Syrian refugees have higher levels of loneliness than migrant groups from Poland, Italy, and Turkey. The difference is largely attributable to Syrians not having local German contacts, surviving traumatic experiences at home, and migrating specifically for physical safety. We also find that discrimination and not being in the labor force are determinants of loneliness across all four groups, and that even when considering migrant origins and other effects, having local social contacts lowers levels of loneliness. Our results point to migration policies, such as those related to family reunification and labor market access, for producing inequalities in loneliness between Syrian refugees and other migrants in Germany.