Refugees, labour migrants and psychological distress

Abstract

This paper shows the strength and influence of ethnicity on mental health in comparison with material factors and lifestyle, which are well-known risk factors for psychological distress. The focus was on health differences between Latin-American refugees and labour migrants from Finland and the south of Europe. The study was designed as a population-based cross-sectional study, with 338 Latin-American refugees aged 16-74 years (response rate = 81.8%) in Lund, a random sample of 396 Finnish and 161 South European labour migrants, and 996 age-, sex- and education-matched Swedish controls from the Swedish Annual Level-of-living Surveys. The data were analysed unmatched with logistic regression in main effect models. The strongest independent risk indicator for self-reported psychological distress was being a non-European refugee, i.e. a Latin-American refugee, with an estimated odds ratio of 4.39 (2.49-7.31). There was a non-significant association in logistic regression between South European labour migrants and psychological distress, but a crude odds ratio of 2.29 (1.09-4.81). There was no association between Finnish labour migrants and psychological distress. Not feeling secure in daily life was a strong risk indicator for psychological distress, with an estimated odds ratio of 3.29 (1.90-5.45).