Social anxiety, lifestyle behavior and quality of life in disadvantaged migrant adolescents: A case-control study

Abstract

Migration causes various drawbacks. The study aimed to determine the social anxiety, lifestyle behavior and quality of life of disadvantaged migrant adolescents compared to non-migrant adolescents. The study involved case-control research conducted with 6th, 7th and 8th-grade students in the central district of a province in Turkey. The scales used in the study were accepted as dependent variables. The participants were expected to have the literacy level required to read and understand the questions. Descriptive, comparative and correlation screening analyses were made in the evaluation of the data (p < 0.05). Social anxiety levels of the disadvantaged migrant adolescents were higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05), while perception of quality of life and health-promoting behaviors were lower in both groups, with no difference found between the groups (p < 0.05). Socio-demographic qualities and social support system perceptions of the disadvantaged migrant adolescents made a difference for all dependent variables (p < 0.05), but did not affect health histories (p < 0.05). There was a correlation between the scale total and sub-group dimension scores for all dependent variables (p < 0.05). The quality of life and health-promoting lifestyle behaviors of disadvantaged migrant adolescents must be developed and improved and their social anxiety levels lowered and it is the responsibility of educational institutions to monitor and control this process in a sustainable way.