Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T19:27:52.984Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychological symptom levels in Indian immigrants to England–a comparison with native English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Raymond Cochrane  and
Mary Stopes-Roe
Raymond Cochrane*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Birmingham
Mary Stopes-Roe
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Birmingham
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr R. Cochrane, Department of Psychology, The University, Birmingham B15 2TT.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

A national community survey of psychological symptom levels among samples of Indian immigrants and natives is reported. Using a quasi-random sampling procedure, a sample of 200 Indian-born residents of large towns in England was selected to match the age and sex structure of the total Indian immigrant population. An indigenous population, selected in the same way, was matched with the immigrants for comparison purposes. Psychological disturbance was measured with the Langner 22-Item Scale which has previously been specifically validated for use in this context. Other indices were constructed to test specific hypotheses.

The pattern revealed by mental hospital admission statistics was strongly supported by survey. Indian immigrants as a group experience far less psychological disorder than natives, despite the experiences of migration and of being an immigrant. On other measures Indians also manifested an adjustment superior to that of natives.

Among the Indian sample stable psychological adjustment was related to being young at migration, being acculturated to life in England and being socially integrated. A subgroup of higher social status, Indian females who had been upwardly socially mobile, emerged as the only group with a higher than average symptom level. However, even this group was at least as well adjusted as its English counterpart.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , May 1981 , pp. 319 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bagley, C. (1971). Mental illness in immigrant minorities in London. Journal of Biosocial Science 3, 443–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, R. (1977). Mental illness in immigrants to England and Wales: an analysis of mental hospital admissions, 1971. Social Psychiatry 12, 25–35.Google Scholar
Cochrane, R. (1979). A comparative study of the adjustment of the Irish, Indian and Pakistani immigrants to England. The Mahesh Desai Memorial Lecture of the British Psychological Society, Nottingham.Google Scholar
Cochrane, R. (1980). A comparative evaluation of the Symptom Rating Test and the Langner 22-Item Index for use in epidemiological surveys. Psychological Medicine 10, 115–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cochrane, R. & Sobol, M. (1980). Life stresses and psychological consequences. In The Social Psychology of Psychological Problems (ed. Feldman, M. P. and Orford, J.), pp. 151–182. Wiley: London.Google Scholar
Cochrane, R. & Stopes-Roe, M. (1977). Psychological and social adjustment of Asian immigrants to Britain: a community survey. Social Psychiatry 12, 195–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, R. & Stopes-Roe, M. (1980 a). Factors affecting the distribution of psychological symptoms in urban areas of England. Acta psychiatrica scandinavica 61, 445–460.Google Scholar
Cochrane, R. & Stopes-Roe, M. (1980 b). The mental health of immigrants. New Community 8, 123–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, R. & Stopes-Roe, M. (1981). Social class and psychological disorder in Britain: further evidence. International Journal of Social Psychiatry (in the press).Google Scholar
Cochrane, R., Hashmi, F. & Stopes-Roe, M. (1977). Measuring psychological disturbance in Asian immigrants to Britain. Social Science and Medicine 11, 157–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dohrenwend, B. P. & Dohrenwend, B. S. (1969). Social Status and Psychological Disorder: A Causal Inquiry. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Eaton, W. W. & Lasry, J. C. (1978). Mental health and occupational mobility in a group of immigrants. Social Science and Medicine 12, 53–58.Google Scholar
Hashmi, F. (1968). Community psychiatric problems among Birmingham immigrants. British Journal of Social Psychiatry 3, 196–201.Google Scholar
Krupinski, J. (1967). Sociological aspects of mental ill-health in migrants. Social Science and Medicine 1, 267–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langner, T. S. (1962). A 22-item screening scale of psychiatric symptoms indicating impairment. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 3, 269–276.Google Scholar
Manis, J. G., Brawer, M. J., Hunt, C. L. & Kercher, L. C. (1963). Validating a mental health scale. American Sociological Review 28, 108–116.Google Scholar
Nandi, D. N., Mukherjee, S. P., Boral, G. C., Banerjee, G., Ghosh, A., Sarkar, S. & Ajmany, S. (1980). Socioeconomic status and mental morbidity in certain tribes and castes in India – cross cultural study. British Journal of Psychiatry 136, 73–85.Google Scholar
Ødegaard, Ø. (1932). Immigration and insanity – a study of mental disease among the Norwegian-born population in Minnesota. Acta psychiatrica et neurologica scandinavica, Supplement 4.Google Scholar
Sanua, V. D. (1969). Immigration, migration and mental illness: a review of the literature with special emphasis on schizophrenia. In Behavior in New Environments (ed. Brody, E. B.), pp. 291–352. Sage Publications: Beverly Hills.Google Scholar
Seiler, L. H. (1973). The 22-Item Scale used in field studies of mental illness: a question of method, a question of substance, and a question of theory. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 14, 252–264.Google Scholar
Smith, D. J. (1976). The Facts of Racial Disadvantage. PEP: London.Google Scholar