Skip to main content
Log in

Psychiatric morbidity among New Zealand Cambodians: the role of psychosocial factors

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A community survey of the relationship between minor psychiatric morbidity and life events, chronic post-migration stressors, social support and coping style among adult Cambodians living in Dunedin was conducted using the 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) as the case identification instrument. Chronic post-migration stressors, life events, poor coping style and poor social support were all associated with minor psychiatric morbidity. Social support or coping style did not moderate the relationship between life events/post-migration stressors and GHQ caseness, but had an independent relationship with the latter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrews G, Tennant C (1978) Life event stress and psychiatric illness. Psychol Med 8: 545–549

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews G, Tennant C, Hewson DM, Vaillant GE (1978) Life event stress, social support, coping style and risk of psychological impairment. J Nerv Ment Dis 166: 307–316

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky A (1983) The Sense of Coherence: development of a research instrument. W.S. Schwartz Research Centre for Behavioural Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Newsletter & Research Reports 1: 1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky A (1984a) The Sense of Coherence as a determinant of health. In: Matarazzo JD et al. (eds) Behavioural health: a handbook of health enhancement and disease prevention. Wiley, New York, pp 114–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky A (1984b) A call for a new question — salutogenesis —and a proposed answer — the Sense of Coherence. J Prev Psychiatry 2: 1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky A (1987) Unraveling the mystery of health. Jossey-Bass, San Franciso

    Google Scholar 

  • Bebbington PE Sturt E, Tennant C, Hurry J (1984) Misfortune and resilience: a community study of women. Psychol Med 14: 347–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown GW (1981) Life events, psychiatric disorder and physical illness. J Psychosom Res 25: 461–473

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown GW, Harris T (1978a) The social origin of depression: a study of psychiatric disorder in women. Tavistock, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown GW, Harris T (1978b) Social origins of depression: a reply. Psychol Med 8: 577–588

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown GW, Andrews B, Harris T et al (1986) Social support, self esteem and depression. Psychol Med 16: 813–831

    Google Scholar 

  • Brugha T, Bebbington P, Tennant C, Hurry J (1985) The list of threatening experiences: a subset of 12 life event categories with considerable long-term contextual threat. Psychol Med 15: 189–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassel JC (1976) The contribution of the social environment to host resistance. Am J Epidemiol 104: 107–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheung P (1994) Post-traumatic stress disorder among Cambodians in New Zealand. Int J Soc Psychiatry 40: 17–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheung P, Spears G (1994) Reliability and validity of the Cambodian version of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 29: 95–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiu E, Tan ES, Krupinski J (1986) Stresses experienced after arrival in Australia. In: Krupinski J, Burrows G (eds) Price of freedom: young Indochinese refugees in Australia. Pergamon Press, Sydney, 115–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobb S (1976) Social support as a moderator of life stress. J Psychosom Med 165: 408–417

    Google Scholar 

  • Dean A, Lin N (1977) The stress-buffering role of social support: problems and prospects for systematic investigation. J Nerv Ment Dis 165: 403–417

    Google Scholar 

  • Frieze R (1986) Research on the impact of the refugee crisis. In: Krupinski J, Burrows G (eds) Price of fredom: young Indochinese refugees in Australia. Pergamon Press, Sydney, pp 8–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson S (1981) Social relationships, adversity and neurosis: an analysis of prospective observations. Br J Psychiatry 138: 391–398

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston R (1983) A revision of socioeconomic status for New Zealand. New Zealand Council for Educational Research, Wellington

    Google Scholar 

  • Krupinski J, Burrows G (1986) The price of freedom: young Indochinese refugees in Australia. Pergamon Press, Sydney

    Google Scholar 

  • Krupinski J, Stuart G, Carson N (1986) Factors influencing psychological and social adjustment. In: Krupinski J, Burrows G (eds) The price of freedom: young Indochinese refugees in Australia. Pergamon Press, Sydney, pp 208–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin KM, Tazuma L, Masuda M (1979a) Adaptational problems of Vietnamese refugees I. health and mental health status. Arch Gen Psychiatry 36: 955–961

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin N, Simeone RS, Ensel WM, Kuo W (1979b) Social support, stressful life events, and illness: a model and an empirical test. J Health Soc Behav 20: 108–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker GB, Brown LB (1982) Coping behaviors that mediate between life events and depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 39: 1386–1391

    Google Scholar 

  • Parry G, Shapiro DA (1986) Social support and life events in working class women: stress buffering or independent effects? Arch Gen Psychiatry 43: 315–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Paykel ES, Emms EM, Fletcher J, Rassaby ES (1980) Life events and social support in puerperal depression. Br J Psychiatry 136: 339–346

    Google Scholar 

  • Romans-Clarkson SE, Walton VA, Herbison GP, Mullen PE (1989) Validity of the GHQ-28 in New Zealand women. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 23: 187–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Soloman ZH, Bromet (1982) The role of social factors in affective disorder: an assessment of the vulnerability model of Brown and colleagues. Psychol Med 12: 123–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Surtees PG (1980) Social support, residual adversity and depressive outcome. Soc Psychiatry 15: 71–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Tennant C, Bebbington P (1978) The social causation of depression: a critique of the work of Brown and his colleagues. Psychol Med 8: 565–575

    Google Scholar 

  • Tennant C, Bebbington P, Hurry J (1981) The role of life events in depressive illness: is there a substantial causal relation? Psychol Med 11: 379–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Vignes AJ, Hall RCW (1979) Adjustment of a group of Vietnamese people to the United States. Am J Psychiatry 136: 442–444

    Google Scholar 

  • Westermeyer J, Vang TF, Neider J (1983a) Migration and mental health among Hmong refugees: association of pre- and post-migration factors with self-rating scales. J Nerv Ment Dis 171: 92–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Westermeyer J, Vang TF, Neider J (1983b) Refugees who do not seek psychiatric care. An analysis of premigratory and postmigratory characteristics. J Nerv Ment Dis 171: 86–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Wethington E, Kessler RC (1986) Perceived support, receivea support, and adjustment of stressful life events. J Health Soc Behav 27: 78–89

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cheung, P., Spears, G. Psychiatric morbidity among New Zealand Cambodians: the role of psychosocial factors. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 30, 92–97 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00794949

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00794949

Keywords

Navigation