Elsevier

Comprehensive Psychiatry

Volume 35, Issue 5, September–October 1994, Pages 393-404
Comprehensive Psychiatry

Immigrant status and gender effects on psychopathology and self-concept in adolescents: A test of the migration-morbidity hypothesis

https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-440X(94)90281-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Evidence for a relationship between immigrant status and psychological morbidity (which we shall refer to as the “migration-morbidity” hypothesis) in adolescents is variable and inconclusive. The present study tests this hypothesis and also explores gender differences in self-reported psychopathology and selfconcept measures. Native-born Australians, Australianborn adolescent children of immigrants, and immigrant and refugee adolescents are compared on a number of relevant measures. The results do not support the migration-morbidity hypothesis. However, Vietnamese refugee adolescents had poorer self-concept than the other groups.

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    Supported in part by a grant from LaTrobe University, Albury-Wodonga Campus.

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