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Crisis migration refers to displacement of large numbers of individuals and families from their home countries due to wars, dictatorial governments, and other critical hazards (e.g., hurricanes). Although crisis migration can adversely influence direct and indirect effects on the mental health of adults and their children collectively as families, there is a deficiency in theory that addresses family level processes in this crisis migration context. We propose the Family Crisis Migration Stress Framework, which consolidates what is known about the multiple factors affecting mental health outcomes of crisis migrants into one cohesive model. In our article, we synthesize relevant theories and models of disaster, migration, and family resilience in order to create a framework in which to organize the complex processes that occur within families as a result of migration and that affect the mental health of children. We include examples from various national settings to illustrate the tenets of our framework. Future policy and intervention for crisis migrant should focus on the family as a unit, instead of parents and children as individual entities.

Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health disorder among adults worldwide. Given its increased prevalence among migrants due to their marginalized position in the societies where they reside, psychometric evaluations of anxiety measures such as the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 (GAD-7) are needed for use with migrants. The present study is the first attempt to compare the structure of GAD-7 scores for (a) different Latino groups in the same country and (b) the same Latino group in two different countries. Using three samples of Mexican and Venezuelan migrants (total N = 933), we provide reliability and validity evidence of the GAD-7 for use with adult Latino migrants. Utilizing confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory, we demonstrate that the GAD-7 is internally consistent, possesses a strong single-factor structure, and generates scores with equivalent psychometric properties. GAD-7 is appropriate for use with Mexican and Venezuelan migrants across differing gender groups and education levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latine university students represent 21.7% of the U.S. undergraduate student body, yet limited research explores their experiences with cultural stressors, self-esteem, and identity. This study examines the relationship between daily self-esteem and negative context of reception, moderated by two identity processes: normative identity style to host society and country of origin. Using multilevel models, we found that perceived negative context of reception one day predicts lower self-esteem the next day. Normative identity style to country of origin significantly moderated this relationship, exacerbating the impact, while normative style to host society showed no significant effect. These findings highlight the importance of identity processes in understanding self-esteem fluctuations among Latine students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive Summary: Millions of Venezuelans have fled their country in hopes for a better future outside the political and financial turmoil in their home country. This paper examines the self-reported needs of Venezuelans in the United States and Colombia. Specifically, it looks at perceived discrimination in each country and its effect on the service needs of Venezuelan immigrants. The authors used data from a larger project conducted in October to November 2017 to perform a qualitative content analysis on the specific services that participants and others like them would need following immigration. The sample consisted of 647 Venezuelan immigrant adults who had migrated to the United States (n = 342) or Colombia (n = 305). Its findings indicate statistically significant differences between the two countries. Venezuelan immigrants in the United States were more likely to identity mental health and educational service needs, while those in Colombia were more likely to list access to healthcare, help finding jobs, and food assistance. When looking at perceived discrimination, means scores for discrimination were significantly greater for participants who indicated needing housing services, who indicated needing assistance enrolling children in school and who indicated needing food assistance, compared to participants who did not list those needs. Venezuelans who had experienced greater negative context of reception were less likely to indicate needing mental health services, where 11.9 percent of those who did not perceive a negative context of reception responded that they needed mental health services. Evaluating existing service networks will be essential in working to bridge the gap between the services provided to and requested by Venezuelans. Collaboration between diverse government actors, community-based organizations (CBOs) and other stakeholders can help identify gaps in existing service networks. CBOs can also facilitate communication between Venezuelan immigrants and their new communities, on the need to invest in necessary services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the extent to which the Negative Context of Reception Scale generates valid and reliable scores with Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria survivors. A sample of 319 adult Hurricane Maria survivors completed measures of the negative context of reception, discrimination, language stress, depressive and anxiety symptoms, optimism, and life satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) indicated that the previously validated one-factor solution fit the data adequately, and multigroup invariance tests indicated that this solution fit largely equivalently across gender, age groups, year of arrival in the United States, and self-reported English proficiency. Negative context of reception was correlated positively with discrimination and language stress, positively with symptoms of depression and anxiety, and negatively with optimism and life satisfaction. It may be important to adjust item order to reduce intercorrelations among some item responses. This study offers an instrument that counselors can use with Hurricane Maria survivor clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change-related shocks and stresses are prompting the movement of hundreds of thousands. The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of climate change migrants, people displaced from these crises from the initial impacts of the hazard to their recent arrivals in a new location. To do so we draw on focus group discussions with Puerto Ricans in South and Central Florida displaced by 2017 Hurricane Maria. We document the factors leading up to the hurricane that shaped their preparedness, their relocation decisions, and their post-relocation experiences in the initial seven months following the hurricane. We find that for these Puerto Ricans, underlying neglect, discrimination, and other social processes transformed Maria from a hazard to a disaster with devastating economic, social, and physical and mental health effects, while also creating challenges in early recovery. However, migrants were also able to draw on their faith, community and educational institutions, and new neighbours as sources of strength and coping. We argue that since these factors are socially produced, a vulnerability perspective is critical to understanding the experiences of climate migrants. We draw on this perspective to conclude with research and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the perceived impact of cultural and family-economic stressors on the mental health and well-being of Ukrainian migrants in the United States who arrived either pre- or post-Russian invasion. We used a range of tools for assessment, including the general anxiety disorder (GAD-7), CESD-B-10, Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ-22), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD-17), 10-item Revised Life Orientation Test, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, seven-item Perceived Discrimination Scale, six-item Perceived Context of Reception Scale, Language Stress-7, family-economic stress-13 (FES-13), Survivor's guilt-9, and Satisfaction with Life-5 scales. Utilizing latent profile analysis with a sample of 703 Ukrainian migrants, we identified three distinct classes based on levels of cultural and family-economic stress: low, moderate, and high stress. We found that the high-stress class reported the highest levels of depressive ( M = 27.29, SD = 6.02), anxiety ( M = 12.11, SD = 4.30), and PTSD symptoms ( M = 42.19, SD = 11.01), along with lower life satisfaction ( M = 10.76, SD = 4.99) and higher rates of Survivor's guilt ( M = 23.07, SD = 7.57), trauma ( M = 16.76, SD = 5.51), and alcohol misuse ( M = 14.57, SD = 10.84). Conversely, the low-stress class reported higher levels of optimism ( M = 22.14, SD = 5.01). Importantly, individuals arriving after the invasion were disproportionately represented in the high-stress class, with a significant majority meeting criteria for probable anxiety, depression, and PTSD diagnoses. Furthermore, a substantial portion of high-stress participants met criteria for alcohol dependence, emphasizing the pivotal role of stressors in influencing the mental health of Ukrainian migrants, and suggesting the need for tailored interventions addressing cultural and family-economic stressors. This study enhances our understanding of cultural and family-economic stress theories within a European migrant context, emphasizing the significance of arrival cohort and stress levels in mental health interventions for migrant populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: The present research examines the disparities among Ukrainians residing in the United States, comparing Ukrainians who migrated before the February 2022 Russian invasion against those who arrived afterward. We compare these two cohorts vis-a-vis anxiety, depressive symptoms, optimism, posttraumatic stress, life satisfaction, family economic stress, cultural stress (discrimination, negative context of reception, and language stress), hazardous alcohol use, and domestic violence perpetration and victimization., Method: The present sample included 703 Ukrainians (53.63% women) residing in the United States. We conducted a series of multivariate analyses of variance using arrival cohort (pre- vs. postinvasion) and gender (male vs. female) as independent variables., Results: Results indicated that postinvasion participants reported greater internalizing symptoms, cultural/economic stress, and hazardous alcohol use, whereas preinvasion arrivals reported greater levels of optimism and life satisfaction. No significant interactions between cohort and gender emerged for any of the outcomes., Conclusion: Our findings offer valuable insights into the mental health and well-being of displaced Ukrainians within the backdrop of ongoing conflicts. These findings have significant implications for support and intervention efforts not only for Ukrainians but also for other crisis migrant groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose: In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Houses were destroyed, millions of people lost power and access to clean water, and many roads were flooded and blocked. In the years following the storm, hundreds of thousands of people have left Puerto Rico and settled on the U.S. mainland. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of disaster trauma among Puerto Rican adults who moved to the U.S. mainland after Hurricane Maria., Method: Participants were 319 adult Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria survivors on the U.S. mainland. Women comprised 71.2% of the sample. Data were collected between August 2020 and October 2021. Participants completed Spanish-language measures of hurricane-related trauma, perceived ethnic discrimination and negative context of reception on the U.S. mainland, language stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, optimism, life satisfaction, and problem drinking., Results: We estimated a structural equation model where hurricane trauma predicted cultural stress, which in turn predicted internalizing symptoms, optimism, and life satisfaction. Internalizing symptoms, optimism, and life satisfaction were specified as predictors of problem drinking. Results indicated that hurricane trauma predicted cultural stress. Cultural stress predicted internalizing symptoms, optimism, and life satisfaction. Internalizing symptoms predicted problem drinking. Hurricane trauma indirectly predicted internalizing symptoms through cultural stress and indirectly predicted problem drinking through cultural stress and internalizing symptoms., Conclusions: Traumatic experiences from the storm may predispose Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria survivors to perceive cultural stress on the U.S. mainland. In turn, cultural stressors may be associated with internalizing symptoms and alcohol problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Well-being is a multifaceted construct that is used across disciplines to portray a state of wellness, health, and happiness. While aspects of well-being seem universal, how it is depicted in the literature has substantial variation. The aim of this scoping review was to identify conceptual and operational definitions of well-being within the field of occupational health. Broad search terms were used related to well-being and scale/assessment. Inclusion criteria were (1) peer-reviewed articles, (2) published in English, (3) included a measure of well-being in the methods and results section of the article, and (4) empirical paper. The searches resulted in 4394 articles, 3733 articles were excluded by reading the abstract, 661 articles received a full review, and 273 articles were excluded after a full review, leaving 388 articles that met our inclusion criteria and were used to extract well-being assessment information. Many studies did not define well-being or link their conceptual definition to the operational assessment tool being used. There were 158 assessments of well-being represented across studies. Results highlight the lack of a consistent definitions of well-being and standardized measurements., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to examine the association between perceived discrimination and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outcomes among recently arrived Venezuelan parents in Florida and Colombia. The secondary aim was to determine whether, given the existence of an association between perceived discrimination and PTSD, this association may have been moderated by gender or by country of relocation. This is the first study to examine perceived discrimination and PTSD in Venezuelan migrants., Method: In October 2017, 647 Venezuelan migrant parents (62% female, average age 33) participated in an online survey in the United States (primarily Florida) and Colombia (Bogotá). The survey was cross-sectional and assessed mental health outcomes, perceived discrimination, and participant demographics., Results: There was a significant positive association between discrimination and PTSD outcomes when controlling for age, college completion, marital status, and recency of arrival (β = .25, p < .001). Further, this relationship was moderated by gender, with the relationships of discrimination with PTSD symptom severity (β = .26, p < .001) and likelihood of a positive PTSD screen ( OR = 1.07, 95% confidence interval [1.04, 1.09], p < .001) both reaching significance for women but not for men., Conclusions: Perceived discrimination is an important factor when considering mental health outcomes among Venezuelans in the United States and in Colombia. Further, our findings suggest the presence of gender differences in the relationship between discrimination and PTSD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Objectives: To present and analyze the Peruvian health system's response to the sexual and reproductive health needs of Venezuelan women living in the city of Lima, Peru, and to identify some of the reasons underlying this response., Methods: Information was collected through semi-structured, in-depth telephone interviews with 30 Venezuelan women, 10 healthcare workers, and two Ministry of Health officials., Results: Based on the experiences of Venezuelan women who sought care through these services during 2019-2020 and the perspectives of healthcare personnel and health authorities, we present an analysis of the public health services' capacity and limitations in meeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of this population. Migrant women's testimonies reported a positive experience with a health system that, despite shortcomings, responds to the most common sexual and reproductive health needs. These perspectives parallel the testimonies of healthcare personnel and authorities who emphasized the existence of priority policies for sexual and reproductive health care., Conclusion: This study shows how a national priority framework (reducing maternal mortality), accompanied by operational mechanisms for social protection (such as the Comprehensive Health Insurance program), represent complementary instruments that have a positive impact on and extend benefits to migrants, even though this population was not considered when designing these policies.