Immigrant Mental Health and Unemployment

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2006.00358.x Byline: STEVEN KENNEDY (1), JAMES TED MCDONALD (2) Keywords: I12; J69 Abstract: In this paper we examine how the stresses associated with the transition to a new country combined with additional stress arising from a period of unemployment affect the mental health of immigrants. Australian immigrants are found to have poorer mental health at 6 months after arrival in Australia compared with 18 and 42 months. Furthermore, unemployment, and especially a long duration of unemployment, is found to be associated with poor mental health. We found that although immigrant women appear unaffected by their spouses' labour force status, there is evidence that immigrant men's mental health is affected by spouse labour force status. Author Affiliation: (1)Australian Treasury, Canberra, ACT, Australia (2)University of New Brunswick, Frederiction, New Brunswick, Canada Article note: Correspondence: Steven Kennedy, Australian Treasury, Langton Crescent, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia. Email: skennedy@treasury.gov.au