Cultural-economic stress and mental health among Ukrainian immigrants residing in the U.S. post-Russian invasion

Aigerim Alpysbekova; Mia M Cisco; Beyhan Ertanir; Duyen H Vo; Carolina Scaramutti; Lea Nehme; Pablo Montero-Zamora; Tara Bautista; Seth J Schwartz

doi:10.1037/ort0000796

Cultural-economic stress and mental health among Ukrainian immigrants residing in the U.S. post-Russian invasion

Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2024 Oct 21. doi: 10.1037/ort0000796. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Aigerim Alpysbekova¹, Mia M Cisco¹, Beyhan Ertanir², Duyen H Vo¹, Carolina Scaramutti³, Lea Nehme⁴, Pablo Montero-Zamora¹, Tara Bautista⁵, Seth J Schwartz¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, University of Texas at Austin.
² Institute for Educational Sciences, Universitat Basel.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami.
⁴ Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Florida International University.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Northern Arizona University.

PMID: 39432351
DOI: 10.1037/ort0000796

Abstract

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).