Mental Well-Being in Boys and Girls of Immigrant Background: The Balance between Vulnerability and Resilience

Abstract

The difference in mental well-being between children of immigrants and children of the native-born can be seen as a crucial indicator of integration. Theories about acculturation and social stress due to adverse socio-economic circumstances in immigrant families predict that the well-being of children in these families would be at risk. Our study of internalising and externalising problems in adolescents does not find any support for this: if anything, there is a weak but systematic tendency for children of immigrants to have somewhat higher well-being, regardless of gender and immigrant generation. The advantages that we find for children of immigrants are partly accounted for by a stronger family orientation in immigrant families (for internalising problems), while religiosity accounts for most of the advantage in externalising behaviour. But even though family cohesion is of importance, there are only small differences in cohesion between children to immigrants and non-immigrants; and although the religiosity differs enormously between immigrant and majority families, the association with well-being is quite weak.