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Predictors of emotional problems and physical aggression among children of Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese and Filipino immigrants to Canada

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and study aims

Data from the New Canadian Children and Youth Study (NCCYS), a national study of immigrant children and youth in Canada, are used to examine the mental health salience of putatively universal determinants, as well as of immigration-specific factors. Universal factors (UF) include age, gender, family and neighbourhood characteristics. Migration-specific (MS) factors include ethnic background, acculturative stress, prejudice, and the impact of region of resettlement within Canada.

Methods

In a sample of children from Hong Kong, the Philippines and Mainland China, the study examined the determinants of emotional problems (EP), and physical aggression (PA). A two-step regression analysis entered UF on step 1, and MS variables on step 2.

Results

Universal factors accounted for 12.1% of EP variance. Addition of MS variables increased explained variance to 15.6%. Significant UF predictors: parental depression, family dysfunction, and parent’s education. Significant MS variables: country of origin, region of resettlement, resettlement stress, prejudice, and limited linguistic fluency. UF accounted for 6.3% of variance in PA scores. Adding migration-specific variables increased variance explained to 9.1%. UF: age, gender, parent’s depression, family dysfunction. MS: country of origin, region of resettlement, resettlement stress, and parent’s perception of prejudice.

Conclusions

Net of the effect of factors affecting the mental health of most, if not all children, migration-specific variables contribute to understanding immigrant children’s mental health.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is a product of the New Canadian Children and Youth Study (Principal Investigators: Morton Beiser, Robert Armstrong, Linda Ogilvie, Jacqueline Oxman-Martinez, Joanna Anneke Rummens), a national longitudinal survey of the health and well-being of more than 4,000 newcomer immigrant and refugee children living in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. The NCCYS is a joint collaboration between university researchers affiliated with Canada’s four Metropolis Centres of Excellence for research on immigration and settlement, and community organizations representing Afghani, Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese, Latin American (El Salvadorean, Guatemalan, Colombian), Ethiopian, Haitian, Iranian, Kurdish, Lebanese, Filipino, Punjabi, Serbian, Somali, Jamaican, Sri Lankan Tamil, and Vietnamese newcomers in Canada. Major funding for the project has been provided by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR grants FRN-43927 and PRG-80146), Canadian Heritage, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Health Canada, Justice Canada, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Alberta Learning, B.C. Ministry of Social Development and Economic Security, B.C. Ministry of Multiculturalism and Immigration, Conseil Quebecois de la Recherche Sociale, Manitoba Labour and Immigration, and the Montreal, Prairies, and Ontario Metropolis Centres of Excellence for research on immigration and settlement.

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Beiser, M., Hamilton, H., Rummens, J.A. et al. Predictors of emotional problems and physical aggression among children of Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese and Filipino immigrants to Canada. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 45, 1011–1021 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0140-3

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