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Social Well-Being Among Colombian and Peruvian Immigrants in Northern Chile

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Abstract

In recent years, northern Chile has received a large number of immigrants attracted mainly by mining and related services. The last population census revealed that 70.5 % of foreigners in Chile came from South America, and were mainly Peruvians (30.5 %), Argentines (16.8 %), and Colombians (8.1 %). The aim of this cross-sectional study is to describe the social well-being levels reported by Colombian and Peruvian immigrants in northern Chile, as well as their connection to socio-demographic and relational factors. The Spanish version of the Scale of Social Well-being (Keyes in Soc Psychol Q 61:121–140, 1998) was administered to 431 men and women over 18 years old, with a minimum residence of 6 months in the city of Antofagasta. The highest-rated aspect was Social Contribution, and the lowest-rated aspect was Social Acceptance. The relational variables that show statistically significant differences in both populations relate to who the subject lives with, the degree of contact that the subject has with people from Chile, and the subject’s relationship status. There are no differences that indicate a higher level of social well-being in one population more than the other; however, it appears that the Peruvian population has a greater perception of Social Coherence, while Colombians show a greater perception of Social Contribution.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the FONDECYT Project #1140843, funded by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of the Government of Chile—CONICYT and by Convenio de Desempeño UTA-MINEDUC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Línea de Investigación en Salud, Bienestar y Calidad de Vida, Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Católica del Norte, Avda. Angamos 0610, Antofagasta, Chile

    Alfonso Urzúa Morales, Eric Delgado-Valencia & Mariela Rojas-Ballesteros

  2. Departamento de Psicología y Filosofía, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile

    Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar

Authors
  1. Alfonso Urzúa Morales
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  2. Eric Delgado-Valencia
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  3. Mariela Rojas-Ballesteros
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Correspondence to Alfonso Urzúa Morales.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Urzúa Morales, A., Delgado-Valencia, E., Rojas-Ballesteros, M. et al. Social Well-Being Among Colombian and Peruvian Immigrants in Northern Chile. J Immigrant Minority Health 19, 1140–1147 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0416-0

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