Self-reported stressors experienced by migrant youth in Canada

Background
First-generation migrant youth experience higher levels of stress than their Canadian-born counterparts but have lower mental health service utilization rates.
Objective
The present study aims to report on the social context of migrant youth, focusing on their own experiences of post-migration stressors that impact their mental health.
Methods
The study utilized Concept Mapping in which participants responded to the open-ended question “What are the mental health stressors that you face?”. Youth participants then independently grouped responses made by all youth into concepts.
Results
Participants grouped the statements into seven concepts, including stressors associated with family, isolation, communication, anxiety, overburdened, school difficulties and working with others.
Conclusions
Post-migration stressors for migrant youth exist in a social context where they experience racism and discrimination. The stressors can intersect and accumulate, leading to the perceived necessity and associated pressure to meet others’ expectations.
Introduction
There are approximately 272 million international migrants (World Migration Report, 2020). A large portion of migration occurs from lower-income countries to higher-income countries (OECD, 2016). In Canada, foreign-born individuals representing 21.9 % of the total population, as of the 2016 census, will grow to 24.5 % or 30 % of the Canadian population by 2036 (Statistics Canada, 2017). First-generation migrant youth experience higher stress levels than second and third-generation migrant youth in Canada (Hamilton et al., 2009), but their mental health utilization rates are significantly lower (Saunders et al., 2018; Thomson et al., 2015). In a scoping review, authors noted the limited research on the mental health challenges experienced by migrant youth, adding that existing research on this population was frequently collected from parents using standardized measures (Hilario et al., 2015). In addition, relatively little is known about migrant youths’ perceptions of post-migration stressors that challenge their mental health (Hilario et al., 2018). The present study aims to report on the social context of migrant youth, focusing on their own experiences of post-migration stressors.
In Canada, approximately 1 in 5 residents are international migrants. The top five countries of origin are India, China, Philippines, the United Kingdom, and United States (International Organization for Migration, 2020). Migrants leave their homes in search of either protection or economic opportunity or both (King, 2012). Sharp distinctions between categories of migrant and refugee no longer capture the complex relationships that exist between different types of drivers of migration (United Nations, 2019). Causes can be attributed to push and pull factors (Ziaian, et al., 2023). Push factors include armed conflict, disaster exposure, gender inequality, lack of job opportunities, political corruption, and lack of access to competent healthcare and education. Pull factors include better work opportunities, greater security, healthcare and education. Language competency and whether education was completed in Canada are key obstacles affecting economic integration (Donato & Ferris, 2020). Mental health is a state of well-being, referring to an individual’s ability to realize their potential, cope with everyday life stress, be productive and contribute to society (WHO, 2014). Mental health is integral to an individual’s overall health and acts as a buffer to the hardships and stresses that every individual face and can help reduce the risk of mental illness (Bartram & Chados, 2013). However, while the mental health needs of migrants are considerable, service utilization is low. For example, among the South Asian population in Canada, international migrants experience a more significant likelihood of extreme despair (Hilario et al., 2014) and high life stress (Islam et al., 2014) but less likely to consult mental health professionals than Canadian-born counterparts (Ng & Zhang, 2020).
Culturally based health service barriers for ethnic minorities include 1) communication and language differences, 2) perceptions of mental health challenges as the result of a lack of commitment or “bad thoughts”, and 3) ways of coping through advice from spiritual leaders, keeping their problems within the family, as well as skepticism about members of other groups and professionals (Kwan et al., 2018, Kwan and Lo, 2022). The World Health Organization’s International Classification of functioning, disability, and health (ICF; 2001) states that contextual factors, including environmental and personal factors, can affect one’s functioning and health. Migrants may avoid seeking specialized care because of unfamiliarity with mental health care services or stereotypes about mental problems associated with fear of discrimination and stigmatization (Salami et al., 2019). Additional factors include language and cultural differences (Kim, et al., 2011), as well as practical challenges that are financial, transportation-related, waitlists or delays in seeking care (Wohler & Dantas, 2017).
Our study builds upon existing literature by utilizing the Meyer (2003) Minority Stress Theory (MST) to analyze factors that contribute to stress and mental health outcomes among migrant youth. MST was first developed to explain why individuals in the 2SLGBTQ + community have disproportionately high levels of mental health concerns. Informed by social stress discourse (Mirowsky and Ross, 1980, Pearlin, 1989) and the social causality of distress (Dohrenwend et al., 1992), MST is inferred from approaches that describe conflict with social environments faced by minority group members (Lazurus and Folkman, 1984, Mirowsky and Ross, 1980, Pearlin, 1989). According to societal reaction theory (Goffman, 1963), minority stress explains the effects of negative social attitudes and stigma on stigmatized individuals (Marcussen, et al., 2019). From this perspective, individuals from disadvantaged social groups are exposed to unique stress and coping mechanisms related to their minority identity, which determines the impact of this social status on mental health outcomes (Meyer, 2003).)…
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