Psychiatric Problems Among Returned Migrants in Mexico: Updated Findings from the Mexican Migration Project

Overview

Journal Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol

Specialties Psychiatry
Public Health
Social Sciences

Date 2019 Mar 29

PMID 30918977

Citations 1

Authors

Kyle Waldman

Julia Shu-Huah Wang

Hans Oh

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: Migration is often a stressful process that can have deleterious effects on health. We study the potential mental health consequences of migration by comparing Mexican migrants to the United States who have since returned to Mexico with Mexicans who have never migrated.

Methods: Data from the Mexican Migration Project were used to compare returned migrants and non-migrants in Mexico for the years 2007-2016 (N = 7716). Random intercept logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between characteristics of migration and psychiatric problems. Coarsened exact matching was implemented to account for the selection bias inherent to migration.

Results: Relatively healthier Mexicans were more likely to migrate to the United States, regardless of their documentation status. Returned migrants in Mexico who traveled to the United States while undocumented were significantly more likely to report that they experienced psychiatric problems when compared with non-migrant Mexicans, even after adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, pre-migration health, and community-level factors.

Conclusions: Undocumented return migrants in Mexico are at-risk of developing psychiatric problems, despite evidence that suggests migrants tend to be healthier than non-migrants before they travel to the United States. Mental health services should encompass strategies for migrants on both sides of the border.

Citing Articles

Is use of a smuggler to cross the US-Mexico border associated with mental health problems among undocumented immigrants from Mexico?.

Wilson F, Stimpson J, Ortega A PLOS Glob Public Health. 2023; 3(8):e0002232.

PMID: 37578952 PMC: 10424853. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002232.

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