The Moderating Role of Sense of Coherence Between Migration Stress and Adjustment Amoung Ethiopian Immigrants
Author | : Yeshashwork Kibour |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 124 |
Release | : 2015 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:910941532 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (32 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: The problems under investigation were (1) How does sense of coherence (SOC) affect adjustment (adjustment measured by depression and life satisfaction) for African immigrants? (2) In what manner does SOC moderate the relationship between migration stress and adjustment? Ethiopian immigrants were sampled as representative of African immigrants. The sample comprised of slightly more females than males (males = 40% and females = 59%). The mean age for the sample was around 36 at departure from Ethiopia and arrival to the United States. People have generally lived in the United States for about 8 years. Participants were asked to respond to five instruments that were disseminated in the following order: (1) sociodemographic sheet, (2) Tedla-Hopkins Symptom Checklist (Tedla, 1996), (3) Migration Stress Scenarios, (4) Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin (1985), and (5) The Orientation to Life Questionnaire (Antonovsky, 1987). All instruments were administered in the Amharic language. The thirteen hypotheses were analyzed via multiple regression analysis and discriminant function analysis. A major finding of this study was that sense of coherence (SOC) moderates the relationship between pre-immigration stress and life satisfaction. Other significant findings include, sense of coherence is the best predictor of depression. The converse of the expected negative relationship between pre-immigration stress and life satisfaction was found. Depression was able to differentiate between four categories of migration stress. There are potentially varying clinical profiles for people who present with varying sources of pre-immigration and lack of social resources. Depression was predicted by income and age and life satisfaction was predicted by religiosity. The limitations of this study include the small sample size and limits inherent in the Migration Stress Scenarios. Future research should include a larger sample size and establish external validity for the Migration Stress Scenarios. Path analysis would also be helpful to examine the course of the migration process that would lead to positive adjustment..