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Perceived Discrimination and Well-Being in Romanian Immigrants: The Role of Social Support

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Abstract

In this study, carried out with Romanian immigrants (N = 202), the aim was to test the extent to which discrimination in the workplace, health and legal contexts is linked to an important aspect of psychological well-being: self-acceptance. The results showed that immigrants had a relatively low level of perceived discrimination and good scores in self-acceptance, except for those who were unemployed. In addition, we examined the role of seeking social support in the relationship between perceived personal discrimination and self-acceptance. The structural equations analysis provided evidence that the postulated models fit the data well. Thus, it was confirmed that the higher the perceived personal discrimination, the lower the self-acceptance. The data also indicated that seeking social support mediates between perceived discrimination and psychological well-being. These findings demonstrate the protective effect of social support for the mental health of immigrants.

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Notes

  1. Although the target sample in this paper is Romanian immigrants, the participants in our research were members of three immigrant collectives: Romanians, Latin Americans, and Moroccans. All participants filled out the same questionnaire. In order to access the target population, we contacted the people in charge of the associations that represented the collectives involved in this comparison. The total sample was made up of 604 participants, 52.3 % were men and 47.7 % were women. Their age ranged between 18 and 66 years (M = 36.21; SD = 9.99). Latin Americans (N = 199; M = 37.5 years; 41.3 % women), and Moroccans (N = 203; M = 34.95 years; 52 % women). Educational level was distributed as follows: Primary/Middle School (Latin Americans 19.6 %, and Moroccans 42.1 %), Vocational Secondary (Latin Americans 41.8 %, and Moroccans 26.4 %), Secondary (Latin Americans 18 %, and 18.3 % Moroccans), and University (Latin Americans 20.6 %, and Moroccans 13.2 %). As for the mean time since their arrival in Spain, it was as follows: M Latin Americans = 7.64 years (SD = 3.51), and M Moroccans = 9.65 years (SD = 5.80). Finally, 24.9 % Latin Americans, and 20.3 % Moroccans were unemployed. These data allow us to make comparisons among the different groups.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of Spain (PSI2008-2966).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Psicología Social y de las Organizaciones, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Juan del Rosal, No 10, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Itziar Fernández, Prado Silván-Ferrero, Fernando Molero, Elena Gaviria & Cristina García-Ael

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  1. Itziar Fernández
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  2. Prado Silván-Ferrero
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  3. Fernando Molero
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  4. Elena Gaviria
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  5. Cristina García-Ael
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Correspondence to Itziar Fernández.

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Fernández, I., Silván-Ferrero, P., Molero, F. et al. Perceived Discrimination and Well-Being in Romanian Immigrants: The Role of Social Support. J Happiness Stud 16, 857–870 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9537-0

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