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The Impact of Education and Employment Quality on Self-rated Mental Health Among Syrian Refugees in Canada

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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Finding appropriate employment is a common challenge faced by refugees when resettling in a new country. For refugees with higher education, finding work commensurate with their skills and qualifications may be even more difficult. Refugees with higher education may experience more distress around employment because their expectations for employment are more discrepant from the realities of resettlement. As part of the SyRIA.lth project, the present study looked at employment rates and job quality of Syrian refugees resettling in Canada (N = 1805). Moderately and highly educated participants were more likely to be employed than those with less than high school education. Among those currently employed 2 to 3 years after arrival (n = 627), moderately and highly educated participants reported lower job satisfaction, quality, and appropriateness compared to those with lower education. As expected, employed former refugees with high education reported poorer mental health which was explained by the job quality measures.

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Notes

  1. Refugee settlement category (GARs vs. PSRs) was collected as part of the overall study. The variable was not a focus of this paper, and is therefore not included here; however, we tested and confirmed that the addition of a GAR vs PSR variable did not contribute significantly or change any outcome in the hierarchical regression analyses (B-values ranged from − 1.05 to 1.00). In addition, adding the small number of Blended Visa Office Referred (BVOR, N = 84) as a third category also did not change any outcome in the analysis (B-values ranged from − .44 to 1.02).

  2. Not surprisingly, it was discovered that PCS-7 item #6 (“In the past 10 years my life has been full of changes without my knowing what will happen next”) demonstrated poor factor loading and reduced the overall reliability of the scale (\(\alpha\) = 0.55). As a result, item #6 was removed from further analysis, improving the overall factor structure and providing a reliability similar to what Bobak and colleagues reported (α = .65).

  3. Participants were asked how soon after arrival they expected to “have a good job” but the question confounded employment with quality of employment. Moreover, almost all male participants responded “within 6 months”, and thus answers to this variable were not included in the analysis.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) Grant Number [PJT- 148960].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Jonathan Bridekirk & Michaela Hynie

  2. Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Michaela Hynie

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  1. Jonathan Bridekirk
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Correspondence to Jonathan Bridekirk.

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Bridekirk, J., Hynie, M. & SyRIA.lth. The Impact of Education and Employment Quality on Self-rated Mental Health Among Syrian Refugees in Canada. J Immigrant Minority Health 23, 290–297 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-01108-0

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