Sociodemographic and immigration-related characteristics of the sample
Table 1 gives an overview of the socio-demographic characteristics of immigrants (according to the official definition of persons with ‘migration background’) and native-born Germans. Persons with ‘migration background’ are younger, less often married, more often unemployed and are less likely to live in rural areas, which is in line with Federal statistic reports on immigrant populations in Germany [21].
Table 2 provides detailed characteristics of persons with ‘migration background’ stratified by 1st and 2nd generation immigrants. The vast majority of participants with ‘migration background’ (71.8%) are German citizens, with 53.6% being born in Germany and consequently classified as 2nd generation immigrants. Because of the heterogeneity of the immigrant sample regarding country of origin, which leads to small subgroup sizes, we merged participants to groups of geographic regions, with the exception of participants from Turkey and Poland. About a quarter of persons with ‘migration background’ indicated South-Western EU countries as their region of origin, 16.1% came from Turkey, and 12.1% were from Poland. The mean age at immigration of 1st generation immigrants was reported to be 22 years and they had lived in Germany for 25 years. Nearly two thirds of all persons with ‘migration background’ report both parents having immigrated to Germany.
About two thirds (64.9%) in total, 41.7% of the 1st generation and 85.0% of the 2nd generation immigrants, denied the attribution of being described as an immigrant from their subjective perspective; 55.2% in total, 32.2% of the 1st generation and 75.2% of the 2nd generation immigrants did not anticipate the attribution of one’s own ‘migration background’ by others. There are significant differences between 1st and 2nd generation immigrants concerning parents’ immigration status (94.8% of 1st generation vs. 41.4% of 2nd generation immigrants with both immigrant parents, c2(1, N = 248) = 78.60, p < .001), having German citizenship (48.7% of 1st generation vs. 91.7% of 2nd generation immigrants, c2 (1, N = 248) = 56.38, p < .001), country/region of origin (e.g. 20% of 1st generation vs. 6% of 2nd generation immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, c2(9, N = 248) = 18.19, p < .05), self-attribution as an immigrant (57.4% of 1st generation vs. 14.3% of 2nd generation immigrants, c2(1, N = 246) = 51.19, p < .001) and anticipated attribution by others as an immigrant (67% of 1st generation vs. 24.1% of 2nd generation immigrants, c2(1, N = 248) = 46.48, p < .001).
No significant differences between natives and participants with ‘migration background’ were found concerning prevalence rates for anxiety, depression and PTSD (see table 1). In the next step, we compared prevalence rates for anxiety, depression, PTSD and at least one of these mental disorders of German natives and participants with an attribution of being an immigrant (self-attribution and/or by others). There were significant differences for PTSD (c2(1, N = 2214) = 6.98, p < .01) and at least one of these mental disorders c2(1, N = 2205) = 4.31, p < .05), both with lower rates for German natives. The results are shown in figure 1.
Prediction of anxiety, depression and PTSD
To analyse the possible impact of immigration-related factors on mental health status in a ‘migration background’ sample, three binary logistic regression models, each for anxiety, depression and PTSD, were run. The following predictors were put in each model: age, sex, immigrant generation (1st vs. 2nd generation), German citizenship, parents’ immigration status (one immigrant parent vs. two immigrant parents), and attribution as immigrant (self and/or by others vs. neither self-attribution nor attribution by others). The results are displayed in table 3.
Predicting PTSD among ‘persons with migration background’, significant influences were found for sex and attribution as an immigrant. According to this, male ‘persons with migration background’ (OR: 0.20, 95% CI: 0.05-0.77) and those who consider themselves as an immigrant and/or anticipate the attribution as an immigrant by others (OR: 4.05, 95% CI: 1.06-15.46) are more likely to suffer from PTSD. In addition, self-attribution and/or attribution by others as an immigrant was a significant predictor for depression, with higher rates in participants with ‘migration background’ who see themselves as an immigrant or anticipate being described as an immigrant by others (OR: 3.88, 95% CI: 1.29-11.89). No significant effects were found for anxiety.