Mental Health in Children of Immigrants in Germany: The Role of Socio-Demographic and Immigration-Related Characteristics

Abstract

Over the last decades, the number of immigrants in Germany has been rising steadily. One result of this is that currently, around 40% of children in the country have immigrant parents. Existing studies report rather mixed results concerning their mental health outcomes. The present study provides some insight into factors that affect the mental health of this population. We compared emotional and behavioral problems (assessed via the SOEP-SDQ) in 5- to 10- year-old children of immigrants and their native German peers (N = 2441). We considered socioeconomic status as well as immigration-related characteristics of parents (age at immigration, country of origin, perceived discrimination, host country language skills, and immigrant generation). We examined the mental health status of the parents as a possible mediator between these characteristics and the children’s mental health outcomes. We did not find a difference in emotional and behavioral problems between immigrant and native children living in Germany. Low socioeconomic status was associated with more emotional and behavioral problems in both immigrant and native German children. Younger age at immigration to Germany in fathers and poorer German language skills among mothers were found to be directly associated with poorer mental health in children of immigrants. Mothers’ mental health status mediated the effects of perceived discrimination and mothers’ German language skills. The results underline the urgent need for a more detailed examination of immigration-related characteristics in immigrants living in Germany in order to better understand and prevent possible mental health-related disadvantages among their children.

Highlights

No differences were found in respect to emotional and behavioral problems between children of immigrants and their native German peers.

Low socioeconomic status in both children of immigrants as well as native German peers was found to be associated with increased emotional and behavioral problems.

Better German language skills among mothers and older age at immigration to Germany among fathers were associated with fewer emotional and behavioral problems in children. The associations between perceived discrimination and mothers’ German language skills and children’s emotional and behavioral problems were mediated by maternal mental health status.