General Health of Foreign-Origin Groups and Native Population

BACKGROUND: Since the mental health of marginal settlers (non-native population) may affect other citizens’ health, the present study attempts to investigate the mental health status of marginal settlers of Yazd. MATERIALS AND METHODS: this study was a descriptive, cross-sectional research, in which 400 of non-native and native population have participated. To study mental health status of people, a questionnaire was used. The first section of this questionnaire was the 28-item questionnaire of GHQ and the second section dealt with demographic characteristics such as age, sex, employment status, household income, and educational level of the father of the family. The collected data was analyzed using statistical operations of Pearson correlation coefficient, T Student, univariate Anova, and non-parametric Chi Square. RESULTS: The results revealed that the average scores of general health were 20.09±9.84 and 17.04±9.54 for native and non-native population, respectively. Among subscales of general health, the highest and lowest average scores belonged to social dysfunctions, which showed a dangerous mental health status, and depression, respectively. There was significant difference between average score of general health and educational level of the father of the family (p<.001). The temporary employment and leased household differs significantly from the average score of general health among native population. It was indicated that sex was one of the most powerful predictors of mental health and people had more mental health when they grew older. Anxiety was the strongest predictor of general health for both groups. CONCLUSION: It seems that background factors such as educational level and employment status effect general health of people more than living in marginal settlement.