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Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: In this review, we aimed to evaluate the association between language proficiency (LP) and the prevalence and severity of mental disorders in migrants. Secondarily, we aimed to consider whether sociodemographic and migration-related factors may affect the correlation between LP and menta...

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Autores principales: Montemitro, C., D’Andrea, G., Cesa, F., Martinotti, G., Pettorruso, M., Di Giannantonio, M., Muratori, R., Tarricone, I.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8390337/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34315554
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.2224
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author Montemitro, C.
D’Andrea, G.
Cesa, F.
Martinotti, G.
Pettorruso, M.
Di Giannantonio, M.
Muratori, R.
Tarricone, I.
author_facet Montemitro, C.
D’Andrea, G.
Cesa, F.
Martinotti, G.
Pettorruso, M.
Di Giannantonio, M.
Muratori, R.
Tarricone, I.
author_sort Montemitro, C.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In this review, we aimed to evaluate the association between language proficiency (LP) and the prevalence and severity of mental disorders in migrants. Secondarily, we aimed to consider whether sociodemographic and migration-related factors may affect the correlation between LP and mental disorders. METHODS: MEDLINE, PsycArticles, EMBASE, and PsycInfo were systematically searched in April 2020 to identify original studies reporting prevalence of psychiatric symptoms or disorders among migrants and taking into account linguistic factors. RESULTS: The search of electronic databases initially yielded 1,944 citations. Of the 197 full texts assessed for eligibility, 41 studies were selected for inclusion in the systematic review. Thirty-five of the papers included reported a significant negative association between low LP and prevalence and/or severity of psychiatric symptoms or disorders, whereas only two records found the opposite relationship and four papers reported no association between them. Inadequate LP was consistently associated with several mental disorders in migrants, including psychotic, mood, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders. Notably, all the four longitudinal studies that met inclusion criteria for this review reported a positive effect of LP acquisition over time on prevalence or symptom severity of mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Even though larger prospective studies are needed to better evaluate the relationship between LP and psychiatric disorders among migrants, we believe that the present findings could be inspiring for authorities to provide support and courses to improve migrants’ language proficiency upon arrival.
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spelling pubmed-83903372021-09-09 Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review Montemitro, C. D’Andrea, G. Cesa, F. Martinotti, G. Pettorruso, M. Di Giannantonio, M. Muratori, R. Tarricone, I. Eur Psychiatry Review/Meta-analysis BACKGROUND: In this review, we aimed to evaluate the association between language proficiency (LP) and the prevalence and severity of mental disorders in migrants. Secondarily, we aimed to consider whether sociodemographic and migration-related factors may affect the correlation between LP and mental disorders. METHODS: MEDLINE, PsycArticles, EMBASE, and PsycInfo were systematically searched in April 2020 to identify original studies reporting prevalence of psychiatric symptoms or disorders among migrants and taking into account linguistic factors. RESULTS: The search of electronic databases initially yielded 1,944 citations. Of the 197 full texts assessed for eligibility, 41 studies were selected for inclusion in the systematic review. Thirty-five of the papers included reported a significant negative association between low LP and prevalence and/or severity of psychiatric symptoms or disorders, whereas only two records found the opposite relationship and four papers reported no association between them. Inadequate LP was consistently associated with several mental disorders in migrants, including psychotic, mood, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders. Notably, all the four longitudinal studies that met inclusion criteria for this review reported a positive effect of LP acquisition over time on prevalence or symptom severity of mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Even though larger prospective studies are needed to better evaluate the relationship between LP and psychiatric disorders among migrants, we believe that the present findings could be inspiring for authorities to provide support and courses to improve migrants’ language proficiency upon arrival. Cambridge University Press 2021-07-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8390337/ /pubmed/34315554 http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.2224 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review/Meta-analysis
Montemitro, C.
D’Andrea, G.
Cesa, F.
Martinotti, G.
Pettorruso, M.
Di Giannantonio, M.
Muratori, R.
Tarricone, I.
Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review
title Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review
title_full Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review
title_fullStr Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review
title_short Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review
title_sort language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: a systematic review
topic Review/Meta-analysis
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8390337/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34315554
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.2224
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