Cargando…
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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
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 |
_version_ | 1783743070615896064 |
---|---|
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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8390337 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Cambridge University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT montemitroc languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview AT dandreag languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview AT cesaf languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview AT martinottig languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview AT pettorrusom languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview AT digiannantoniom languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview AT muratorir languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview AT tarriconei languageproficiencyandmentaldisordersamongmigrantsasystematicreview |