Cargando…

Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens

OBJECTIVE: The reunification of Germany after the separation between 1949 and 1990 has offered a unique chance of studying the impact of socialization, political transformation, and migration on mental health. The purpose of this article was to compare mental distress, resources, and life satisfacti...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Beutel, Manfred E., Braunheim, Lisa, Heller, Ayline, Schmutzer, Gabriele, Decker, Oliver, Brähler, Elmar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9745069/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36523589
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1000651
_version_ 1784849062430769152
author Beutel, Manfred E.
Braunheim, Lisa
Heller, Ayline
Schmutzer, Gabriele
Decker, Oliver
Brähler, Elmar
author_facet Beutel, Manfred E.
Braunheim, Lisa
Heller, Ayline
Schmutzer, Gabriele
Decker, Oliver
Brähler, Elmar
author_sort Beutel, Manfred E.
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: The reunification of Germany after the separation between 1949 and 1990 has offered a unique chance of studying the impact of socialization, political transformation, and migration on mental health. The purpose of this article was to compare mental distress, resources, and life satisfaction (1) between residents of East and West Germany and migrants who have fled from East to West Germany before reunification and (2) between three generations. METHODS: We assessed anxiety, depression, resilience, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, comparing groups based on their residency and migration, as well as three different birth cohorts. Using a representative survey of 2006, analyses of variance show the differences between these groups. Based on a representative survey (N = 4,530), the effects of gender (53.6% women), residency/migration (74.4% grown up in the West, 20.4% in the East, 5.3% migrants from the East to the West) from three generations (32% born until 1945, 39% until 1967, and 29% to 1989), and positive and negative mental health indicators were analyzed. RESULTS: Women reported higher distress and lower resilience. Residents of the Western states reported the lowest burden of distress (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and the highest overall life satisfaction, exceeding residents from the Eastern states and migrants from the Eastern to the Western states. Migrants from the Eastern to the Western states, however, reported the lowest resilience and self-esteem. They reported lower satisfaction with income, living conditions (compared to the Western residents), and the lowest levels of satisfaction with family (compared to East and West). CONCLUSION: Overall, our data point to inequalities between the Eastern and Western states regarding mental health 16 years after reunification favoring the residents of the Western states by lower distress and life satisfaction. Our data attest to the stresses and adjustments associated with migration from the Eastern to the Western states before reunification. A lower level of mental health and life satisfaction in the oldest generation may be related to the sequelae of World War II and also to aging.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9745069
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-97450692022-12-14 Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens Beutel, Manfred E. Braunheim, Lisa Heller, Ayline Schmutzer, Gabriele Decker, Oliver Brähler, Elmar Front Public Health Public Health OBJECTIVE: The reunification of Germany after the separation between 1949 and 1990 has offered a unique chance of studying the impact of socialization, political transformation, and migration on mental health. The purpose of this article was to compare mental distress, resources, and life satisfaction (1) between residents of East and West Germany and migrants who have fled from East to West Germany before reunification and (2) between three generations. METHODS: We assessed anxiety, depression, resilience, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, comparing groups based on their residency and migration, as well as three different birth cohorts. Using a representative survey of 2006, analyses of variance show the differences between these groups. Based on a representative survey (N = 4,530), the effects of gender (53.6% women), residency/migration (74.4% grown up in the West, 20.4% in the East, 5.3% migrants from the East to the West) from three generations (32% born until 1945, 39% until 1967, and 29% to 1989), and positive and negative mental health indicators were analyzed. RESULTS: Women reported higher distress and lower resilience. Residents of the Western states reported the lowest burden of distress (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and the highest overall life satisfaction, exceeding residents from the Eastern states and migrants from the Eastern to the Western states. Migrants from the Eastern to the Western states, however, reported the lowest resilience and self-esteem. They reported lower satisfaction with income, living conditions (compared to the Western residents), and the lowest levels of satisfaction with family (compared to East and West). CONCLUSION: Overall, our data point to inequalities between the Eastern and Western states regarding mental health 16 years after reunification favoring the residents of the Western states by lower distress and life satisfaction. Our data attest to the stresses and adjustments associated with migration from the Eastern to the Western states before reunification. A lower level of mental health and life satisfaction in the oldest generation may be related to the sequelae of World War II and also to aging. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-11-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9745069/ /pubmed/36523589 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1000651 Text en Copyright © 2022 Beutel, Braunheim, Heller, Schmutzer, Decker and Brähler. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Beutel, Manfred E.
Braunheim, Lisa
Heller, Ayline
Schmutzer, Gabriele
Decker, Oliver
Brähler, Elmar
Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens
title Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens
title_full Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens
title_fullStr Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens
title_full_unstemmed Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens
title_short Mental health and life satisfaction in East and West Germany: Effects of generation and migration of citizens
title_sort mental health and life satisfaction in east and west germany: effects of generation and migration of citizens
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9745069/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36523589
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1000651
work_keys_str_mv AT beutelmanfrede mentalhealthandlifesatisfactionineastandwestgermanyeffectsofgenerationandmigrationofcitizens
AT braunheimlisa mentalhealthandlifesatisfactionineastandwestgermanyeffectsofgenerationandmigrationofcitizens
AT hellerayline mentalhealthandlifesatisfactionineastandwestgermanyeffectsofgenerationandmigrationofcitizens
AT schmutzergabriele mentalhealthandlifesatisfactionineastandwestgermanyeffectsofgenerationandmigrationofcitizens
AT deckeroliver mentalhealthandlifesatisfactionineastandwestgermanyeffectsofgenerationandmigrationofcitizens
AT brahlerelmar mentalhealthandlifesatisfactionineastandwestgermanyeffectsofgenerationandmigrationofcitizens