Changes in Social Status and Postmigration Mental Health Among West African Immigrants

Immigration comes with rapid changes in social status that have effects on mental health. Research with nonimmigrant populations has identified relevant social status indicators, but these indicators are not sufficient to address changes that are uniquely relevant to immigrants. This study aimed to identify social status indicators that change during the process of migration and to examine their association with distress using variable- and person-centered analyses. We used data from an archival dataset of West African immigrants in New York City. Pre- and postmigration changes across work, marriage, language use, urbanism, and residency status were used to assess whether positive, negative, or no change in social status had occurred. Changes in social status indicators across migration were predicted to account for variance in mental health outcomes (i.e., anxiety, depression, somatization, and posttraumatic stress) beyond premigration potentially traumatic events (PTE). Several social status indicators predicted wellbeing in this population and accounted for variance in distress beyond premigration PTEs. Ward's method clustering suggested that 3 distinct social status profiles were characterized primarily by changes in work and marriage. The cluster with the greatest positive changes in work was almost all female and had the highest depression scores. These findings suggest that the impact of change in social status across immigration is not uniform across social status indicators. Additionally, changing gender roles across migration appear to have an influential impact on postmigration social status and mental health. Public Policy Relevance Statement Little is known about indicators of social status unique to immigrants. Given the relationship between social status and mental health, identifying social status indicators that change across migration has the potential to inform the response of the mental health field to the growing population of immigrants in the United States.