Volume 34 - Article 8 | Pages 243–258  

Remittances and risk of major depressive episode and sadness among new legal immigrants to the United States

By Eliva Ambugo, Jenjira Yahirun

Abstract

Background: The impact of remittances on health problems like depression among immigrants is understudied. Yet immigrants may be particularly emotionally vulnerable to the strains and benefits of providing remittances.

Objective: This study examines the association between sending remittances and major depressive episode (MDE) and sadness among legal immigrants in the United States.

Methods: Cross-sectional data (N=8,236 adults) come from the New Immigrant Survey (2003-2004), a representative sample of new U.S. permanent residents.

Results: In logistic regression models, immigrants who remitted had a higher risk of MDE and sadness compared to those who did not, net of sociodemographic and health factors. For remitters (N=1,470), the amount of money was not significantly linked to MDE but was associated with a higher risk of sadness among refugees/asylees compared to employment migrants.

Conclusions: Among socioeconomically vulnerable migrants such as refugees/asylees, sending remittances may threaten mental health by creating financial hardship. Initiatives that encourage economic stability for migrants may protect against depression.

Author’s Affiliation

• Eliva Ambugo - Universitetet i Oslo, Norway EMAIL
• Jenjira Yahirun - University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Interracial couples and intergenerational coresidence: Interracial couples who provide housing assistance to their aging parents
Volume 51 - Article 35

Children’s union status and contact with mothers: A cross-national study
Volume 30 - Article 51

Similar articles in Demographic Research

Changing roles of marriage and family status for labor migration? The case of rural China
Volume 55 - Article 5    | Keywords: cohort trends, event history analysis, gender, labour migration, rural China

Resilience or social reproduction? Parental job loss and children’s prosocial development and caregiving after the Great Recession
Volume 55 - Article 1    | Keywords: caregiving, gender, Great Recession, prosocial behaviour, resilience, social reproduction

Partnering in turbulent times: Hooking up, dating, and romantic relationship formation in college, 2019–2024
Volume 54 - Article 37    | Keywords: college students, COVID-19, gender, partner choice, relationship formation, romantic love, sexual orientation

Spatial perspective on environmental migration: Empirical insights from a spatiotemporal approach in the United States, 1970–2010
Volume 54 - Article 27    | Keywords: environmental migration, migration, net migration rate, rural-urban inequality, spatial analysis, United States of America

Settlement intentions of Ukrainian refugees in Germany: Adhering to social status back home or restarting again abroad?
Volume 54 - Article 16    | Keywords: negative selection, refugees, return migration, settlement intentions, social stratification, Ukraine