SynthesisEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists2021
Language proficiency and mental disorders among migrants: A systematic review.
Synthesis in European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Mental Health of Immigrant Parents.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Mental health and mental health help-seeking behaviors among first-generation voluntary African migrants: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- 'Today, I'll manage, but not all days!' Adult refugees' meaning-making of learning and coping with trauma and other emotional distress while in language training programmes.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- How do social determinants and legal status affect the health of undocumented migrants in France?BMC public health · 2026Article
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion considerations for anti-racist, equity-focused NICU family mental health.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Review
- Associations between amygdala connectivity and experienced discrimination in children.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Relationship between socio-linguistic factors and symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychosis in the general population.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Extracting language information from clinical notes using large language models.International journal of medical informatics · 2026Article
- Article
- Educational programmes for reducing depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms among migrant workers: a scoping review and evidence synthesis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Acculturation Experiences of Adolescents and Nonsuicidal Self-injury Behaviour: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2025Article
- Psychological Well-Being Among Older Chinese Migrants in Chiang Mai, Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study on Structural and Psychosocial Resources.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Common Mental health issues among non-refugee migrants in Australia: a scoping review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Change in care needs of people with severe mental illness with and without a non-Western migration background: are their needs equally served throughout treatment?Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Linguistic integration improves refugee physical and mental health.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Health-related quality of life and associated factors among older refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh residing in Kotayk province of Armenia.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Development and validation of a psychosocial adaptation scale for migrant women (PAS-MW).Journal of migration and health · 2025Article
- Testing the diagnostic expansion hypothesis with a population-based survey of attitudes to depression in Australia.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Depression and somatization in Turkish migrants in Germany: the role of migration-related stressors.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Language-related acculturative hassles and their association with mental health of minors with refugee background living in Germany.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn 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.
methodsMEDLINE, 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.
resultsThe 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.
conclusionsEven 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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