Deteriorating health satisfaction among immigrants from Eastern Europe to Germany

BACKGROUND: Migrants from Eastern Europe constitute more than 5% of Germany's population. Since population health in their countries of origin is poor their health status upon arrival may be worse than that of the native-born German population (hypothesis H1). As a minority, they may be socio-economically disadvantaged (H2), and their health status may deteriorate quickly (H3). METHODS: We compared data from 1995 and 2000 for immigrants from Eastern Europe (n = 353) and a random sample of age-matched Germans (n = 2, 824) from the German Socioeconomic Panel. We tested H1-3 using health satisfaction, as a proxy for health status, and socioeconomic indicators. We compared changes over time within groups, and between immigrants and Germans. We assessed effects of socio-economic status and being a migrant on declining health satisfaction in a regression model. RESULTS: In 1995, immigrants under 55 years had a significantly higher health satisfaction than Germans. Above age 54, health satisfaction did not differ. By 2000, immigrants' health satisfaction had declined to German levels. Whereas in 1995 immigrants had a significantly lower SES, differences five years later had declined. In the regression model, immigrant status was much stronger associated with declining health satisfaction than low SES. CONCLUSION: In contrast to H1, younger immigrants had an initial health advantage. Immigrants were initially socio-economically disadvantaged (H2), but their SES improved over time. The decrease in health satisfaction was much steeper in immigrants and this was not associated with differences in SES (H3). Immigrants from Eastern Europe have a high risk of deteriorating health, in spite of socio-economic improvements

Deteriorating health satisfaction among immigrants from Eastern Europe to Germany

BACKGROUND: Migrants from Eastern Europe constitute more than 5% of Germany's population. Since population health in their countries of origin is poor their health status upon arrival may be worse than that of the native-born German population (hypothesis H1). As a minority, they may be socio-economically disadvantaged (H2), and their health status may deteriorate quickly (H3). METHODS: We compared data from 1995 and 2000 for immigrants from Eastern Europe (n = 353) and a random sample of age-matched Germans (n = 2, 824) from the German Socioeconomic Panel. We tested H1-3 using health satisfaction, as a proxy for health status, and socioeconomic indicators. We compared changes over time within groups, and between immigrants and Germans. We assessed effects of socio-economic status and being a migrant on declining health satisfaction in a regression model. RESULTS: In 1995, immigrants under 55 years had a significantly higher health satisfaction than Germans. Above age 54, health satisfaction did not differ. By 2000, immigrants' health satisfaction had declined to German levels. Whereas in 1995 immigrants had a significantly lower SES, differences five years later had declined. In the regression model, immigrant status was much stronger associated with declining health satisfaction than low SES. CONCLUSION: In contrast to H1, younger immigrants had an initial health advantage. Immigrants were initially socio-economically disadvantaged (H2), but their SES improved over time. The decrease in health satisfaction was much steeper in immigrants and this was not associated with differences in SES (H3). Immigrants from Eastern Europe have a high risk of deteriorating health, in spite of socio-economic improvements

All-cause and Cardiovascular mortality among ethnic German immigrants from the Former Soviet Union: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: Migration is a phenomenon of particular Public Health importance. Since 1990, almost 2 million ethnic Germans (Aussiedler) have migrated from the former Soviet Union (FSU) to Germany. This study compares their overall and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality to that of Germany's general population. Because of high overall and CVD mortality in the FSU and low socio-economic status of Aussiedler in Germany, we hypothesize that their mortality is higher. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study for 1990–2002 with data of 34,393 Aussiedler. We assessed vital status at population registries and causes of death at the state statistical office. We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for the whole cohort and substrata of covariables such as age, sex and family size. To assess multivariate effects, we used Poisson regression. RESULTS: 1657 cohort members died before December 31, 2002, and 680 deaths (41.03%) were due to CVD. The SMR for the whole cohort was 0.85 (95%-CI 0.81–0.89) for all causes of death and 0.79 (95%-CI 0.73–0.85) for CVD. SMRs were higher than one for younger Aussiedler and lower for older ones. There was no clear effect of duration of stay on SMRs. For 1990–93, SMRs were significantly lower than in subsequent years. In families comprising at least five members upon arrival in Germany, SMRs were significantly lower than in smaller families. CONCLUSION: In contrast to our hypothesis on migrants' health, overall and CVD mortality among Aussiedler is lower than in Germany's general population. Possible explanations are a substantially better health status of Aussiedler in the FSU as compared to the local average, a higher perceived socio-economic status of Aussiedler in Germany, or selection effects. SMR differences between substrata need further exploration, and risk factor data are needed

Zum Zusammenhang zwischen Wohnsituation und Kinderzahl Ergebnisbericht

TIB: RN 5905 (1443) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

What are the chances of young Turks and Italians for equal education and employment in Germany? : the role of objective and subjective indicators

As the recent OECD PISA studies have shown, social background plays a greater role for achieving a solid education in Germany than in most other developed countries; this is especially so for migrant youths. This paper deals with the question, which level education and qualification migrants in Germany achieve, and how their chances for achieving qualifications and positions are compared to Germans. First, an overview over results of studies on educational participation, degrees, and social inequality among migrants is given. Then I show, using data from the 2000 BiB-Integration Survey, that young Turks and Italians have achieved notably lower levels of education than Germans. Finally, I discuss possible reasons and agencies that might cause these findings, which then are scrutinised by empirical analyses. It can be found that the marked under-representation with regard to higher educational and professional degrees of young Italians and Turks is clearly related to the low educational level of their parents, as well as factors of integration and attitudes. It does become obvious, however, that Turks have lower chances that cannot be explained by their parents’ qualification or other factors. This is also the case for the second immigrant generation