IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joimai/v23y2022i1d10.1007_s12134-021-00820-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Refugee Reception Re-examined: a Quantitative Study on the Impact of the Reception Period for Mental Health and Host Country Language Proficiency Among Syrian Refugees in the Netherlands

Author

Listed:
  • Roxy Elisabeth Christina Damen

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Jaco Dagevos

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam
    The Netherlands Institute for Social Research)

  • Willem Huijnk

    (The Netherlands Institute for Social Research)

Abstract

In many European countries, refugees spend their first period after arrival in the receiving country in reception centers. Though this reception period has been heavily criticized, especially in relation to mental health, few scholars examined its impact on refugee integration. Since host country language learning is the main focus for most recent arrivals, this study re-examines the impact of the (renewed) reception period on both refugee mental health and host country language proficiency. Using a unique dataset including 3209 Syrian permitholders in the Netherlands, we test a structural equation model to examine those relations directly and indirectly. Results partly replicate previous findings, showing the negative impact of the number of relocations on mental health as well as the negative impact of both length of stay and relocations on host country language proficiency. Nevertheless, we did not find support for a negative relationship between length of stay and mental health. Moreover, the image of the reception period is not as gloomy as before; activities asylum seekers can engage in during their stay is positively related to both mental health and host country language proficiency. The relationships between both relocations and activities and host country language proficiency can partially be explained by mental health. These results indicate that the reception period can be seen as both an obstacle and a facilitator. Since the context of reception is a post-migration stressor, these findings should inform receiving societies and inspire them to accommodate their refugee reception accordingly, ensuring a smooth(er) start for future refugees.

Suggested Citation

  • Roxy Elisabeth Christina Damen & Jaco Dagevos & Willem Huijnk, 2022. "Refugee Reception Re-examined: a Quantitative Study on the Impact of the Reception Period for Mental Health and Host Country Language Proficiency Among Syrian Refugees in the Netherlands," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-21, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:23:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-021-00820-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-021-00820-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-021-00820-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12134-021-00820-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, 2002. "The English language fluency and occupational success of ethnic minority immigrant men living in English metropolitan areas," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 137-160.
    2. Karin Amit & Shirly Bar-Lev, 2015. "Immigrants’ Sense of Belonging to the Host Country: The Role of Life Satisfaction, Language Proficiency, and Religious Motives," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 947-961, December.
    3. Beiser, Morton & Hou, Feng, 2001. "Language acquisition, unemployment and depressive disorder among Southeast Asian refugees: a 10-year study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(10), pages 1321-1334, November.
    4. Cathy Zimmerman & Ligia Kiss & Mazeda Hossain, 2011. "Migration and Health: A Framework for 21st Century Policy-Making," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-7, May.
    5. Barry Chiswick & Paul Miller, 2001. "A model of destination-language acquisition: Application to male immigrants in Canada," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(3), pages 391-409, August.
    6. Camilla Hvidtfeldt & Marie Louise Schultz-Nielsen & Erdal Tekin & Mogens Fosgerau, 2018. "An estimate of the effect of waiting time in the Danish asylum system on post-resettlement employment among refugees: Separating the pure delay effect from the effects of the conditions under which re," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, November.
    7. Cathy Zimmerman & Ligia Kiss & Mazeda Hossain, 2011. "Migration and Health: A Framework for 21st Century Policy-Making," Working Papers id:4174, eSocialSciences.
    8. Steel, Zachary & Momartin, Shakeh & Silove, Derrick & Coello, Marianio & Aroche, Jorge & Tay, Kuo Wei, 2011. "Two year psychosocial and mental health outcomes for refugees subjected to restrictive or supportive immigration policies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(7), pages 1149-1156, April.
    9. Lena Walther & Hannes Kröger & Ana Nanette Tibubos & Thi Minh Tam Ta & Christian von Scheve & Jürgen Schupp & Eric Hahn & Malek Bajbouj, 2019. "Psychological Distress among Refugees in Germany – a Representative Study on Individual and Contextual Risk Factors and the Potential Consequences of Poor Mental Health for Integration in the Host Cou," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1053, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jankovic-Rankovic, Jelena & Oka, Rahul C. & Meyer, Jerrold S. & Gettler, Lee T., 2020. "Forced migration experiences, mental well-being, and nail cortisol among recently settled refugees in Serbia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    2. Casey Warman, 2007. "Ethnic enclaves and immigrant earnings growth," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 401-422, May.
    3. Xiang Kang & Mingxi Du & Siqin Wang & Haifeng Du, 2022. "Exploring the Effect of Health on Migrants’ Social Integration in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-20, April.
    4. Budría, Santiago & Swedberg, Pablo, 2014. "The Impact of Multilingualism on Spanish Language Acquisition among Immigrants in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 8748, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Woranan Witthayapipopsakul & Hathairat Kosiyaporn & Sonvanee Uansri & Rapeepong Suphanchaimat, 2022. "Effect of the Promulgation of the New Migrant’s Employment Law on Migrant Insurance Coverage in Thailand: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis, 2016–2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Kudus Oluwatoyin Adebayo, 2023. "Health Challenges in Everyday Life of Nigerians in Guangzhou City, China," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1477-1497, September.
    7. Adetayo Olaniyi Adeniran & Samuel Oluwaseyi Olorunfemi & Feyisola Olajire Akinsehinwa & Taye Mohammed Abdullahi, 2021. "Nexus between urban mobility and the transmission of infectious diseases: evidence from empirical review," Post-Print hal-03583997, HAL.
    8. Jordan Edwards & Kelly K. Anderson & Saverio Stranges, 2019. "Migrant mental health, Hickam’s dictum, and the dangers of oversimplification," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(4), pages 477-478, May.
    9. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2014. "International Migration and the Economics of Language," IZA Discussion Papers 7880, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Osnat Keidar & David S. Srivastava & Emmanouil Pikoulis & Aristomenis K. Exadaktylos, 2019. "Health of Refugees and Migrants—Where Do We Stand and What Directions Should We Take?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-8, April.
    11. Silvia Loi & Daniela Vono de Vilhena, 2020. "Exclusion through statistical invisibility. An exploration on what can be known through publicly available datasets on irregular migration and the health status of this population in Germany," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-009, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    12. Lakin, Kimberly & Kane, Sumit, 2022. "Peoples’ expectations of healthcare: A conceptual review and proposed analytical framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    13. Tharani Loganathan & Deng Rui & Chiu-Wan Ng & Nicola Suyin Pocock, 2019. "Breaking down the barriers: Understanding migrant workers’ access to healthcare in Malaysia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-24, July.
    14. Gracia Fellmeth & Emma Plugge & Mina Fazel & Prakaykaew Charunwattana & François Nosten & Raymond Fitzpatrick & Julie A Simpson & Rose McGready, 2018. "Validation of the Refugee Health Screener-15 for the assessment of perinatal depression among Karen and Burmese women on the Thai-Myanmar border," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, May.
    15. Shira M Goldenberg & Andrea Krüsi & Emma Zhang & Jill Chettiar & Kate Shannon, 2017. "Structural Determinants of Health among Im/Migrants in the Indoor Sex Industry: Experiences of Workers and Managers/Owners in Metropolitan Vancouver," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, January.
    16. Alys McAlpine & Ligia Kiss & Cathy Zimmerman & Zaid Chalabi, 2021. "Agent-based modeling for migration and modern slavery research: a systematic review," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 243-332, May.
    17. Acevedo-Garcia, Dolores & Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Emma V. & Viruell-Fuentes, Edna A. & Almeida, Joanna, 2012. "Integrating social epidemiology into immigrant health research: A cross-national framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2060-2068.
    18. Karl Puchner & Evika Karamagioli & Anastasia Pikouli & Costas Tsiamis & Athanasios Kalogeropoulos & Eleni Kakalou & Elena Pavlidou & Emmanouil Pikoulis, 2018. "Time to Rethink Refugee and Migrant Health in Europe: Moving from Emergency Response to Integrated and Individualized Health Care Provision for Migrants and Refugees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-6, May.
    19. Corie Gray & Gemma Crawford & Bruce Maycock & Roanna Lobo, 2022. "Exploring the Intersections of Migration, Gender, and Sexual Health with Indonesian Women in Perth, Western Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-16, October.
    20. Fleischman, Yonina & Willen, Sarah S. & Davidovitch, Nadav & Mor, Zohar, 2015. "Migration as a social determinant of health for irregular migrants: Israel as case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 89-97.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:23:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-021-00820-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.