Demoralization in Soviet-Jewish immigrants to the United States and Israel

Social support and psychological distress among young immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel

“…Findings for psychological distress are, however, mixed. Some studies illustrate that with time the psychological distress of immigrants diminishes (Lin et al, 1982;Kuo and Tsay, 1986;Beiser, 1988), others fail to demonstrate such improvement (Flaherty et al, 1988;Kohn et al, 1989;Orley, 1994). The effect of time on the psychological adjustment in migration is also studied in the present work.…”

The subjective estimation of integration into a new society and the level of distress

“…The tasks of the present investigation were: (1) to estimate the level of distress in immigrants after more than 3 years of immigration; (2) to compare the level of distress with the subjective estimation of the level of integration into the new society; (3) to compare the level of distress in subjects with the presence or absence of the subjective`life crisis' caused by immigration. Our preliminary hypothesis was that the level of distress a few years after immigration would be relatively low; that it would be low in subjects who feel themselves being integrated into the society, who already passed the life crisis of immigration and estimate their experience related to immigration as a positive one.…”

The effect of age on gender differences in the psychological distress ratings of immigrants

“…29 It is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 24 items drawn from two previously developed scales, the PERI Demoralization Scale 5 and the Brief Symptom Inventory Ð BSI, 30 which have been extensively used in sociopsychiatric surveys around the world. 10,31 The Russian versions of the parental instruments were available from previous studies. 10,32 A general TBDI index and six symptom subscales Ð obsessiveness, hostility, sensitivity, depression, anxiety and paranoid ideation Ð are computed.…”