Factors contributing to social support among female marriage migrants in Hong Kong: A longitudinal study

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of social support. We used a random sample of 211 female Chinese marriage migrants from a 2-year longitudinal secondary data set and conducted bivariate and multivariate multiple regressions to examine the associations of social support with acculturation stress, persistent acculturation stress, psychological wellbeing, perceived neighborhood disorder, and optimism. Results showed that marriage migrants have difficulties rebuilding their social network outside their own communities. Acculturation stress and psychological wellbeing were the two significant factors affecting social support. Findings suggest that social support interventions should focus on alleviating acculturation stress, expanding social networking opportunities, and enhancing psychological wellbeing.

Las redes de apoyo social online y offline en los inmigrantes de Málaga (España)

“…Si bien los hallazgos de esta investigación refuerzan la importancia de un tamaño amplio de la red virtual de cara a una percepción positiva de apoyo social (Eastin y LaRose, 2005;Lee et al, 2011;Trepte et al, 2015). La existencia de apoyo social depende en primera instancia del tamaño y la calidad de las redes sociales, tanto el contexto como la fuente, que provee de oportunidades a un individuo para interactuar con otros (Wong et al, 2017).…”

“…La robusta relación positiva evidenciada entre el número de personas que proporcionaban apoyo social, offline y online, y el sentido de comunidad y la satisfacción vital ratifica tanto que el sentido de comunidad y la satisfacción vital son dos constructos especialmente interrelacionados en personas inmigrantes (Millán-Franco, Gómez-Jacinto, Hombrados-Mendieta, García-Martín y García-Cid, 2019), como la relevancia en términos numéricos de la red de apoyo para explicar su bienestar e integración social (Trepte et al, 2015;Wong et al, 2017). Así, se aprecia cierta similitud en la magnitud de las respectivas correlaciones lo cual evidencia que la estructura de las redes de apoyo, en términos cuantitativos, ejerce una influencia bastante similar en ambas variables.…”

Effects of Neighborhood Discrimination Towards Mainland Immigrants on Mental Health in Hong Kong

“…Unfortunately, we did not ask questions in the HKPSSD survey that can provide empirical evidence to substantiate the argument. Many studies based on self-reported experiences however have found that Mainland Chinese immigrants are often discriminated against by Hong Kong local residents (including both natives and earlier generations of immigrants) [28,32], and they may therefore perceive local people to be unfriendly and avoid interacting too much with residents in their neighborhood [29]. Residing in ethnic enclaves and avoiding interaction with natives are important survival strategies of newly arrived immigrants: immigrants living in more integrated areas tend to have more intense and wide-ranging psychological symptoms [9].…”

“…They are reluctant to expand and mobilize their social network beyond their immediate family circle. Post-1997 Mainland immigrants in particular face major obstacles to establishing friendships with other Hong Kong residents and therefore have limited friendship networks [29]. Having a highly functional family is a protective factor for mental health status, but it may also prevent immigrants from socializing with the local population and integrating into the host society.…”

“…As immigrants from Mainland China share the ethnic characteristics of Chinese residents in Hong Kong, discrimination based on race or ethnicity is not a typical problem for these immigrants [28]. It is assumed that they will integrate into Hong Kong society easily because their ethnicity, language, and cultural heritage are the same as that of the local Hong Kong population [8,29]. Yet, despite these shared ethnic and language characteristics, post-1997 Mainland immigrants still encounter negative attitudes on the part of some Hong Kong residents.…”