Urban and rural married immigrants: Determinants of general and
mental health from the social relationship perspective
1
Blossom Yen-Ju Lin,
2
Wen-been Shiao,3,4Walter Chen,1,3,4,5Cheng-Chieh Lin,1Wen-Chen Tsai 1
Institute of Health Services Administration, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
2
China Medical University Beigang Hospital, Yanlin County, Taiwan
3
College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
4
China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
5
Institute of Health Care Administration, College of Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
The different geographical areas with unique social cultures or society might influence the married immigrants’health.This study aimed to examine whether there exist different influential factors related to the urban and rural married immigrants’ health in Taiwan.
A structured questionnaire covering theinformation ofmarried immigrants’and their Taiwan couples’demographics and married family conditions, society connection, family supports, self-rated general health and mental health, was released in 2009. There were 419 and 582 immigrants with their native countries from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam, married and living in
Taichung City (urban area) and Yanlin County (rural area), respectively, responding in this study. Multivariate analyses revealed that family support and time living in the areas were important factors related to self-rated general health and mental health of married immigrants living in rural areas. Socioeconomic status, married (couple) family conditions, family supports, and society connection were related to self-rated general health and metal health of married immigrants living in urban areas.
The cross-sectional study design might be the limitation for inferring the casual relationships in this study. However, our study might drive the national authority to (re)focus their interventions more areas-specific to married immigrants living in Taiwan.
Key words: married immigrant, health, mental health, social support, family support, society
