The bright side of migration: Hedonic, psychological, and social well-being in immigrants in Spain

• Published in: Social science research 2015-05, Vol.51, p.189-204
• Main Authors: Bobowik, Magdalena, Basabe, Nekane, Páez, Darío
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Affect; Africa; Bolivia; Colombia; Discriminant analysis; Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology; Emigration and Immigration; Ethnic Groups; Female; Friendship; Happiness; Health Status Disparities; Hedonic well-being; History of medicine and histology; Humans; Immigrant; Immigrants; Income; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Multidimensional analysis; Noncitizens; Psychological aspects; Psychological well-being; Romania; Self Concept; Social sciences; Social stratification; Social support; Social well-being; South America; Spain; Sub-Saharan Africa; Well-being; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0049-089X; 1096-0317
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.09.011

•This study examines the structure of well-being in immigrants.•We also explore the disparities between immigrants and host nationals.•The results confirm the tripartite structure of well-being.•Controlling for covariates, immigrants show better well-being than host nationals.•These results are discussed in the context of positive psychology. The aim of this study was to examine the multi-dimensional structure of well-being in immigrant population, as well as to explore the complexity of well-being disparities between immigrants and host nationals. We analyzed hedonic, psychological, and social well-being in a sample of 1250 immigrants from Bolivia, Colombia, Morocco, Romania and Sub-Saharan Africa, together with that of 500 matched host nationals from Spain. Participants were selected by means of probability sampling with stratification by age and sex. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the re-specified tripartite model of well-being, including hedonic, psychological, and social components of the individual’s functioning, was the best fitting model, as compared to alternative models. Importantly, after adjustment for perceived friendship and support, marital status, income, sex and age, immigrants presented higher levels of well-being than host nationals. Compared to host nationals, immigrants reported especially higher eudaimonic well-being: social contribution and actualization, personal growth, self-acceptance, and purpose in life, and lower levels of well-being only in terms of positive relations with others and negative affect. These results are discussed in the context of positive psychology.