Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
6-2017
Abstract
While migration health studies traditionally focused on socioeconomic determinants of health, an emerging body of literature is exploring migration status as a proximate cause of health outcomes. Study 1 is a path analysis of the predictors of mental health amongst 582 documented migrant workers in Singapore, and shows that threat of deportation is one of the most important proximate social determinants of predicted mental illness, and a mediator of the impact of workplace conflict on mental health. Study 2 is a qualitative study of the narratives of 149 migrant workers who were in workplace conflict with their employers, and demonstrates that workers believed threats were used as a negotiating strategy during workplace conflicts. Findings suggest that migration status places workers who come into workplace conflict with their employers at heightened risk of mental illness because migration status can be used as a tool by employers in workplace negotiations.
Keywords
Social determinants of health, Migration, Migrant health, Mental health, Deportation, Precarity, Singapore
Discipline
Asian Studies | Medicine and Health | Race and Ethnicity | Sociology
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume
19
Issue
3
First Page
511
Last Page
522
ISSN
1557-1912
Identifier
10.1007/s10903-016-0532-x
Publisher
Springer
Embargo Period
11-1-2017
Citation
HARRIGAN, Nicholas, CHIU, Yee Koh, & Amirrudin, Amirah.(2017). Threat of deportation as proximal social determinant of mental health amongst migrant workers. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 19(3), 511-522.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2127
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0532-x