Table 2.
Mean differences in health and adaptation measures between immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents by gender
| Measures of health and adaptation | Gender | Immigrants | Non-immigrants | F-test (p < .05) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M (SD) | N | M (SD) | N | |||
| General health | ||||||
| In general, would you say your health is.....? | f | 2.07 (.82) | 306 | 2.18 (.83) | 4844 | I < NI F ≈ M |
| 1 = excellent to 5 = poor | m | 1.99 (.84) | 355 | 2.11 (.84) | 5035 | no INT |
| Mental health | ||||||
| In general, would you say your mental health is.....? | f | 1.86 (.89) | 295 | 1.87 (.87) | 4653 | I < NI F ≈ M |
| 1 = excellent to 5 = poor | m | 1.76 (.82) | 344 | 1.85 (.85) | 4779 | no INT |
| Chronic illnesses with psychosomatic symptoms | ||||||
| Asthma, migraine, back problems, ulcer, & bowel disorders (Sum of 5 answers) | f | 0.24 (.51) | 304 | 0.37 (.63) | 4872 | I < NI F > M |
| 0 = No, 1 = Yes | m | 0.14 (.36) | 354 | 0.29 (.55) | 4989 | no INT |
| Psychological illnesses | ||||||
| Mood disorders & anxiety disorders (Sum of 2 answers) | f | 0.05 (.24) | 305 | 0.10 (.36) | 4827 | I < NI F ≈ M |
| 0 = No, 1 = Yes | m | 0.03 (.20) | 352 | 0.06 (.28) | 5019 | no INT |
| Daily life stress | ||||||
| About the amount of stress in your life, would you say that most days are....? | f | 2.74 (.99) | 182 | 2.83 (.86) | 2805 | I ≈ NI F > M |
| 1 = not at all stressful to 5 = extremely stressful | m | 2.55 (1.00) | 233 | 2.51 (.90) | 2914 | no INT |
| Life satisfaction | ||||||
| How satisfied are you with your life in general? | f | 1.68 (.70) | 295 | 1.63 (.64) | 4652 | I ≈ NI F ≈ M |
| 1 = very satisfied to 5 = very dissatisfied | m | 1.68 (.58) | 342 | 1.59 (.60) | 4779 | no INT |
| Sense of belonging | ||||||
| How would you describe your sense of belonging to your local community? | f | 2.03 (.74) | 293 | 2.06 (.76) | 4607 | I ≈ NI F < M |
| 1 = very strong to 4 = very weak | m | 2.19 (.75) | 341 | 2.08 (.76) | 4734 | sig INT |
(Source: Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey 2007).
Notes: I = immigrants, NI = non-immigrants; < or > means significant differences; ≈ means no differences, controlling age, visible minority status, household income, household size, and presence of parent during the interview as covariates.