Cultural Disparity and Lack of Social Anchorage in The Host Country as Contributing Factors Toward Reactive Depression in Immigrants

The study examined some factors related to depressive symptoms shown by otherwise healthy immigrants. The immigrants from Turkey, Pakistan and South America living in West Berlin were compared with local West German migrants. It was hypothesized that the cultural disparity between one's own culture and that of the host country and lack of social anchorage in the host country will contribute toward depression in the immigrants. The results indicated that cross country migration has more profound effects on depression as compared to within country migration. The hypotheses about the relationship between cultural disparity and depression, on the one hand, and lack of social anchorage and depression, on the other, were partly confirmed.