Intention to return of Spanish emigrant population and associated psychosocial factors (Intención de retorno de la población emigrante española y factores psicosociales asociados)
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online May, 2020
Intention to return of Spanish emigrant population and associated psychosocial factors (Intención de retorno de la población emigrante española y factores psicosociales asociados)
This study examines whether social-labour conditions improved for Spanish people after emigrating and if these conditions are similar in Germany and England, as well as psychological adjustment and mental health. It also explores whether there are the factors predicting the intention to return to Spain. The sample consists of 529 Spanish people who emigrated to England (291) or Germany (238) for work reasons. The results indicate that after emigration, their social-labour situation improved, although people who migrated to Germany face greater difficulties. Psychological adjustment and mental health was acceptable and similar in both countries. The intention to return before emigrating and the youngest age of emigrants predict the intention of post-immigration return. In addition, in Germany the return is associated with a negative assessment of the job situation and low identification with Germany, while in England it is associated with a low orientation towards English culture and a high orientation towards Spanish culture.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abraído-LanzaA. F.DohrenwendB. P.Ng-MakD. S.TurnerB. (1999). The Latino mortality paradox: A test of the “salmon bias” and healthy migrant hypotheses. American Journal of Public Health, 89, 1543–1548. doi:10.2105/AJPH.89.10.1543
2.
AguilaE.EscarceJ.LengM.MoralesL. (2013). Health status and behavioral risk factors in older adult Mexicans and Mexican immigrants to the United States. Journal of Aging and Health, 25, 136–158. doi:10.1177/0898264312468155
3.
AtienzaF. L.PonsD.BalaguerI.García-MeritaM. (2000). Propiedades psicométricas de la escala de satisfacción con la vida en adolescentes. Psicothema, 12, 314–319.
4.
BergamiM.BagozziR. P. (2000). Self‐categorization, affective commitment and group self‐esteem as distinct aspects of social identity in the organization. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 555–577. doi:10.1348/014466600164633
5.
BerryJ. W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation and adaptation. Journal of Applied Psychology: an International Review, 46, 5–68.
6.
BerryJ. W.SamD. L. (1996). Acculturation and adaptation. In BerryJ. W.SenegallM. H.KagitçibasiC. (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology. Social behaviour and application (pp. 291–326). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
7.
BlancoA.DíazD. (2005). El bienestar social: Su concepto y medición. Psicothema, 17, 580–587.
8.
CaroR.FernándezM. (2015). Perfiles y características de los nuevos emigrantes españoles. Informe OBIMID. Madrid: Observatorio Iberoamericano sobre Movilidad Humana, Migraciones y Desarrollo, Universidad Pontificia de Comillas.
9.
CassarinoJ. P. (2004). Theorising return migration: The conceptual approach to return migrants. International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 6(2), 253–279.
10.
CohenS.KamarckT.MermelsteinR. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385–396. doi:10.2307/2136404
11.
ConstantA.MasseyD. S. (2002). Return migration by German guest-workers: Neoclassical versus new economic theories. International Migration, 40, 5–34. doi:10.1111/imig.2002.40.issue-4
12.
DíazC. J.KoningS. M.Martínez-DonateA. P. (2016). Moving beyond Salmon bias: Mexican return migration and health selection. Demography, 53, 2005–2030. doi:10.1007/s13524-016-0526-2
13.
DienerE.EmmonsR. A.LarsenJ. L.GriffinS. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
14.
DomingoA.BlanesA. (2016). La nueva emigración española: ¿una generación perdida?Panorama Social, 23, 157–178.
15.
DuleepH. O. (1994). Social security and the emigration of immigrants. Social Security Bulletin, 57, 37–52.
16.
ElgorriagaE.ArnosoA.IbabeI. (2020). Condiciones socio-laborales e integración social de mujeres y hombres españoles en Alemania e Inglaterra. REIS, 170, 55–72.
17.
ElgorriagaE.IbabeI.ArnosoA. (2016). Españoles que emigran a países de la Unión Europea: Predictores de su ajuste psicológico. Revista de Psicología Social, 31, 332–351. doi:10.1080/02134748.2016.1143178
18.
ElgorriagaE.IbabeI.ArnosoA. (2019). Mental health of Spanish immigrants in Germany and the UK in comparison to non-immigrants and migration protective factors. Psychosocial Intervention, 28, 19–27. doi:10.5093/pi2018a16
19.
FribergJ. H. (2012). The stages of migration. From going abroad to settling down: Post-accession Polish migrant workers in Norway. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38, 1589–1605. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2012.711055
20.
GarcíaA. S. (2013). Return to sender? A comparative analysis of immigrant communities in “attrition through enforcement” destinations. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36, 1849–1870. doi:10.1080/01419870.2012.692801
21.
García-PereiroT.BiscioneA. (2016). Return migration in Albania: The profiles o returnees. Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica, 70(2), 141–152.
GoldbergD. P. (1972). The detection of psychiatric illness by questionnaire. London: Oxford University Press.
24.
González-EnríquezC.MartínezJ. P. (2017). La emigración española cualificada tras la crisis. Una comparación con la Italiana, Griega y Portuguesa. Migraciones, 43, 117–145.
25.
GroenenwoldW. G. F.de ValkH. A. G. (2017). Acculturation style, transnational behaviour, and return-migration intentions of the Turkish second generation: Exploring linkages. Demographic Research, 37, 1707–1734. doi:10.4054/DemRes.2017.37.53
26.
HeckathornD. D. (2011). Snowball versus respondent-driven sampling. Sociological Methodology, 41, 355–366. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9531.2011.01244.x
27.
INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística). (2019). Cifras de Población (CP) a 1 de enero de 2019. Estadísticas de Migraciones (EM). Año 2019. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ine.es/prensa/cp_e2019_p.pdf
28.
KeyesC. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61, 121–140. doi:10.2307/2787065
29.
LoboA.Pérez-EchevarríaM. J.ArtalJ. (1986). Validity of the scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) in a Spanish population. Psychological Medicine, 16, 135–140. doi:10.1017/S0033291700002579
30.
MarkidesK. S.CoreilJ. (1986). The health of hispanics in the southwestern United States An epidemiologic paradox. Public Health Reports, 101, 253–265.
31.
MasseyD.RedstoneI. (2006). Immigrant intentions and mobility in a global economy: The attitudes and behavior of recently arrived U.S. immigrants. Social Science Quarterly, 87, 954–971. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2006.00410.x
32.
OECD. (2018). International migration outlook 2018. Paris: Author. doi:10.1787/migr_outlook-2018-en
33.
PortesA.GuarnizoL.LandoltP. (1999). The study of transnationalism pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22, 217–237. doi:10.1080/014198799329468
34.
RazumO.Sahin-HodoglugilN. N.PolitK. (2005). Health, wealth or family ties? Why Turkish work migrants return from Germany. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31, 719–739. doi:10.1080/13691830500109894
35.
RemorE.CarroblesJ. A. (2001). Versión Española de la Escala de Estrés Percibido (PSS-14): Estudio psicométrico en una muestra VIH+. Ansiedad y Estrés, 7, 195–201.
36.
Romero-ValienteJ. M. (2018). Causas de la emigración española actual: La “movilidad exterior” y la incidencia de la crisis económica. Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, 76, 303–328. doi:10.21138/bage.2524
37.
SanderM. (2007). Return migration and the “Healthy immigrant effect”. SOEPpaper, 60, 1–39.
38.
SjastaadL. A. (1963). The costs and returns of human migration. Journal of Political Economy, 70, 80–93. doi:10.1086/258726
39.
StarkO. (1991). The migration of labor. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell.
40.
TartakovskyE.PatrakovE.NikulinaM. (2016). Motivational goals, group identifications, and psycholocial adjustment of returning migrants: The case of Jews returning to Russia. International Journal of Psychology, 52, 78–86. doi:10.1002/ijop.12291
41.
UllmanS. H.GoldmanN.MasseyD. S. (2011). Healthier before they migrate, less healthy when they return? The health of returned migrants in Mexico. Social Science and Medicine, 73, 421–4288. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.05.037
42.
Vallejo-MartínM. (2017). Una aproximación al síndrome de burnout y las características laborales de emigrantes españoles en países europeos. Revista de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones, 33, 137–145. doi:10.1016/j.rpto.2017.02.001
43.
WardC.BochnerS.FurnhamA. (2001). The psychology of culture shock. Hove: Routledge.
