Resilience and the variables that encourage it in young sub-saharan Africans who migrate

Abstract

Immigration appears to produce emotional disturbance in some young Sub-Saharans, but a significant proportion also show high levels of resilience, encouraging faster adaptation to the country of destination. However, the most predictive factors that produce high levels of resilience in this population have hardly been studied. Purpose: To assess the protective factors that promote resilience in young Sub-Saharan immigrants who have arrived in Spain as undocumented minors. Methods: Three hundred and twenty-six young Sub-Saharan immigrants were recruited, all males aged 18 and 23 (M = 19.63; SD = 1.13). Participants were divided into two sub-groups according to their level of resilience (high or low) using the 14-item Resilience Scale-RS-14. Sociodemographic, risk and protective variables were assessed in both groups. Results: There are important differences between both sub-samples in protective and risk variables. However, the highest positive and negative correlations were similar for both subgroups. In addition, the sociodemographic and protective variables most predictive of high resilience in the subgroup of resilient Sub-Saharan youth were having a job (β = 8.78; CI (95%) = 7.98–9.12; p < .01) and presenting a high level of self-efficacy (β = 7.31; CI (95%) = 6.18–8.12; p < .01), along with other sociodemographic and psychosocial variables less predictive, but also significant. Conclusions: Resilience promotes adequate mental health and is considered a possible outcome after suffering adverse situations such as immigration. It is essential to improve the protective factors that minimise the emotional impact of risk factors on these young sub-Saharan immigrants in order to promote resilient and nonpsycho- pathological outcomes (anxiety and depression), which could improve the well-being and mental health of this group in the destination country.