IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v14y2025i10p570-d1756585.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental Health of Refugees in Austria and Moderating Effects of Stressors and Resilience Factors

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Leitner

    (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), Rahlgasse 3, 1060 Vienna, Austria)

  • Michael Landesmann

    (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), Rahlgasse 3, 1060 Vienna, Austria)

  • Judith Kohlenberger

    (Research Institute for Migration and Refugee Research and Management, Vienna University for Economics and Business (WU), Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria)

  • Isabella Buber-Ennser

    (Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dominikanerbastei 16, 1010 Vienna, Austria)

  • Bernhard Rengs

    (Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dominikanerbastei 16, 1010 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

Given the exposure to stressors in their home countries, during migration and after arrival, refugees are vulnerable to mental health problems. Their access to adequate health care and other social infrastructures, however, is hampered. This reduces, in addition to other factors, their ability to take part in social and economic activities. We examine the prevalence of mental disorders among the refugee population that arrived in Austria mainly between 2013 and 2018, drawing on data from a refugee survey. We found a high share of refugees (32%) to have moderate or severe mental health problems. When investigating the effects of stressors on the mental health situation, we found a positive association with experienced discrimination in Austria and the fear for partners and children left behind, and a negative correlation with proficiency in the German language, being employed (including volunteer work), having more supportive relationships, and satisfaction with the housing situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Leitner & Michael Landesmann & Judith Kohlenberger & Isabella Buber-Ennser & Bernhard Rengs, 2025. "Mental Health of Refugees in Austria and Moderating Effects of Stressors and Resilience Factors," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:10:p:570-:d:1756585
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/10/570/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/10/570/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:10:p:570-:d:1756585. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.