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Table 1 Characteristics of the study participants

From: Mental health and access to care among refugee mothers relocated to San Diego: a comparative study of Iraqi and Somali refugee communities

 

Iraqi (N = 219)

Somali (N = 198)

P value

Demographics

 Age, years (mean [SD])

39.32 (8.45)

37.94 (5.84)

0.069

Marital status, N (%)

 Married

 Divorced

 Separated

 Widowed

206 (94.06)

2 (0.91)

10 (4.57)

1 (0.46)

185 (94.39)

8 (4.04)

3 (1.52)

0 (0.00)

0.888

Language spoken most often

 Somali

 Arabic

 Chaldean

 English

 Other

0 (0.00)

74 (33.79)

139 (63.47)

0 (0.00)

5 (2.28)

186 (93.94)

0 (0.00)

0 (0.00)

3 (1.52)

7 (3.54)

Religion

 Muslim

 Catholic

 Other

32 (14.61)

178 (81.28)

9 (4.11)

197 (99.49)

0 (0.00)

1 (0.51)

Educational level

 No schooling/Elementary school

 Middle school or above

37 (16.89)

182 (83.11)

83 (41.92)

115 (58.08)

< 0.001

Resettlement characteristics

 Time prior to Resettlement, years (mean [SD])

2.37 (2.75)

6.84 (5.94)

< 0.001

Number of relocations

 0 (directly to US)

 1 (directly from refugee camp)

 2+

17 (7.80)

181 (83.03)

20 (9.17)

6 (3.03)

182 (91.92)

11 (5.56)

0.030

Years in the USA

3.21 (1.50)

13.72 (5.62)

< 0.001

Perception of social and financial status

 Change in social status from country of origin to USA (mean [SD])a

0.33 (3.81)

3.53 (1.76)

< 0.001b

 Financial status change

 Better

 About the same

 Worse

43 (19.63)

41 (18.72)

135 (61.64)

72 (36.36)

61 (30.81)

65 (32.83)

< 0.001

Ability to meet financial needs

 Very well

 Fairly well

 Poorly

2 (0.91)

110 (50.23)

107 (48.86)

12 (6.06)

96 (48.48)

90 (45.45)

0.014

  1. aMean number of steps up the “social ladder”
  2. bDifference in pooled paired samples between the groups is − 1.85 (95% CI − 2.18 to − 1.52)