Stress, coping, and the mental health of older vietnamese migrants

AbstractElderly immigrants to Australia have been identified as a potential high-risk group in the development of mental illness, subject to adjustment due both to aging and to migration. This paper focuses on the effects on mental health of older immigrants of a set of social and personal variables, including appraisal of the new life in terms of uplifts and stressors, and ways of coping. Using Lazarus' stress and coping paradigm, the study investigated the mental health of a group of Vietnamese older immigrants as they coped with growing old in a new country, including their appraisals, social support, family relationships, and their coping strategies with the difficulties in the new environment.