Determinants of Non-Specific Psychological Distress among Latin American Adolescents in Madrid: age of arrival and school concentration

Abstract

Mental distress (non-specific psychological distress) is an important non-cognitive determinant of school performance that is often overlooked and is increasingly important in the international literature on integration. Meanwhile, epidemiological research in the United States shows that adolescents of Latin American origin are generally at higher risk of suffering from mental distress than other racial/ethnic groups, even after controlling for age, gender and socioeconomic status. Our results indicate that these adolescents are more likely to be distressed compared with native-born Spanish adolescents. The gap between children from these two origins amounts to around 6 per cent. The paper identifies two important variables related to migration that can explain this disadvantage.