Research Area C How Universal is Depression? (C7)

Project Members: Elisabeth Arens, Nazli Balkir, Wolfgang Eckart, Joachim Fischer

Since 1960`s Germany is characterized by hosting a growing number of populations from various divergent ethnic backgrounds and recent immigrants constitute nearly eight percent of the whole population. An increasing number of research reports strong association between immigrant status and psychopathology as well as results indicating different prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders among divergent ethnic groups. This highlights the issues regarding cultural differences in etiology, utilization of mental health services and biases in diagnostics/treatment outcomes. Undeniably, a structured framework in which universal and cultural determinants of mental health are integrated is necessary to gather a complete understanding of the picture. Therefore, the aim of the project was to explore and integrate universal patterns of and cultural variations in (a) the interaction between emotion regulation strategies and its affective and cognitive consequences, (b) explanatory models of depression, models for help-seeking behaviour, treatment outcomes, and social response to mental illness. Quantitative and qualitative data was used to investigate first/second generation immigrants from Asia (e.g. Turkish) and German groups with and without depression. The project further focused on the second generation immigrants in the context of biculturalism and its association with emotional and mental processes.