Mental health assimilation of Australian immigrants

Mental diseases are a widespread phenomenon and trigger massive direct and indirect costs. Using Australian household survey data this study analyzes assimilation of immigrants’ mental health over time. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature since previous literature has focused primarily on the assimilation of immigrants’ physical health status. We find that the probability of suffering from poor mental health increases with time since migration. In addition, female immigrants display a 4 percentage points lower risk of suffering from poor mental health when entering the country. Furthermore, immigrants with English as mother tongue have a lower likelihood of suffering from poor mental health when compared to their counterparts with non-English mother tongues.