Examining the Differences in Psychological Wellbeing of Turkish Immigrants in Germany Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Migrants are considered a vulnerable group during the COVID-19 outbreak due to low socio-economic status, discrimination, and language difficulties. Thus, they have experienced increased rates of anxiety and depression during the pandemic (Xiang et al., 2020; OECD, 2020). The participants of this research were mainly first and second-generation Turkish immigrants. They were pre-screened for a previous history of mental disorders and screening was performed with SCL-90-R. Of all 177 participants who completed the questionnaire between October 7, 2019, and February 2020, they were recruited again between August 10, 2020, and December 10, 2020, during the pandemic. According to the findings, a significant difference was found for depression (t=-5.36, p<.001), anxiety (t=-3.01, p<.001), and hostility (t=-3.70, p<.001) between the mean scores of the participants before and during COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that the increase in depression and anxiety symptoms during the coronavirus pandemic was higher among participants with low-income levels (p<.001). The mental health of our study participants worsened during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Turkish immigrants reported having higher depression, anxiety, and hostility scores in comparison with previous test scores conducted before the outbreak. Participants with low income were at the highest risk for COVID-19-related depression and anxiety.