Immigrant Concentration in Schools and Youth Mental Health: The Role of School Loneliness and Belonging

PURPOSE: This study examined the association between youth immigrant generation background and mental health outcomes (internalizing and externalizing symptoms), the extent to which these associations were moderated by school immigrant concentration and the potential mediating role of school loneliness and sense of belonging in these associations. METHODS: Data come from a population-based cross-sectional study of 1,449 immigrant and nonimmigrant youth aged 9-15 years and their caregivers from 36 schools in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Multilevel hierarchical linear regression and multilevel structural equation models were run separately for parent and youth reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms. RESULTS: First- and second-generation immigrant youth had lower levels of parent and youth reported externalizing symptoms and parent reported internalizing symptoms than nonimmigrant youth. The association between immigrant background and externalizing symptoms was moderated by school immigrant concentration, such that higher concentration was associated with a decrease in average externalizing symptoms for immigrant students, but not for nonimmigrant students. Perceptions of loneliness at school mediated the association between immigrant background and both externalizing and internalizing symptoms when school immigrant concentration was high across parent and youth reports (conditional indirect effects all p < .05). DISCUSSION: Levels of mental health symptoms were lower among immigrant youth when school immigrant concentration was high, with decreased perceptions of school loneliness potentially offering some insights into protective mechanisms. Longitudinal studies are needed to advance our understanding of the underlying social processes that give rise to differential associations across immigrant groups to inform school-based approaches to integration of immigrant and nonimmigrant youth.