Lacking occupational network contacts: an explanation for the ethnic variation of depressive symptoms in young adults in Sweden  Alexander Miething, Mikael Rostila, and Jens Rydgren Department of Public Health Sciences Stockholm University

Background Depressive symptoms - more widespread among individuals with foreign background in the Swedish context Possible explanations: Descendants of immigrants may share their parents’ experience of social exclusion, acculturation difficulties, and socioeconomic disadvantages in the receiving country Relative to their credentials and socioeconomic conditions, they encounter more difficulties than non-foreign people Possibly render greater health returns from social capital

Background (cont’d) Network Social capital – potentially important support mechanism Do social resources that are embedded in individuals’ social networks matter for mental health? To examine the relevance of structural social capital for depresssive symptoms by ethnic background Studied ethnic groups with distinct socioeconomic profiles: young adults with parents from Sweden, Iran, and former Yugoslavia

Hypotheses Prestigious occupational contacts are hypothesized to reduce the propensity to depressive symptoms. In regard of depression, occupational networks are hypothesized to have a greater importance for persons with non-Swedish background. Associations differ by the strength of occupational network ties (Granovetter 1973).

Data “Social Capital and Labor Market Integration: A Cohort Study” Random target sample: 5,836 Swedish-born citizens, cohort from 1990 2,500 individuals with both parents born in Sweden (~2.5 % of total pop.) 2,000 individuals with at least one parent with background in former Yugoslavia (~50% of total pop.) 1,300 individuals with at least one parent with background in Iran (100% of total pop.) Telephone survey conducted in 2009, follow-up in 2013 Response rate: 51.7 % in 2009; 39.4 % in 2013

Variables Occupational network contacts Derived from a position generator Samples the hierarchy of respondents’ occupational contacts Comprises 40 strategically chosen occupations “Mean prestige” – average of Treiman prestige scores The position generator measure was used to sample the hierarchy of respondents’ occupational contacts and comprised 40 strategically chosen occupations. Respondents were asked whether they know someone in these listed occupations. These persons could comprise close friends, acquaintances, family members, relatives, and romantic partners.

Variables Depressive symptoms A two-item depression screener based on the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). How often experienced during the last year?: “Feeling down, depressed or hopeless” “Little interest or pleasure in doing things” Response options: not/ slightly/ much affected 4-point scale

Results

Coefficients from GEE for depressive symptoms in 19- and 23-year-old men (n=1,556) and women (n=1,522)

Predicted probabilities of depressive symptoms by occupational prestige, ethnic background, and ethnic identity for men and women

Conclusions Distinct socioeconomic profiles of the groups under study: Parents from Iran: political refugees Parents from former Yugoslavia: lowly skilled work migrants Middle class background of respondents’ parents in Iran – could reflect their and their children’s aspirations for high-skilled positions Despite their middle class background and career aspirations, Iranians in Sweden experienced downward mobility when emigrating

Conclusions Ethnic identity – correlates with class background and reflects when parents migrated from Iran to Sweden The importance of tie strength for people with Iranian background: family and close friends may play a greater role for career orientation than acquaintances How lacking contacts translate into depressive symptoms: Lacking access to prestigious occupational contacts – could reflect latent or manifest discrimination and reinforce demoralization Contrarily, access to upper occupational contacts may be perceived as encouraging and be associated with expected higher returns in regard of career success, income, and recognition by the majority population

Thank you! alexander.miething@su.se

Appendix Table 1: Panel structure: Distribution of respondents in the unbalanced panel