[Mental disorders among Japanese-Brazilians in Japan: relationships to pre-migration and acculturative factors]

Abstract

The current population of Japanese-Brazilians living in Japan consists mainly of second- and third-generation Japanese immigrants to Brazil. In the last 10 years, they have migrated to Japan, their ancestral country, mostly as industrial workers. The objective of this study was to examine possible relationships between mental disorders and both pre-migration psychosocial factors and acculturative status, among Japanese-Brazilians in Japan. We developed our own Portuguese acculturation-questionnaire to assess the their adaptation to Japanese society and their ethnic-cultural identity. Using the acculturation-questionnaire, the Portuguese version of the self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20) and an identification form with socio-demographic and clinical data, a community sample of 131 Japanese-Brazilian immigrants in Utsunomiya and outpatient sample of 32 Japanese-Brazilians in the psychiatric department of a medical school in the same region were compared. Analysis was done by chi 2 Fisher and multiple logistic regression. The socio-demographic data indicated that the outpatients were most likely to have past medical history (OR = 12.3), traumatic experience (OR = 10.1) in Brazil before immigration, short duration of residence in Japan (OR = 3.76), no occupation in Brazil (OR = 4.78) and to be living alone in Japan (OR = 5.71). The findings from the acculturation-questionnaire showed that outpatients were most likely to have sociability in Japan with either Brazilians or Japanese only (OR = 3.94) and to hope to hand down either Brazilian or Japanese culture only to their posterity (OR = 5.31). The findings from the acculturation-questionnaire showed that the community sample showed a higher acceptance of both the Brazilian and Japanese culture than the patient sample. We suggested that mentally healthy individuals have a stronger integration orientation as an adaptation modes i.e. to keep the original ethnic-cultural identity on one hand, and to accept the cultural values, attitudes, norms and customs of the host society on the other, than individuals predisposed to- or with mental disorders among Japanese Brazilians in Japan.