Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb;59(1):37-51.
doi: 10.1177/1363461520906028. Epub 2020 Mar 12.

Substance use, affective symptoms, and suicidal ideation among Russian, Somali, and Kurdish migrants in Finland

Essi Salama  1   2 , Anu E Castaneda  3   4 , Jaana Suvisaari  3 , Shadia Rask  3 , Tiina Laatikainen  3   5   6 , Solja Niemelä  7   8
Affiliations

Substance use, affective symptoms, and suicidal ideation among Russian, Somali, and Kurdish migrants in Finland

Essi Salama et al. Transcult Psychiatry. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Comorbidity of substance use with affective symptoms and suicidality has been well documented in the general population. However, population-based migrant studies about this association are scarce. We examined the association of affective symptoms and suicidal ideation with binge drinking, daily smoking, and lifetime cannabis use among Russian, Somali, and Kurdish migrants in comparison with the Finnish general population. Cross-sectional data from the Finnish Migrant Health and Wellbeing Study (Maamu, n = 1307) and comparison group data of the general Finnish population (n = 860) from the Health 2011 Survey were used. Substance use included self-reported current binge drinking, daily smoking, and lifetime cannabis use. Affective symptoms and suicidal ideation were measured using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25). We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses, including age, gender, and additional socio-demographic and migration-related factors. Suicidal ideation (OR 2.4 95% CI 1.3-4.3) was associated with binge drinking among Kurds and lifetime cannabis use among Russians (OR 5.6, 95% CI 1.9-17.0) and Kurds (OR 5.5, 95% CI 1.9-15.6). Affective symptoms were associated with daily smoking (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.02-2.6) and lifetime cannabis use (OR 6.1, 95% CI 2.6-14.5) among Kurdish migrants. Our results draw attention to the co-occurrence of suicidal ideation, affective symptoms, and substance use, especially among Kurdish migrants. These results highlight the variation of comorbidity of substance use and affective symptoms between the different populations. This implies that screening for substance use in mental healthcare cannot be neglected based on presumed habits of substance use.

Keywords: affective symptoms; binge drinking; cannabis; daily smoking; migrant; suicidal ideation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Frequency (%) of affective symptoms among the participants reporting binge drinking, daily smoking, or lifetime cannabis use.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abebe D. S., Hafstad G. S., Brunborg G. S., Kumar B. N., Lien L. (2015) Binge drinking, cannabis and tobacco use among ethnic Norwegian and ethnic minority adolescents in Oslo, Norway. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 17(4): 1–10. - PubMed
    1. Acartürk C. Z., Nierkens V., Agyemang C., Stronks K. (2011) Depressive symptoms and smoking among young Turkish and Moroccan ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands: A cross-sectional study. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 6(1): 1–7 10.1186/1747-597X-6-5 . - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahmad F., Shakya Y., Ginsburg L., Lou W., Ng P. T., Rashid M., Ferrari M., Ledwos C., McKenzie K. (2016) Burden of common mental disorders in a community health centre sample. Canadian Family Physician Medecin De Famille Canadien 62(12): e758–e766. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Hamzawi A. O., Bruffaerts R., Bromet E. J., AlKhafaji A. M., Kessler R. C. (2015) The epidemiology of major depressive episode in the Iraqi general population. PLoS One 10(7): e0131937 10.1371/journal.pone.0131937 . - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. AlMarri, T. S. K., & Oei, T. P. S. (2009). Alcohol and substance use in the Arabian Gulf region: A review. International Journal of Psychology, 44(3), 222–233. 10.1080/00207590801888752. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types