Positive Changes and Appreciation of Life Among Economic Immigrants in Scotland

Abstract

Objectives: Existing qualitative studies focussed predominantly on exploring immigrants' stress, distress and coping aimed at reducing stress. Little attention has been paid to immigrants' psychological growth or positive life changes. In the present study the impact of post-migration experiences on well-being among economic immigrants has been explored.Design: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 17 immigrants.Transcripts were analysed by a deductive and inductive thematic analysis.Results: All immigrants reported positive life changes as a result of migration.Experiences related to migration helped immigrants rebuild their sense of self-worth and find 'mental peace' after living a demanding and burdensome life in Poland.Immigrants' accounts also suggested that their thinking and behaviour patterns may be shaped by their cultural values and socio-economic background. Conclusion:Overall, the study indicates that migration is not merely a stressful life event but can have a positive impact on many aspects of immigrants' lives and may provide opportunities for personal growth.

Foreign employment in enterprises – examples from countries with different cultures

“…This surgeof about 100,000 jobscombined with an additional 40,000 in the first quarter of this year marks a "historic rate" of expansion (Kumar & Jamil, 2020). This significant increasing trend in the percentage of foreign nationals in the Polish labor market has not increased to the multitude of economically unresponsive Poles, insinuating that the proportion of people who have stopped looking for work and have become meek has not risen despite continued competition for jobs among them and migrant workers (Bak-Klimek et al, 2020). With some prudence, we can even argue that the flood of migrants may have caused positive impulses in the labor marketall other financial trends remaining constantthus making contributions to an increment in the number of jobs (for native-born workers as well) and causing a drop in the quantity of economically inactive people as shown in fig 2.…”

“…Among migratory workers, the proportion of elderly employees (aged 65 and above) was 3.6%. The services industry was the largest job provider of foreign laborers, employing 66.2 percent of all migrant employees and over 80 percent of all female migrant workers globally (Bak-Klimek et al 2020). Increasing demand for labor in the economic sphere (encompassing medical and household duties),…”

Proculturation shaped by social representations of academic migrants from Italy to the United States

“… Albert and Barros (2021) also consider life satisfaction in the light of transnational migrants’ identity when comparing proculturation of different generations. While migration has been considered by social scientists and mental health professionals among some of the most stressful life events that an individual can experience, there are limitations to an exclusive focus on negative mental health ( Bak-Klimek et al, 2020 ). Overcoming the challenges related to proculturation in the context of a new workplace may increase life satisfaction and a sense of hedonic wellbeing, as well as intrinsic motivation to continue to excel and a sense of eudaimonic motivation.…”