Venezuelan Forced Migration to Peru During Sociopolitical Crisis: an Analysis of Perceived Social Support and Emotion Regulation Strategies

Abstract

While many studies have examined the impact of forced migration on Venezuelan migrants in Latin America, to date scholars have not examined the effect of certain coping mechanisms, namely social support and emotion regulation. Using data from 386 Venezuelan migrants living in Peru ( M = 20.22 years, SD = 1.33, 46.4% women), we investigated whether perceived social support from three different sources (family, friends, and significant other) correlated with emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and suppression) while controlling for the type of cohabitation and time of residence. The results (1) confirmed the originally proposed internal structure of the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, showing reliability and validity even in a sample of migrants. Findings demonstrated that (2) perceived social support from family positively predicted cognitive reappraisal strategy when including friends and significant other as covariates; (3) Venezuelans who have resided longer in Peru compared to more recent migrants used cognitive reappraisal strategy at a higher rate despite perceiving low family social support; (4) Venezuelans who resided in Peru for a longer period of time reported higher suppression strategy use when having low significant other support; and (5) there were gender differences regarding cognitive reappraisal as a dependent variable. More specifically, in men, family was a better predictor than friend or significant other support, while among women, family and significant other had the biggest impact. These results demonstrate the importance of social support elements and time of residence on the healthy management of emotions under difficult circumstances, such as forced migration.

How Does the Social Support Affect Refugees’ Life Satisfaction in Turkey? Stress as a Mediator, Social Aids and Coronavirus Anxiety as Moderators

“…Social support networks consist of family, friends, relatives, and a special person who can support individuals and reduce their stress [10]. Social support is too important, especially for refugees who migrated due to forced reasons such as war, political pressure, and fear of death [11]. Since refugees who had to migrate have left behind many material and moral losses.…”

Social Integration and Health Among Young Migrants in China: Mediated by Social Mentality and Moderated by Gender

“…On the three paths (i.e., social integration affecting health, social integration affecting social mentality, and social mentality affecting health), young male migrants were more affected than young female migrants. According to previous research, the level of social integration among young female migrants is lower than that of males, which is well explained by the low employment rate of females and the fact that they assume more family responsibilities, such as caring for children and the elderly ( Okumura et al, 2021 ). Chinese social culture has long been influenced by the traditional belief of “men outside home, women inside.” Traditional values, mores, and customs permeate daily life and convey a society’s positioning and expectations for women’s family roles through informal systems.…”

The influences of social support and emotion regulation strategies on posttraumatic growth of burn survivors: A cross‐sectional study in Linyi, China

“…Recently, several studies have been conducted to examine the relationship between social support, emotion regulation strategies, and mental health. A study in Peru demonstrated that social support was positively associated with cognitive reappraisal and negatively associated with expression suppression among Venezuelan migrants (Okumura et al, 2022). Further, a study in China demonstrated that social support was positively associated with cognitive reappraisal and negatively related to expression suppression; moreover, emotion regulation strategies played a mediating role between social support and anxiety and depression among breast cancer patients (Ma et al, 2020).…”