ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine the personal wellbeing of ethnic Chin Burmese refugees in the United States. Based on a cross-sectional study using a convenience and snowball sample, data on resilience, perceived social support, psychological distress, personal wellbeing, and demographic information were collected via self-administered questionnaires from 204 ethnic Chin Burmese refugees. Bivariate correlation analysis was conducted to assess the relationships among the study variables. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to assess which of the study variables influence personal wellbeing. We also tested the moderating effects of resilience and perceived social support in the relationship between psychological distress and personal wellbeing. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 73 (mean age 35.76), of whom 52% were female, 75.5% were married, and 67.2% were employed, and have lived in the U.S. for a mean of 6.27 years. Across the whole sample, 24.5% reported experiencing symptoms of psychological distress. After adjusting for demographic variables, results of regression analyses revealed that resilience (β =.14, p <.05), and perceived social support (β =.14, p <.05) was significantly related to personal wellbeing; whereas psychological distress (β = −.28, p <.001) was inversely linked to wellbeing. Contrary to theories of resilience and social support, we did not find any moderating effect stemming from the relationship between psychological distress and personal wellbeing. The findings of this study extended existing literature on Burmese refugees in the U.S. by providing information about the factors associated with their personal wellbeing.

摘要

本研究的目的是调查美国钦族缅甸难民的个人福祉。基于使用便利和滚雪球样本的横断面研究，通过对 204 名缅甸族裔难民的自我管理问卷收集了有关复原力、感知社会支持、心理困扰、个人幸福感和人口统计信息的数据。进行双变量相关分析以评估研究变量之间的关系。进行分层回归分析以评估哪些研究变量会影响个人幸福感。我们还测试了复原力和感知的社会支持在心理困扰和个人幸福感之间的关系中的调节作用。受访者年龄从 18 岁到 73 岁不等（平均年龄 35.76 岁），其中 52% 为女性，75 岁。5% 已婚，67.2% 有工作，平均在美国居住 6.27 年。在整个样本中，24.5% 的人报告有心理困扰的症状。在对人口变量进行调整后，回归分析的结果显示弹性 (β =.14,p <.05)，感知社会支持 (β =.14, p <.05) 与个人幸福感显着相关；而心理困扰（β = -.28，p <.001）与幸福感呈负相关。与复原力和社会支持理论相反，我们没有发现心理困扰和个人幸福感之间的关系有任何调节作用。这项研究的结果通过提供有关与他们个人福祉相关的因素的信息，扩展了有关美国缅甸难民的现有文献。