Psychological Status and Well-Being of a large Sample of Polish Migrants in Ireland

Ryan, Dooley, and Benson (2008) indicated that the process of migration could contribute toincreased levels of stress due to social, economic, and psychological changes. The main aimof the study was to assess psychological status and well-being of Polish migrants in Irelandand the secondary aim was to explore the migrants’ motives to migrate. An opportunitysample of 354 Polish and 304 Irish participants completed a self-report survey. The resultsindicated that the majority of the migrants are relatively well equipped with English languageskills and that they migrated primarily for financial reasons. Compared to the Irish, the Polishparticipants reported higher levels of discrimination due to ethnicity and lower levels ofsocial support, discrimination due to gender, age, and religious beliefs, and alcoholconsumption. There were no significant differences found for depression, anxiety, stress, andcannabis consumption. The results contribute to the existing literature on Polish migrationand suggest that the migrants’ psychological status is relatively positive 10 years post-EUenlargement.