Acculturation, demoralization and psychiatric disorders among repatriated Greek migrants in a rural area

The paper reports on survey data on the relationship between acculturation and the prevalence of mental disorders in 198 creek migrants who were repatriated from Western Europe in Jannina, a north-western province of Greece. Our hypothesis was that acculturation process in the host country may play a role in the adjustment of the former migrants influencing the manifestation of psychopathology. In fact respondents who were more acculturated during their stay in the host country, have been classified as mentally impaired or demoralized reporting a high number of non specific symptoms of distress in the Langner scale. Psychiatritc "case" identification was also found to be related to the levels of acculturation. The effect of certain independent variables on acculturation is discussed.