The role of sociocultural context in the mental health of Venezuelan crisis migrants: A cross-national, multisite comparison.

Authors

Christopher P Salas-Wright, Seth J Schwartz, Juliana Mejía-Trujillo, Sehun Oh, María Pineros-Leano, Estefanía C Palacios-Pizarro, María Fernanda García, Melissa M Bates, Ivonne Calderón, Patricia Andrade, Augusto Pérez-Gómez, Mildred M Maldonado-Molina

Published in

The American journal of orthopsychiatry. Aug 17, 2026. Epub Aug 17, 2026.

Abstract

Crisis migration research has advanced our understanding by highlighting the importance of a comprehensive perspective and consideration of experiences across the migration life course. However, one shortcoming is that the paradigm's focus on acute stress and trauma in the pre- and postmigration contexts often overlooks the more quotidian challenges of adjusting to a new social, cultural, and environmental context. Drawing from a sample of Venezuelan crisis migrants resettled in distinct contexts within Colombia and Florida (United States), the present study aimed to examine the sociocultural adjustment of Venezuelan crisis migrants, with particular attention to potential cross-national and contextual-level differences. Surveyed in 2023-2024, the sample includes 1,243 adults who had emigrated from Venezuela since 2015 and currently reside in Colombia (n = 568) or Florida (n = 675). Venezuelans who relocated to Florida reported higher levels of sociocultural adjustment than those who migrated to Colombia, reflecting overall easier adjustment in Florida. Sociocultural adjustment was robustly and negatively associated with depressive symptoms, even when controlling for key migration-related stressors. We also found that sociocultural adjustment and migration-related stressors interact in their relationship to depressive symptoms, such that pre- and postmigration stressors are less connected to depressive symptoms among individuals who find their sociocultural environment relatively easy to adjust to. The findings contribute to crisis migration research by shedding light on how sociocultural adaptation varies significantly by receiving site and how it is associated with mental health, above and beyond the effects of key migration-related stressors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID:
42606851
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Aug 2026.

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