SOEP Research: Migration and Integration

Pre- and Post-Migration Determinants of Self-Rated Health Among Ukrainian Refugees In Germany: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Analysis with Recently Arrived Refugees from Other Countries of Origin

6.5 million Ukrainian refugees have been displaced globally since 2022, with one million who registered for temporary protection in Germany under the EU Tempo¬rary Protection Directive. Unlike other refugee groups, they were granted immediate access to social security and health care. However, little is known about the differences in health determinants for individuals arriving under the EU Temporary ...

Health System Resilience in the Context of Forced Migration: A Qualitative Framework Analysis of Germany’s Crisis Responses in 2015 and 2020

BackgroundHealth system resilience, the ability of a health system to maintain its functions under stress, has received increasing attention in recent years. Shortcomings in health system resilience are often most visible in the most vulnerable settings, including the care for asylum seekers and refugees. We therefore examined how the German health system responded to challenges and uncertainties during ...

Primary Healthcare Models for Refugees Involving Nurses: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis

Introduction Primary healthcare (PHC) is key to addressing the health and social needs of refugees. Nurses are often part of multidisciplinary teams in PHC, but little is known about their roles and responsibilities in refugee healthcare. We aimed to synthesise the existing knowledge about models of care (MoC) for refugees in primary care settings which involve nursing professionals.Methods Systematic ...

Immigration, Segregation, and Attitudes Toward Immigrants: A Longitudinal Multiscalar Analysis across Egohoods

Evidence on how proximity to ethnic outgroups shapes attitudes toward immigration remains inconclusive. We suggest this may be driven, in part, by the fact that studies rarely account for the role of residential segregation. We argue that how the minority-share in an environment affects majority-group attitudes will depend on how segregated groups are from one another. To explore this, we undertake ...

Geographic Labor Mobility and Statutory Minimum Wages

I exploit the German statutory minimum wage introduction in 2015 to estimate its effects on geographic labor mobility using a 2% sample of administrative data. I find an increase in out-migration due to the minimum wage of low-skilled workers with migrant background from counties where a high-share of workers is subject to the minimum wage to urban labor market regions. The increase in out...

Perceived Discrimination Among Migrants in Germany: Does Social Capital Moderate Harmful Effects on Mental Health?

Background The harmful mental health effects of perceived discrimination for migrant populations are well established. The potential buffering effect of regional-level social capital, however, has not previously been explored. Methods Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP; 2009–2018) we apply multilevel models to assess the effect of frequent or infrequent perceived discrimination on ...

Refugees Are Feeling Increasingly Unwelcome and Perceiving Discrimination in the Labor and Housing Markets

The sentiment among refugees in Germany has changed significantly: Using Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data from 2016 to 2023, it can be seen that refugees have been feeling increasingly unwelcome since 2018, while their concerns about xenophobia have grown since 2019. In addition, cross-sectional data from 2022 refugees’ subjective experiences of discrimination in the workplace and when searching for ...

Refugees are feeling increasingly unwelcome and becoming more concerned about xenophobia

Effects of Changing the Incentive Strategy on Panel Performance: Experimental Evidence From a Probability-Based Online Panel of Refugees

This study investigated how changing the mode of incentive administration between two panel waves, spaced six months apart, affected longitudinal survey response. A split-ballot incentive experiment was used to compare shifting from an unconditional pre-paid incentive mode in the first wave to a conditional post-paid mode in the second wave, versus consistently using a conditional post-paid mode across ...

Post-Migration Stress Mediates Associations Between Potentially Traumatic Peri-Migration Experiences and Mental Health Among Middle Eastern Refugees in Germany

Background On their way to host countries, refugees are often exposed to severe adversity, including cumulative experiences of fraud, extortion, robbery, detention, and shipwrecks, as well as prolonged, life-threatening small boat crossings. However, little research has examined the long-term impact of such peri-migration stressors on subsequent stress and mental health after arrival. This study explored ...