Immigration as a multiple-stressor situation: Stress and coping among immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel.

The present study investigated the adaptation process of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel as a multiple-stressor situation that involves cognitive appraisals and coping efforts. A sample of 301 new immigrants (residing in Israel three years or less), 67% women, 25 to 45 years old, completed inventories measuring cognitive appraisals of three major immigration stressors--employment, language, and housing difficulties--and the strategies used to cope with these demands. Level of distress (as indicated by depression and anxiety) was also assessed. The results show positive associations between cognitive appraisals of the various stressors, as well as between the coping strategies applied to them, indicating mutual influences between stressors in a multiple-stressor situation. In addition, an interaction between the appraisals of threat/loss of the three stressors predicted the respondents' distress level, supporting the potentiation model of coping with multiple stressors. Last, the findings support the notion of a stable coping style by showing especially high correlations between coping efforts with different stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)