ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Cultural Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1628841
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Intersection of Psychology, Healthy Behaviors, and its OutcomesView all 116 articles
The experience of fear and psychological distress among migrants in Spain
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- 2University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objectives: Psychological distress is an unpleasant state with both emotional and psychological manifestations. Migrants are prone to facing psychological distress. Previous research investigated the risk factors migrants face when integrating in a new society. However, little attention was paid to the role of experienced fear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of psychological distress of migrants and its link with the number of situations migrants may have experienced fear during and after the migration journey in addition to previously identified risk factors among migrants in Spain. Methods: 381 migrants from different nations participated in a correlational study. Besides demographic information, we assessed four self-reported risk factors (immigration status, employment, social network, and Spanish proficiency). The relevant number of situations in which migrants experienced fear was assessed with four items (sum score) and psychological distress with the K10 Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Important to note, the K10 did not include items assessing fear. Results: 31.3% of migrants experienced severe levels of psychological distress. Three risk factors (immigration status, employment, and social network) and the sum score of fear-experienced situations correlated with psychological distress. A step-wise regression analysis (based on 10,000 Bootstrap samples) accounts for 15% of the variance in psychological distress, suggesting that (1) age (but not gender), (2) none of the risk factors, but (3) the sum score of fear-experienced situations showed a significant effect on psychological distress. Importantly, we assessed the amount of fear triggering situations migrants may have experienced (in contrast to general anxiety which is often measured and included in psychological distress scales). Conclusions: The current study provides first evidence that various situations in which migrants experienced fear during and after their journey to Spain were associated with higher levels of psychological distress; more strongly than previously studied risk factors. We discuss the importance of differentiating between past fear to prevent trauma and current fear (e.g., of mafias and of feeling sick) in reception centers to help migrants navigate the new cultural context. Focusing on the mental health needs of migrants after arrival could be a promising first step to stimulate integration more sustainably.
Keywords: migrants, Mental Health, psychological distress, Fear, Risk factors, sociodemographic factors, Immigration Status, Employment
Received: 14 May 2025; Accepted: 17 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 López-de-León, Hansen, Otten and Puertas Valdeiglesias. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Milton Alexander López-de-León, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.