ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Psychological Determinants of Self-Management in Migrants with Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases: Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem
Provisionally accepted
- 1Universidad Catolica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
- 2Universidad de Guadalajara - Centro Universitario del Sur, Ciudad Guzmán, Mexico
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Within the framework of migration as a social determinant of health, it is important to study the psychological factors associated with self-management of chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCDs), a topic that has been little studied in south-south migrant populations. The present study aimed to analyze two mediation models. The first describes the effect of individual self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between self-efficacy and self-management of CNCDs. The second model describes the effect of self-efficacy as a mediator in the relationship between self-esteem and self-management of CNCDs in South American migrants residing in Chile. A survey was conducted among 241 South-South migrants diagnosed with CNCDs and residing in five cities in Chile. Four ad hoc scales were applied to assess the study variables, analyzing the measurement models for each of them using the confirmatory factor analysis method. Subsequently, the hypothetical mediation model was evaluated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show that self-efficacy has a positive and direct relationship with self-management of CNCDs, and self-esteem has a positive and direct relationship with self-management of CNCDs. Furthermore, both self-esteem and self-efficacy showed significant mediating effects in the association with self-management of CNCDs. While self-esteem acted as a relevant personal resource associated with self-efficacy, self-efficacy emerged as the more proximal and robust mediating mechanism linking self-esteem to self-management of CNCDs.
Keywords: chronic diseases, Migration, self-efficacy, self-esteem, self-management
Received: 20 Oct 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Urzua, TORO-AGUIRRE and MALDONADO. 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:
Alfonso Urzua
KARINA TORO-AGUIRRE
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