PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTIONING OF WIVES OF MEXI CAN IMMIGRANTS TO THE UNITED-STATES

The phenomenon of international migration has two human components bot h of which are equally important: The people who go and the people who stay behind. It is a common error that when talking about internation al migration reference is only made to those who go without any regard to the family members who stay in the home country. This study was co nducted with 202 Mexican women living in Mexico and married to immigra nt workers residing in the United States. The purpose of the study was to investigate the stressors these women have to face and their inter nal and external resources. We were also interested in relating the ex perience of stress to the women's psychological functioning through th e assessment of generalized psychological distress, depression, anxiet y, and somatization. Findings revealed that the stressors reported ref lect preoccupation with three areas: a) welfare of the absent husband; b) acquisition of new responsibilities and obligations by these women ; and c) family disintegration. The stress scale (INEFAM) was found si gnificantly correlated with generalized psychological distress (CES-D) , depression, anxiety, and somatization (SCL-90). Other findings revea led that these women have adequate social networks, the most important being the husband as provider of financial support, and their childre n as providers of emotional and financial support.