The migratory process can be a considerable source of stress. High levels of acculturative stress would appear to moderate the appearance of mental disorders. Some of the stressors experienced by immigrants are related to homesickness, culture shock, and perceived discrimination, elements not shared with autochthonous individuals. The objective of this study is to analyze the association between acculturative stress and the presence of psychopathology in an immigrant sample in primary care.

Methodology: Cross-sectional study in which a sample of 300 immigrant primary care patients were evaluated with the Barcelona Immigration Stress Scale and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The results were analyzed with the statistical package SPSS 15.

Preliminary results indicate that higher levels of acculturative stress are associated with the presence of psychiatric pathology. The most frequent diagnosis is major depressive episode. Acculturative stress varied with demographic factors such as legal status, economic status and length of time in Spain.

Immigrants with higher levels of acculturative stress are more likely to suffer from psychiatric pathology at the time of evaluation with depressive symptomatology occurring most frequently. More research that studies the relationship between acculturative stress and mental health in primary care is needed. In addition, those factors of acculturative stress that best predict psychiatric pathology should be identified.