Subjective integration and quality of life of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Germany

This article presents empirical evidence on the quality of life (QoL) of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) migrants in Germany, exploring its association with subjective integration and the influence of some socio-economic and sociodemographic characteristics.

This is a cross-sectional study design using quantitative data from 518 SSA migrants collected across the 16 federal states of Germany, and these data were analysed in this study.

Association between participants' QoL, measured by the four domains of the Bref version of the World Health Organisation QoL measure, subjective integration and sociodemographic characteristics were evaluated using Pearson product-moment correlations. Stepwise multiple linear regressions were performed to explore the contribution of predictor variables on the QoL domain.

Participants' age averaged 32.5 years (standard deviation [SD] 7.93). The sample reported a low QoL score with a mean score of 64.3 (SD 14.4, range 70.2). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that subjective integration, age, education and gender had significant associations and explained up to 27% of the variance in the QoL domain scores.

The findings of this study support the conclusion that subjective integration positively and significantly associates with the physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environmental domains of SSA migrants' QoL in Germany.