Immigration, Stress, and Readjustment

Migration nowadays is a universal phenomenon often instigating extreme changes in the entire life cycle of the immigrants. Occasionally, immigration is liable to impose a certain degree of change also on the life of the absorbing society at large or of substantial sectors of it. Professor Ben-Sira, a world figure in medical sociology, advances the understanding of the factors that promote or impede readjustment of immigrants and of members of the absorbing society who may feel affected by that immigration. The author surveyed 500 new immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union, as well as 900 members of the absorbing society in order to understand the process of immigration and integration. This book not only contributes to the understanding of the factors explaining readjustment in the wake of immigration, but also provides insights with respect to the relationship between life-change and stress.